Cool Globes This Summer May 7, 2007
Posted by Steve in : The City, Chicago, The Cultural Conversation, The Arts in the City , trackback
It almost time for the new Chicago summer art installation — this time it is “Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet”, which is a public art project designed to increase awareness of and promote solutions to global warming. Artists are finishing preparations on 122 five-foot fiberglass globe sculptures, which are all ready to be mounted along the Chicago streets and lakefront from June to September 2007. I am not a big global warming guy but the artistry on these globes is fantastic! We’re hoping to get one that our artists at Park Community Church can decorate.
“‘Cool Globes’ is public art with a purpose. We are hoping to inspire with a call to action to bring solutions to global warming,” said Wendy Abrams, President and Founder of “Cool Globes”. Just as the 1999 Cows on Parade art installation brought visitors to Chicago, the promoters of “Cool Globes” hope that Chicagoans and tourists stroll the lakefront this summer and check out the artists works and learn more about the issue. Artist Nancy Bank’s globe is all about kids. “About kids experiencing nature loving and respecting nature.” Bank said.
All of the globes and the artists are paid for by donations from corporate sponsors. Some of the “Cool Globes” will bear messages from prominent Americans, including former President Bill Clinton, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Jodie Foster and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai. A globe with the theme — “Use Your Feet” — that encourages walking over driving will be covered in recycled athletic shoes from the Bears, Bulls and Sky as well as from Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield.
Unlike the wildly popular “Cows on Parade,” and the street furniture exhibit known as “Suite Home Chicago,” the 5-foot-diameter globes will not be scattered throughout the city. Rather, they’ll be shown “as an exhibition” at the Field Museum, with a few “teaser” globes on Michigan Avenue and Navy Pier directing people to the larger exhibit. A special Cool Globes opening gala will be held on June 2, 2007 to kick off the exhibition.
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