Arris

Arris, 1975

John Henry

Near McCormick Place

Intersection of Cermak Road and South Calumet Avenue

            Commissioned by the Amalgamated Trust and Savings Bank, Arris measures more than 47 feet in length and originally was located on a tiny strip of land, owned by the bank, between Dearborn Street and Plymouth Court. It was relocated to its present location in 1998 as part of the Chicago Gateway Green project, which has supported landscape design and the re-location of art works in order to create attractive “gateways” into the Loop.

            John Henry (born 1943) is a Kentucky native and son of a construction contractor. His facility with construction materials and metalworking techniques is apparent in Arris, a group of high-strength, hollow aluminum beams painted bright yellow and joined together in a dynamic composition that animates the environment. Consciously referencing the construction industry, the title Arris is a term used to indicate the angle formed when two surfaces of a building meet. Known for works that are monumental in both size and scale, Henry’s contribution to the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park at Governors State University (outside of Chicago), entitled Illinois Landscape #5, is one of the largest pieces of outdoor sculpture in the country, measuring 134 feet long, 24 feet wide and 36 feet high. 

Other works:

• Forecast

From Here to There

From Here to There, 1975

Richard Hunt

Dr. Martin Luther King Community Service Center

4311 South Cottage Grove Avenue

            Commissioned by the City of Chicago, this composition includes two 7-foot high welded bronze sculptures atop brick pedestals. Originally, the works were placed approximately 30 feet apart, with one positioned under an entrance overhang and the other in the open plaza, thus requiring viewers to join them as a single work in their mind. Currently, the two sculptures are separated completely, with one positioned on South Evans Street on the west side of the building and the other on Cottage Grove, so that one must pass through the enclosed lobby or walk around the building to encounter both pieces. 

            Throughout his career, many of Hunt’s sculptures have incorporated winged forms or shapes that suggest the possibility of flight. These two pieces offer such aspects as well. While one calls to mind the curvilinear shapes associated with birds, the other is more hard-edged and geometric, evoking the mechanistic angles of an airplane. In 1998, Hunt explained that his use of such forms was about “trying to achieve victory or freedom internally,” as well as “investigating ideas of personal and collective freedom.” These visual references to flight have resonances in the African-American experience, representing freedom and transcendence. Hunt has also contributed a powerful piece entitled I Have Been To The Mountain (1977) to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Memphis, Tennessee.

            The neighborhood that houses Hunt’s work in Chicago is one that is still struggling economically and stands as a reminder that King’s messages about racism and poverty in the United States still demand action. In 1959, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission declared Chicago the most racially segregated city in the country. A Census Data survey conducted in 2012 by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research determined that Chicago remains the most segregated city in the United States.


Other works:

• Building Growing
• Eagle Columns
• Fox Box Hybrid
• Freeform
• Slabs of the Sunburnt West
• We Will
• Why
• Winged Form

Have a Dream

Have a Dream, 1995

C. Siddha Sila

40th Street and King Drive

            Rev. C. Siddha Sila, one of the core artists in the Chicago Public Art Group,  began his career in the 1970’s lettering inspirational text onto WilliamWalker's and Mitchell Caton’s murals. Twenty years later, some of his most important pieces were created on the South Side, including Eternal Life, Love, Freedom (1991), New Life, New Love (1996) located at 1140 North Lamon, and this mural honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

            Using enamel paint on concrete, the artist combines Dr. King’s words with various images of him. African figures can also be seen in the background. Sadly, this mural not only shows signs of weathering, but vandalism. Graffiti even marks over Dr. King’s face.

Man on a Bench

Man on a Bench, 1986

George Segal

Park 474

Near Pearlstein Hall on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology

3300 South Federal Street

            George Segal (1924-2000) is best known for his life-like, whitewashed figures displayed in assembled environments that evoke activities of everyday life. The process involved placing bandages dipped in plaster on human models, resulting in statues that are convincingly human in scale, posture and features, but appear remote in their stillness and monochromatic presence. When Segal began casting in bronze, he maintained his signature white finish by sealing the pieces with white acrylic resin.

            This work was commissioned in 1986 by the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in honor of the centennial celebration of the birth of renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who designed the campus and many of its buildings and served the institution as program director and instructor. IIT chose Segal to create the first permanent outdoor sculpture for the campus.

            The figure appears to be an African American man relaxing on a wooden bench, a sight one would expect to see on a college campus but made strange by the ghostly appearance of the statue. Funding for the work came from major donors, such as Daniel J. Terra, but also from the B.F. Ferguson Fund, which requires that the artwork be on public land. Thus, IIT deeded the nine-foot by six-foot site that contains the work to the Chicago Park District. It has the distinction of being Chicago’s smallest park. 

Melville W. Fuller Bust

Melville W. Fuller Bust, 1913

William Ordway Partridge

Fuller Park

North end of courtyard
331 West 45th Street 

            An Illinois transplant from his home state of Maine, Melville W. Fuller established a law practice in Chicago and became active in politics. He managed Stephen Douglas's presidential campaign against Abraham Lincoln in 1860. After serving in the Illinois House of Representatives, he was selected by President Grover Cleveland to serve on the country's high court. As the 8th Chief Justice of the United States (1888 – 1910), Fuller is the only Chicagoan to reach that legal pinnacle. 

          Just three years after his appointment, William Ordway Partridge (1861–1930), a highly regarded American artist whose other Chicago works include the William Shakespeare Monument in Lincoln Park, sculpted a marble portrait bust of Fuller for the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. When a new park was named to honor Fuller after his death in 1910, park commissioners established a fund for a replica of the bust to be placed in the park. Almost overlooked today, the bronze bust stands on a pedestal located in an architectural niche in the courtyard adjacent to the park's gym and locker building.