Finally done! My Union Depot Commission is up!

Yes, it's finally done!

It's been a long road - almost a year this spring when I got the word that I was awarded my first public art commission. I learned a lot in this process and I hope that everyone enjoys the result.

Anyway, here's some brief explanations of the pieces.

Each piece has a train related name - The Occidental Express, The East Friesian Flyer and the Asymtotic Line. The pieces are based on the bas relief frieze that runs directly over the pieces and are mean to represent the construction of the Trans Continental Rail Line from the past (as seen from the west coast) to the present ( 1920's when the station was built) to a 'retro-futuristic' monorail like the types of artist renderings I'd see as a kid in the late sixties and early seventies. The sails on the covered wagon are a play on the idea of a covered wagon being called a 'prairie schooner'. I chose a 'junk', a Chinese boat to represent the workers from China who labored to build the rail line from the west (Occidental) coast. The train in the middle is to represent my ancestors who came from Ostfriesland/Frislan a region that straddles the German/Dutch boarder. I based the piece on my grandmother's black flowered sewing machine and pictured how she may have arrived from Germany via Ellis Island. The last piece is a make believe piece in that no one really knows what the future holds so why not make it fantastic? It is loosely based on an 'X-Wing' fighter from Star Wars, my Japanese chef's knife and a hand held vacuum cleaner.
Each bridge/trestle represents a bridge in downtown St. Paul. The wooden bridge has the shape of the Robert Street Bridge, the lift bridge is the most literal since it mimics the Union Pacific Lift Bridge trestle and the final one is based on the High Bridge. I designed the pieces to tilt down to represent the setting sun of the past, the straight one in the middle to represent the present and the one pointing up as the future.

One of my local artist friends accused me one time of not making anything that doesn't have to do with flight. I think he may be right.
Each of these pieces has some sort of flight element to it either being sails, aircraft wings or graphic bird wings. You can decide which is which from the pix. I did also place my first pair of 'wings' from my first jet flight when I was 25 to a ceramic artists convention in Tempe, AZ. I asked for a pair of 'wings' that they give to kids on their first flight on a plane. Since I was flying North West Airlines (a now defunct MN airline) they have the NWA logo with gold wings on each side. I placed it on the front of the 'future train' piece as a little homage to them and my first trip.

Well, hopefully, people will enjoy these pieces as much and if not more than I did designing and making them. I hope that people will use them as markers to where they can find their appropriate exit to a bus, local train or high speed rail to Chicago and beyond.
Thank you to everyone who was involved in making this process happen.