Thrivent spreading prestigious art collection to office walls to entice workers back downtown

Thrivent is using its vast and prestigious art collection as one of the perks of coming back to the office.

The Minneapolis-based financial services firm that boasts $162 billion in assets under management is letting managers pick pieces to adorn their personal offices.

Art from the collection already lines halls, break rooms, the plaza, ceilings and conference rooms. The offer of artwork for offices began late last year, and so far 36 managers have met with the curation team. The goal is to have 80 offices with artwork by next year.

From there, "we're going floor by floor," said art director and chief curator Joanna Lindell. "We are trying to be a trailblazer."

Making the art so accessible "has become a really lovely way to welcome [people] into the building and into their office. So the program is growing," Lindell said.

It's been a labor of love for Lindell's team, which oversees an expansive collection of 1,300 religious masterpieces dating back 600 years, plus 500 modern showstoppers Thrivent started procuring five years ago.

While it is not as widespread as it once was, other corporations — including Target, Cargill and General Mills — have extensive museum-quality archives.

But the collections rarely grace employee's individual offices beyond the C-suite, said Ashley Wurster, vice president of interior design for the commercial real estate developer Ryan Cos.

"What Thrivent is doing is a little bit of a different take on what we normally see," Wurster said. It's an important one when asking employees to spend more time again in offices. "The ability to customize and own your own personal touch on a space is really important."

The idea to share the art collection to more spaces grew out of the pandemic, Lindell said. The Fortune 500 giant had just completed constructing its new $125 million headquarters building downtown in early 2021 and was welcoming the first few workers back to the office.

The early in-office workers were amazed by the new space and how the artwork was used, including a new art gallery, said Lindell, who declined to discuss costs of the program.

"We had this growing desire to just create a little sense of personalization, so the [idea for] art inside offices" was born, she said. "This is a new way of working."

Art also is now part of Thrivent's onboarding process.

Steve Prentice recently joined Thrivent as a vice president of client insights and strategy after 16 years at Target Corp. and an advertising agency before that. His first week on the job, Lindell called him, asked some questions and soon her team arrived in his new office with carts bearing 50 pieces of framed art for his review.

"In my experience, no one ever approached me or offered me the opportunity to choose the art in my office," he said.

He chose two reduction woodcuts by Dutch artist Erik van Ommen. One features two barn swallows perched on a fence; the other, three finches huddled on a leafless red branches.

"They really just kind of spoke to me immediately," said Prentice, who comes into the office every weekday. "I look at these all day, and I absolutely love them."

Tom Rassieur, the John E. Andrus III curator of prints and drawings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, said Thrivent might be onto something.

"I think what is really unusual about it is that people get the choice. You get a veto power over just what the boss offers you," he said.

Employees also are getting a say about the artwork on the walls near their cubicles.

This summer, Lindell swapped out a colorful aerial photo of a lake filled with swimmers after talking to administrative assistant Joey Young about hall artwork near her desk.

"The old picture was just a lake. It just didn't cut the mustard. But this new art is just lovely," Young said. "I love the colors, and it's cheerful."

The new colorful, fabric-laden piece is "Mayflower, All Flowers" by the British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare.

The artwork also helps the company stay connected to the community and its clients, and so Thrivent strives to keep the collections diverse, said CEO Terry Rasmussen.

The idea shows the evolution of Thrivent, which once was called Lutheran Brotherhood. The company has since changed its name and logo and switched to a model that welcomes all Christians instead of serving just Lutherans.

In March, Thrivent started welcoming artists in to meet employees and clients.

This summer, Prentice said he was thrilled to meet noted photographer Wing Young Huie. Rasmussen was so delighted to meet artist Delita Martin that she often shows off her Martin porcelain mug and the giant Martin artwork outside of her office.

Come March, Mexican American artist Marela Zacarias will visit Thrivent, meet employees and be present when one of her large 3-D sculptural murals is installed above Thrivent's lobby fireplace.

The new gallery is open to the public by appointment only and features rotating works from the collection, which the company started in 1982.

The unexpected perk thrills Jenna Reck, who started as vice president of enterprise communications about a year ago. Two days into her new job, Lindell called and learned during the interview that Reck liked art that could celebrate her Catholic faith. The next day, Lindell showed her several selections, including an etching by Minneapolis artist James Boyd Brent.

"I picked it on the spot. It's called 'Ornamentation,' and it's a beautiful scene of the inside of a really ornate church," Reck said. "When I think about being able to come into my office now, it's really cool."