» Arts in Transit

.Most of us have been there.  We’re sitting on MetroLink and the fare inspector is making her way down the aisle.  Quick, where did we put our Metro pass?  We ruffle through our backpack, empty our pockets, and apologize profusely until we produce the pass or ticket triumphantly from its deep hiding place.  That moment, common to many Metro riders, was the inspiration for the new art sculpture installed at the St. Charles Rock Road MetroLink Station, Honey, Where’s My Metro Pass?, by local artists Nick Lang and Thad Duhigg.  Lang and Duhigg, both of the Department of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University and Edwardsville, worked with student apprentices from St. Louis ArtWorks to create the concept for the piece. Today, the artists, students and staff from ArtWorks, Metro employees and supporters gathered at the Rock Road Station to dedicate the sculpture, which is fabricated in bronze, steel and aluminum.

From left to right: Arts in Transit Director David Allen, artist Nick Lang, St. Louis ArtWorks apprentice Aaron Hamilton, artist Thad Duhigg, and Metro Board Commissioner Kevin Cahill

ArtWorks student apprentice Aaron Hamilton, who is completing his fourth year as a summer apprentice, joined in the celebration. During a 2007 summer art class led by Lang and teaching artist Allen Kmetz at ArtWorks, the students provided concepts, designs and models that helped inspire the sculpture.  The students began studying MetroLink passengers to look for common objects that could be used to represent their commuting experience.  The apprentices then created artistic models to illustrate them.  Honey, Where’s My Metro Pass? includes a set of keys and keychain, coin change, a stick of lip balm and a crumpled receipt.  As part of the St. Louis ArtWorks program the apprentices earn minimum wage while working five days a week on art projects that will be sold or shown publicly.  This sculpture, a collaboration between local artists, youth, and the arts community, will now be available for all transit riders in St. Louis.

Aaron Hamilton, one of the apprentices in a 2007 St. Louis ArtWorks class that provided concepts, designs and models that helped inspire the sculpture.

The sculpture is part of Metro’s Arts in Transit program that seeks to enhance communities and the transit experience through public art that appears throughout the design and environment of the transit system.  What’s your favorite piece of public art on the Metro system?

Artist Nick Lang's daughter enjoying her father's work.

Watching trains with you
on the glassed-in bridge, your nose
and mine pink with the cold,
our mittened hands waving
at the engines and cars
rumbling below our feet,
I hear again the chant your heart
made before you were born.
Mama, you say now, train, train!
Your mouth makes the sound
of their metallic glissade: tss tss tss.

–”Watching Trains with You”, Katherine Gordon, Poetry in Motion winner, 2010

Public transit is all about the shared experience of traveling through our common spaces.  On public transit we travel through our neighborhoods, our cities, on our roads, on our rails.  At the same time, it is often a personal journey – sitting quietly by ourselves, going from one of our places to the next.  Poetry can be a very personal experience, with internal reactions, and it can resonate easily with our shared experiences.

If you’ve ever ridden a train or bus on Metro Transit and looked up at the advertisements clinging overhead, you might have noticed that some of them feature various poems.  They do not necessarily have anything to do with public transit, though some might.  But like public art, the Poetry in Motion program brings the arts to the community while enhancing the rider experience.  Tired? Crabby coming home from work? Read some poetry!  Think about the beautiful things in life!  When was the last time you read a poem? You should.  Your high-school English teacher would be very happy with you.

Poetry in Motion 2010 Winners

The Poetry in Motion program requests poetry submissions from the bi-state region, and 15 poems were chosen by a panel of judges for the 2010 contest.  You can see a full list of the winners, their poems, and judges at the Arts in Transit website.  I was struck with the large number of young poets represented in this year’s winners, and also by the diverse beauty of the images inspired by their poetry.

On Thursday, May 20, as part of the 2010 Poetry in Motion Reading and Reception, these literary artists from the bi-state area will get a chance to share their poems, along with readings from the guest of honor poet Sally van Doren.  Hip-hop poet Jason Braun will serve as emcee for the evening.

The event will take place at the Regional Arts Commission, located at 6128 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63112. Doors open at 6 p.m. featuring music by Essence East.  Wine and light refreshments will be served.

We hope you come and witness the intersection of local poetry, public arts and transit.  And certainly the next time you are riding Metro, take a moment, look up, and enjoy.

The Hive at Delmar Loop Transfer Center. Photo by Dan Donovan.

Last night, a story on KTVI discussed the installation of two public art pieces at MetroLink’s Delmar and Richmond Heights stations, asking why Metro had spent money in that way. We tackled this question last October when Metro President and CEO Bob Baer was interviewed for the story, and we did a short video about the Hive artwork at Delmar.

