Visual Art in Munster, Indiana
To propagate local public art, the town of Munster gives a tax abatement to businesses in return for placing local public art in front of their businesses. Most have been in the form of whimsical outdoor metal sculptures. Culturally minded Munster has several other sculpture
artists that have graced the town over the years including the well known landmark located at the corner of Columbia Avenue and Ridge Road called "Worker's Sculpture" which was dedicated in 1976.
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Centennial Park
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“Prairie Passage & the Sentinels” (2009) by Terrence Karpowicz and Neil Goodman |
| 32 foot gateway which defines the entry to Centennial Park on Calumet Avenue in Munster, Indiana. |
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Grazing & Horsepower
These four sculptures are of three deer, a buck, a doe, and a fawn grazing on a hill, and of one Clydesdale Horse. Created by John Kearney, the pieces are made out automobile bumpers. The sculptures weigh between 400 to 1,000 pounds each. The Clydesdale stands around 9' 10" tall, the buck around 8' 10", the doe around 7' 10" and the fawn around 4' 10".
John Kearney creates welded steel sculptures from automobile bumpers and works in bronze. Large and small scale sculptures include themes that are primarily animal and figurative forms.
# 1 on Map of Visual Art Locations in Munster, Indiana.
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Double Dipper (customized w/Pepsi can)
and Little Sisters
Mark Lundeen, a highly realistic sculptor, created these two life-like pieces.
"Double Dipper", a bronze life-size piece of a Grandpa and a child enjoying an afternoon can of Pepsi Cola. (Original Double Dipper has the child holding an Ice Cream Treat.)
"Little Sisters", also a bronze life-size piece, is of two darling and lovable little
girls sitting on a stone
bench absorbed in their favorite book.
# 2 on Map of Visual Art Locations in Munster, Indiana.
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| The Boy & Nutrition
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The Boy & Nutrition atop a mosaic column.
Kathleen Farrell, president of Friends of Public Art in Joliet, created this piece. She holds an MFA in printmaking from the L'École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, an MA in cultural anthropology from Governors State University, and a BA in painting from Southern Illinois University. Kathleen is a studio painter, sculptor, and mosaicist specializing in art for labor unions. She writes, 'As much as I love to create art, I love to promote the love of art in others. I strongly believe that visual art can have a profound effect on the way a population feels about itself, which ultimately can transform the collective culture of that group. The community and labor union public art I create tells the often forgotten stories of the lives of ordinary people - their history, struggles, and hopes. I strive, through my art, to bring beauty and power to their stories.'
Kathleen Farrell information obtained from the Illinois Arts Alliance website.
# 4 on Map of Visual Art Locations in Munster, Indiana.
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Baker
A brightly colored 8 foot high, double faced baker, designed by the internationally renowned artist Karl Wirsum.
Karl Wirsum, as part of the Hairy Who group in the early 1960s developed a style that combines a graphic sensibility--vivid, flat colors, simplified cartoon-like figures--with a sense of humor evident in the works themselves and also in titles that second guess and play with words. Wirsum's imaginary creatures and super hero characters enact bizarre scenes. Figures from outer space perform domestic tasks such as mowing the lawn; space men happily orbit starry objects. His work exists in the buffer zone between real and imaginary, mundane domesticity and super hero powers, day-to-day existence and daydreams. Wirsum currently lives in Chicago.
Karl Wirsum information obtained from the Jean Albano Gallery website.
# 5 on Map of Visual Art Locations in Munster, Indiana.
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Skateboarding
Munster businesses voluntarily paid for outdoor art for either their own property or for donations to Munster's parks. For instance, William and Sally Eubank, owners of Heart to Heart Gallery, donated a sculpture of a skateboarder to the Munster Parks and Recreation Department. That sculpture is now at the skateboard area in Community Park.
#7 on Map of Visual Art Locations in Munster, Indiana.
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| Inspiration
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An 18-foot-tall, 8,000-pound whimsical stainless steel sculpture depicting a 1940s-era journalist and the tools of his trade is located at the entrance to The Times' Munster office along 45th Street.
"Inspiration," designed and created by nationally acclaimed artist Zachary Oxman, depicts the journalist, notebook in hand, sitting among the keys of an old Remington typewriter representation, pondering his next story. The keys rest on the typewriter's cylinder and their strikers create a backdrop for the figure. An unrolling length of newsprint serves as the sculpture's base.
