As painter Sue Sommers set up her slide show before her presentation Saturday, she realized the projecter screen was slightly slanted to the right. She wrestled with the equipment for a few minutes, then threw her hands up in defeat.

“I’ll just tell everyone to tilt their heads,” she said, laughing.

Minutes later, the once empty room at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., was filled with art admirers and local artists, like Sommers, who gathered to discuss the state of public art in Evanston. The talk, organized by Evanston’s Public Art Committee, was meant to raise awareness about the importance of displaying art throughout the city, according to the committee’s chairwoman, Laura Saviano.

“A lot of people see (the art) and know about it, but they have a lot of questions,” Saviano said. “They need to know what it is, why we have it and why we need more of it. Ninety-nine percent of the population just don’t understand it.”

Sommers and fellow artists Adelheid Mers, Patrick McGee, Fred Nagelbach and Ted Boggs delivered presentations on their recent contributions to Evanston. Mers and McGee currently are collaborating on a series of aluminum murals to be placed outside of Evanston’s Fire Station 3, located at 1105 Central St.

“After 9/11, (creating) artwork for a fire station was very overwhelming for us,” Mers said.

After considering several different mural ideas, the two artists settled on localizing the artwork with seven four-by-four murals depicting historical and modern photos of Evanston firefighters. The murals also pay tribute to the three city firefighters who were killed in the line of duty.

Mers and McGee were not the only artists who incorporated Evanston citizens into their work. Sommers, whose paintings can be seen at the Davis CTA station, said she felt it was important to create public art that had the personality to appeal to the community.

“I was trying to take some of these people (riding the El) and make them public,” Sommers said. “I wanted to create a crowd.”

Though their artwork can now be seen throughout the city, the artists all discussed the patience required in order to wait for funding or approval of their work.

Nagelbach, who has two sculptures in front of the Levy Senior Citizens Center, 1700 Maple Ave., as well as some hidden sculptures in a sandbox outside the Noyes Center, said that he often had to wait for long periods of time before his artwork was unveiled.

Artists like Boggs, who does not receive funding for his murals, said that it is difficult to create art without monetary grants or assistance.

“Yes, I don’t have any funding,” Boggs said, holding one of his murals in his right hand while scratching his beard with his left. “Yes, I would like some.”

One of Bogg’s latest murals can be seen at the intersection of Emerson Street and Green Bay Road.

Members of the Public Art Committee, like co-chairman Ronald Kysiak, said they want to make Evanston a center for arts and culture.

“We have dozens of works of public art but don’t have a nickel to support it,” Kysiak said. “We don’t have a budget to do anything.”

Saviano said the funds are necessary because art would benefit both the appearance of Evanston and the attitude of its inhabitants.

“People think art is being frivolous and we don’t need it,” she said. “They need to see that it is essential to our lives. It makes people feel good about being (in Evanston).”

The artists said that despite monetary and time concerns, it is exciting to see the public appreciating their work.

“While at the Davis stop, I asked someone what they thought of (my painting),” Sommers said, smiling as she examined one of her murals on the slanted screen. “She said, ‘It’s awesome!'”

Reach Katie Ward at [email protected].