Public arts project coming to Davis Street CTA stop

Jennifer Ball, Assistant City Editor

City officials are planning to install a public arts project near the CTA station on Davis Street.

The project will be located in the 2nd Ward, just east of the CTA station’s downtown Evanston location. In the next few months, a committee will be formed to choose the artist and design, Ald. Peter Braithwaite (2nd) said in a Sept. 23 newsletter.

Braithwaite said he strongly advocates for the addition of art in his ward and wants public arts projects to continue to develop there. With input from cultural arts coordinator Jennifer Lasik, Braithwaite chose the CTA station among various sites throughout his ward to potentially showcase public art, including Mason Park and the area near Quartet Copies.

“I think as a whole, the city has an appreciation for the arts,” he said.

The project will join multiple public arts initiatives in Evanston. One such presentation exists outside of the Evanston Public Library at 1703 Orrington Ave., where poetry is displayed on the sidewalk in front of the building. The Evanston Public Art Committee, committed to encouraging more public art projects throughout the community, created a competition to select the five best poems to lay out in front of the library.

The fence of the Custer Street bridge was transformed into a public art project in 2009. Located near the 200 block of Custer Avenue, the art itself consists of steel lines that look like window shades and blue LED lighting that seems to move as one passes by.

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