The letters on the keys spell the word "thought," said Oxman, 38, of Bethesda, Md.
"I wanted to depict the combination of the thought, the tools and the technology that all are part of producing a newspaper," he said. "I try to determine the purpose of the design, the message. For me it was to depict the essence, the heart and soul of a newspaper."
The sculpture also is homage to the written word's power to inform, to illuminate, to persuade and to express a full range of human thought and emotion, Oxman said.
"The fact that it's made of steel is appropriate as it represents the (steel) industry that established Northwest Indiana," said Times Publisher Bill Masterson Jr. "The Times has been a part of that history for more than a century. The sculpture's size signifies the importance The Times has played in the region's development."
The giant work sits on a 12-ton slab of concrete and is so detailed observers can see the laces in the journalist's shoes, the lead in his pencil and the look of contemplation on his countenance.
For "Inspiration," Oxman used the "lost wax casting" method for the sculpture's figure, keys, typewriter return arm, plus for the letters and numbers on the typewriter's strikers. The remainder of the piece was fabricated.
Designing, engineering and fabricating the work took 18 months, said Oxman, who has been a professional artist for almost 20 years. His sculpture was transported from his studio in Maryland to Munster on an 18-wheel flatbed truck and moved to its permanent location by a 30-ton crane.
# 8 on Map of Visual Art Locations in Munster, Indiana.
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| The Community Veterans Memorial
Bronze and rock sculptures.
The new Memorial in Munster, Indiana is stunning, dramatic, heroic and brutal in its depiction of the suffering and sacrifice made by the soldiers who fought for their country in the 20th Century, and at the same time a beautiful example of public art.
# 9 on Map of Visual Art Locations in Munster, Indiana.
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Carmelite Shrines
In the Shrines you will find samples of GOD-created beauty collected from all parts of the world in the form of crystals and colorful rocks, some of which come alive upon being exposed to ultraviolet rays. The Shrines represent an expression of people's admiration and gratitude for Christ's redeeming Passion and His continuous concern and salvation of mankind.
The Carmelite Shrines are located at 1628 Ridge Road.
# 10 on Map of Visual Art Locations in Munster, Indiana.
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Bicentennial Obelisk
President of the Munster Bicentennial Commission Bill Hensley, in 1976/1977, directed the development of the Heritage Entrance to Community Park and commissioned an obelisk designed by Munster architect Douglas Warner surrounded by landscaped greenery.
# 11 on Map of Visual Art Locations in Munster, Indiana.
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Southwest Indian Design Bowl
Located at The Center For Visual And Performing Arts, 1040 Ridge Road.
The bowl is a southwest Indian design of laminated oak, maple, and walnut woods and was constructed from materials used in the construction projects of The Community Hospital. Handcrafted by John Juscik.
# 13 on Map of Visual Art Locations in Munster, Indiana.
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Bronze Bust of Don Powers
Created by Don Ingle of Evansville, Indiana
and located at The Center For Visual And Performing Arts, 1040 Ridge Road.
Don Powers has been recognized for his "substantial" contributions to Northwest Indiana. Among them include serving as a member of Purdue University's Board of Trustees; helping develop Purdue University Calumet; his association with Community Hospital; and his leadership for the Center for Visual and Performing Arts.
# 14 on Map of Visual Art Locations in Munster, Indiana.
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Home
The unique sculpture was created by Charlotte Lees and it displays visions of Lake Michigan, the dunes, and a roofline representing both industry and residential housing in Northwest Indiana. Aluminum sculpture represents the dreams associated with first home ownership and would incorporate elements of components. The sculpture "Home" was unveiled at the Peoples Bank Munster Headquarters,
9204 Columbia Avenue as part of the Munster Public Art Program.
# 15 on Map of Visual Art Locations in Munster, Indiana.
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Knute Rockne All-American
Knute Rockne All-American a painting by Mitch Markovitz commissioned to help celebrate the world premiere of the Musical "Knute Rockne All-American" at the Theater at the Center 2008
Photo Provided by:
Patty Spillers
Marketing Coordinator
Theatre at the Center
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