Adding Public Art to a Public Event

Last January, as a part of the Chicago Public Radio Presents… Series, we commissioned a professional graffiti artist, Revise CMW, to create a ‘work-in-progress’ throughout the day, an evolving mural that our audience could watch unfold as the day progressed. The piece was so good that we installed it in our Navy Pier Studio and is on display 365 days a year at WBEZ on Grand Avenue.

For the 2009/2010 Series, we’ve enlisted the creative spark of another local Chicago artist to creat something new and fresh and to be displayed here at the station.

Krista Franklin is a poet and visual artist whose mixed media collages have been published in literary and lifestyle magazines such as RATTLE, Indiana Review, and cultureserve.net.‚  Her artwork has been featured on the covers of several award-winning poetry collections and has been shown nationally in solo and group exhibitions.

For the EVOLVING FAITH: Meaning, Ethics, and Ideas event taking place Monday, November 16, Krista will be asking our audience to participate in the creation of a one-of-a-kind collage entitled “Speaking of Faith.”‚  Beginning at 6:00 p.m., audience members will enter the Fourth Presbyterian Church and, while enjoying a simple reception of miniature mugs of Roasted Tomato Soup, Pumpkin Tartlets and a mug of apple cider, will be asked to write one word or phrase that sums up a personal definition of faith or spiritual outlook. Franklin will then create, in part at the church and in part in her studios, a completed collage of ideas that will be displayed at Fourth Church for a short time and then moved to its permanent home at the WBEZ Studios. “My favorite part of bringing these pieces of art created as part of Chicago Public Radio Presents programs into the studios is that they are now a part of my every day life.‚  It’s really a selfish reason, I know, but I walk by “multiple personalities” by Revise multiple times a day & absolutely love the story behind it and its creation,” said Executive Producer Breeze Richardson.‚  “To think what the station will look like in a few more years, as this tradition continues — I love the real presence of Chicago through these pieces of art.” Below are a few examples of Franklin’s work:

Get your tickets or just swing by.‚  It’s sort of like writing your name in the wet cement in the sidewalk - you automatically become a permanent part of something bigger than yourself.

Rock!