St. Louis Metro Arts in Transit sculpture unveiled at MetroLink station

Regional Transportation District Anyone who has ever rifled through pockets or purse looking for a lost item will connect immediately with a public-art sculpture dedicated by Metro Arts in Transit (AIT) at the MetroLink Station and MetroBus Transfer Center on St. Charles Rock Road in Pagedale. The sculpture - titled Honey, Where's My Metro Pass - portrays that experience in a whimsical presentation of oversized coins, keys, a crumpled receipt and a lip balm that could have been spilled along the MetroLink platform by a frazzled passenger.

Fabricated in bronze,
steel and aluminum, the artwork was unveiled and dedicated by its sculptors,
Nick Lang and Thad Duhigg, both of the Department of Art and Design at Southern
Illinois University Edwardsville. They were joined by Aaron Hamilton, one of
the apprentices in a 2007 summer art class led by Lang and teaching artist
Allen Kmetz at St. Louis ArtWorks who provided concepts, designs and models
that helped inspire the sculpture. A group from the 2010 class of apprentices
at 
St. Louis ArtWorks joined in the dedication.

David Allen, Director of
AIT, said the artists’ concept makes the sculpture more accessible and
enjoyable as a representation of the nearly universal experience of searching
for an item in your pockets or purse.

"It was a pleasure
working with St. Louis ArtWorks on this project," Allen said. "I could tell
that the artists and the student apprentices had a lot of fun, while
simultaneously taking their work very seriously and producing a sculpture that
complements and becomes part of its environment."

Artist Thad Duhigg said, "This
project was inspired in large part by St. Louis ArtWorks and specifically their
energetic high-school students who served as apprentices. It was their
observations about MetroLink passengers that guided the themes of this work."

AIT commissioned the
sculpture after selecting Lang and Duhigg in a competition. Lang is a sculpture
professor in the Department of Art & Design at SIUE where Duhigg is
chairman of the department.

Hamilton, who is
completing his fourth year as a summer apprentice at St. Louis Artworks, was
among Lang’s apprentices who began studying passengers on MetroLink to look for
common objects that could be used to represent their commuting experience.
Using that process for their basic concept, the apprentices assembled a list of
items they had observed and then prepared artistic models to illustrate them.
Those small pieces of art became the inspiration for Lang and Duhigg, whose
primary change was to select gender-neutral items to feature in their
sculpture.

Priscilla Block,
Executive Director of St. Louis Artworks, said apprentices for each summer’s
class are chosen from applications by students from across the St. Louis
region. The apprentices earn minimum wage while working five days a week on art
projects. "The program creates a sense of ownership for the apprentices and
their families and is a great way to develop an appreciation and support for
public art in the communities," Block said.

Allen adds, "The artwork at
Metro locations not only enhances transit customers’ experiences, but they
create more attractive spaces that add value to nearby homes and businesses.
Attractive public spaces help bring in tourists, business development and new
jobs to communities. And it’s an added bonus that these projects provide jobs
for the local artists, engineers and fabricators who work on them."