Spring Break
CTA works to bring community and Loyola art to local el stations
Maria Randazzo
Issue date: 2/21/07 Section: News
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They call themselves the CTA. No, it's not the Chicago Transit Authority's train conductors or drivers of the 147 bus. This CTA is a group of Loyola students seeking to create a strong visual connection between the university and Rogers Park.
The acronym is no coincidence. Community Transforming Art (CTA) hopes to establish a bond by mounting artwork from the Loyola and Rogers Park communities onto the Loyola el stop.
CTA was formed during the Fall Semester when sophomores Anna Springer, Kelsey McManus, Emily Wilk, Cindy Cook, Lauren De Veau and Erin Stanley decided to spark a movement to personalize the el in order to foster an open relationship between Loyola and Rogers Park.
After a semester of brainstorming, McManus enrolled in a class called Artist as an Activist. New to the Loyola curriculum, it focuses on honing an artist's leadership skills to aid social problems and work within a community. Students received an assignment to collaborate with an activist group on a civic project. McManus saw the opportunity for CTA's vision to become a reality.
"It felt like the class was made for us," Springer, chair of CTA, said.
Five student teams chose which activist groups to collaborate with based on presentations from each organization. Before pitching their idea to the class, the girls ventured into Rogers Park to diffuse their ideas and receive feedback from community leaders, city officials and citizens. They attended Rogers Park art exhibits and aldermanic forums and are currently networking with local artists through the Rogers Park Web site.
For the presentation, they created a slideshow to the song "Art in Me" by Jars of Clay. It featured pictures of the barren Loyola station and images of what they hope it will look like.
The girls handed out puzzle pieces to their audience that read, "Forming Community Piece by Peace, Part by Part." On the back of each piece was the CTA's mission statement: "Increasing pride within Rogers Park and Loyola University by actively involving those within the community and the students of Loyola toward a goal of beautifying our neighborhood which we consider home."
The acronym is no coincidence. Community Transforming Art (CTA) hopes to establish a bond by mounting artwork from the Loyola and Rogers Park communities onto the Loyola el stop.
CTA was formed during the Fall Semester when sophomores Anna Springer, Kelsey McManus, Emily Wilk, Cindy Cook, Lauren De Veau and Erin Stanley decided to spark a movement to personalize the el in order to foster an open relationship between Loyola and Rogers Park.
After a semester of brainstorming, McManus enrolled in a class called Artist as an Activist. New to the Loyola curriculum, it focuses on honing an artist's leadership skills to aid social problems and work within a community. Students received an assignment to collaborate with an activist group on a civic project. McManus saw the opportunity for CTA's vision to become a reality.
"It felt like the class was made for us," Springer, chair of CTA, said.
Five student teams chose which activist groups to collaborate with based on presentations from each organization. Before pitching their idea to the class, the girls ventured into Rogers Park to diffuse their ideas and receive feedback from community leaders, city officials and citizens. They attended Rogers Park art exhibits and aldermanic forums and are currently networking with local artists through the Rogers Park Web site.
For the presentation, they created a slideshow to the song "Art in Me" by Jars of Clay. It featured pictures of the barren Loyola station and images of what they hope it will look like.
The girls handed out puzzle pieces to their audience that read, "Forming Community Piece by Peace, Part by Part." On the back of each piece was the CTA's mission statement: "Increasing pride within Rogers Park and Loyola University by actively involving those within the community and the students of Loyola toward a goal of beautifying our neighborhood which we consider home."