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Public Art Tour ELGIN When it comes to indoor artwork, we rarely consider the importance of the spaces that surround it. What lies behind becomes an afterthought; what’s in the foreground is all we see. Not so in Elgin. Consider the rainbow-colored “1835 Exhibit” sculpture that brightens the city’s river walk (see cover). Davis McCarty’s piece is a geometry teacher’s dream: a collection of multicolored plexiglass shards that erupt from a star-shaped core, as if McCarty had frozen them in mid-explosion. Depending on the position of the sun—not to mention the direction from which visitors approach the piece—the sculpture spills different blocks, quivers, and polygons of light onto the nearby sidewalk. The piece’s beauty is a direct product of its riverfront surroundings. When the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission funded its self-guided public art tour in 2016, it wanted to push against the tired notion that art is an elitist endeavor. By using urban spaces less as backdrops and more as co-creators, the commission hoped to create a three-way dialogue between the town, the art, and residents. With that aim, Elgin commissioned mural artists to create high art in what some might consider ordinary places. Melina Scotte’s vibrant “Las Raices del Alma” (“Roots of the Soul”) (upper left) depicts a woman in repose, but applies bright yellows, teals, and oranges onto a drab parking deck. And consider the striking “Shape of Happiness” sculpture by Ben Pierce (lower left), which suspends giant circles in the air. It’s meant to capture the fevered joy of children chasing bubbles, but was strategically placed in a spot designed to encourage people to sit on benches and slow down their daily lives.
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