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About….

The Story of the Little School Under the ‘L’, Under the ‘L’

A Public Art project by Bro. Mark Elder,cm and students from ‘Creating Murals’ (Art 291) of DePaul University. 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, & 2021. 

Overview:

        The idea here is to create art that could be a narrative of DePaul and it’s history.  To use the very columns (piers) that are holding up the CTA and tell the story of the ‘Little School under the L’ literally under the ‘L’.  Making individual pieces of art out of these columns/piers. 

         Each Spring (starting in 2016), the approved designs could be worked on by a class that I would teach as public art for Junior Year Experiential credit. (Specifically Art 291.)  But the final installation (in the following summer) and execution would rest with me.  Each spring for the next 6 years, this class would take on 4 pillars each time the class is offered.

        Non-woven polytab (parachute) material is what all the compositions are painted on.  Then the completed pieces are installed much like wallpaper.  We used artists acrylic paints, and acrylic gel as an adhesive to fix the painted polytab material to the column.

(Polytab and acrylic paints have been widely used materials for public art pieces, for over 35 years.  They have been proven safe in many circles.)

        Each column or pier selected, will have some text (copy) on it.  This will be for the benefit of informing viewers more about the selected theme.  

 

Themes: 

       Groups of 4 columns (piers) will be arranged in a series of 20 year periods.  The first row representing the opening generation of DePaul (1898-1918) is just north of Belden at the south end of the parking lot.  Individuals and their stories with DePaul have been featured.  Events or the story of a group that have an association with DePaul are featured as well.  It was also decided early on that these pillar themes will not be done in a consecutive historical order, but rather more randomly to help celebrate a possible anniversary or similar event.  The visitor can see how this works by taking a look at the map below….  

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