But we think the answer to the question of why we install art at transit stations is relatively simple: It’s required as a condition on the funding we get through the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) and it’s a valuable way to enhance public transit as a vital part of our community.

Under the Transit Enhancements Section of FTA regulations, a transit agency in a region with a population of 200,000 or more must spend at least 1 percent of the federal funds it receives on projects that enhance transit activities. While one percent is the FTA minimum, communities often spend more to ensure that transit enhances, rather than detracts from, the urban landscape. The FTA requires that level of spending because it believes the visual quality of the nation’s public-transit systems has a profound impact on transit customers and communities at large. Public-transit systems should be positive symbols for cities to attract local riders, tourists and the attention of decision-makers for national and international events. Good design and art can:

•    Improve the appearance and safety of a facility
•    Give vibrancy to public spaces
•    Make customers feel welcome
•    Contribute to the creation of livable communities.

How does art help accomplish that?

•    More attractive spaces add value to the homes and businesses around the transit plazas
•    People take better care of more attractive spaces, which reduces the cost of repairing vandalism
•    It attracts customers, adding to a sense of safety and comfort while using the space
•    Regions enhance their public spaces to attract tourism

An added bonus is the financial impact on the community through the employment of local engineers and fabricators used on the projects.
Let’s look at how much was spent on the Hive sculpture at the Delmar Transit Plaza in July 2009.

•    FTA grant: $69,291
•    Local matching funds required by the FTA: $17,322
•    A total of $86,613

How much was spent on the Mime sculpture at the Richmond Heights MetroLink Station in July 2009?

•    Local capital funds from the Cross County project: $140,000

These artworks are installed across Metro’s system by our Arts in Transit program, which began in 1986 to coordinate the efforts of artists, engineers and architects in the design of the MetroLink light-rail system. It has since installed many public art pieces, as well as developed a curriculum guide for teachers, coordinated ongoing community projects, and installed literary works in buses and trains.

Questions about our public art in transit? Leave your comments below.

The Missouri Botanical Garden’s Green Homes Festival is this Saturday, and don’t forget that, in addition to all the eco-friendly fun they have planned, you can drop by and help paint the bus! (Space is limited, but fun is a sure thing!)

In the meantime, check out this video that the Hoover Boys & Girls Club put up regarding their bus painting event a few weeks ago:

(Click here if you don’t see the video embedded in this post.)

Photo by Dan Donovan

On Thursday (September 10), Metro’s Arts in Transit will be hosting the dedication ceremony for artist Janet Lofquist’s new sculpture. The piece was commissioned by Metro for the Delmar Loop Transit Plaza. The ceremony is open to the public, so if you’ve ever been curious about public art, Metro’s Arts in Transit program, or just want to see a fascinating new work with a chance to talk directly to the artist, feel free to come out.

The piece is called “Hive.” To see why, check out this video clip of  the artist discussing her piece with former Metro intern Matt. (Also this week’s Featured Video in the sidebar!) Ms. Lofquist’s artist statement says that her work on this piece was inspired by the regeneration of the urban community:

As an understood symbol for the collective spirit of the community, [the beehive] has a cultural, political, and religious history. What starts out as a beehive shape, the hexagonal geometry transitions into a spiral of growth and ends in an abstracted question mark.

The ceremony will take place at 6p.m. at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar Blvd., followed by viewing the piece and one-on-one Q&A with the artist at the site, Delmar Transit Plaza across from the Delmar Loop MetroLink Station. Feel free to send us your photos of the sculpture so we can share them on the blog.

UPDATE: The Post-Dispatch publishes a nice article about Hive.

Close your eyes and picture a Metro bus: you see the cheery red & blue, the big “M” on the front, right? But you’ve seen other buses tooling around town that don’t look anything like our typical bus. Some of these are “wrapped” buses (opens a .pdf file) that advertisers pay for. But some are art buses, and, thanks to the Missouri Botanical Garden, now you get a chance to paint one!

Yes, you read that right. As a part of the celebration of the Garden’s EarthWays Center Green Homes Festival, the Missouri Botanical Garden is sponsoring a bus-painting event at the festival on Saturday, September 26, from noon to 2 p.m. at Grandel Square. Wouldn’t you love to paint an art bus mural? Imagine how fun it will be the first time you spot your artwork rolling around St. Louis! Wear old clothes and come with a sense of fun, to enjoy the festival and the bus painting, where you can also shop at a Green Craft Show and Sale, watch solar cars race, and attend sustainable-living workshops. And while you’re out there, say hi to our Arts in Transit crew who work to coordinate these fun projects for Metro.