Artist’S Central and Foremost Provides Shade

A Stroke of Genius.Your guide to the art along the Green Line. The Station Art & Design Program: Where the community is the canvas. -1- -2- -3- It’s lIKE AN ART MUSEUM ON WHEELS. The next time you hop on DART Rail, take each station include the platform paving, a close look out the window as the train the column cladding, the landscape design, approaches each station. You’ll witness the canopy structure and the roof color. wonderful works of D’ART throughout From sculptures and gateways to clocks the system! Launched in 1988, DART’s and mobiles, each station applies art award-winning Station Art & Design elements in a unique way appropriate Program makes the community a canvas, to a particular community. showcasing uncommon works of public art. In fact, no other institution in the Greater FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION. Dallas area offers as much art to the public at no charge. With the completion of the In executing the vision, the primary Green Line, DART has added a new wing concern is the daily operation of the to its ever-growing art collection! station. This means the most important considerations include things like pedestrian THE WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE access, bus boarding, drop off points and, SUM OF ITS PARTS. in some cases, a park and ride component. The goal is to create a station that is as At any rail station, the constituent parts usable as it is attractive. Landscaping of an art project – from the station canopies along the platform, for example, not only and columns to the pavers and enhances the visual aesthetics, it also first landscaping – support the artist’s central and foremost provides shade. From the theme. When you look at a particular windscreens and seating to the planters project, look for the big picture. See the and retaining walls, you can see how vision driving these individual elements, a particular artistic element satisfies a and how it reflects the community. rider’s basic needs. The intrinsic design opportunities at -3- -4- -5- A BLANK CANVAS. The art and design process does not team reports back with their happen quickly. It is a multi-stage process, recommendations so that the site with adequate time at each stage to layout process can begin. allow for due consideration. First, DART hosts a kickoff meeting for the design COMMISSIONED BY THE COMMUNITY. team – made up of the station artist or artists, architects, engineers, designers, The artist chosen for each station has contractors and representatives from DART an awesome responsibility. It is a and the community. While the station artist responsibility that Charlotte Lindsey – who has the vision, it takes a team of dedicated along with her husband Larry Enge acted people to execute that vision. After the as the station artists for Trinity Mills Station kickoff, a community orientation meeting and North Carrollton/Frankford Station – is scheduled, then the team makes a site took very seriously. “The community is visit to survey the area. giving you the story, and you have the opportunity to tell that story,” Lindsey says. Subsequently, an artistic values statement is submitted. Then, DART holds its first The artist truly takes the lead on the workshop. This meeting allows the project, acting as a torchbearer for their community to explore the unique history neighbors. The architects, engineers, of their area to see how that might shape designers and contractors bear the the vision for the station. A second burden of carrying out the artist’s workshop follows where the community vision, which ultimately represents zeros in on the chosen vision and how it the community’s vision. is to be executed. Finally, the design -5- THINKING INSIDE THE BOX. DART’s Station Art & Design Program skills have to work that much harder applies its out-of-the-box thinking within than your average right-brained artist. specific parameters. It is not enough to just be art; the art has to work. Given the high FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD. usage of these projects and their constant exposure to the elements, the design team These projects have the chance to seeks durable, low-maintenance materials change not only a station’s appearance, and a cost-effective overall design. The but also a community’s. team has to consider how the station’s on-going use might affect their finished “Public art marks a place as individual product, including its resistance to abuse. and important. It honors the community. It can take something ordinary and The finished design must be compatible make it extraordinary,” Lindsey says, with DART’s overall system, one that adding, “It creates so much excitement enhances the riders’ comfort, safety and in the community, which can be an security, while also enabling efficient aspect of community building. It also movement. The design must also be makes art accessible. You don’t have to reflective of the neighboring community. go into an institution or a gallery if it’s All of these considerations again in the columns and the paving.” demonstrate how the design team’s creative -6- -7- FOR THE ARTIst’s good. By creating art that makes the community In a similar vein, Julie Cohn, the feel good about itself, these artists often artist for Deep Ellum Station, says find joy themselves. these projects leave a lasting legacy for generations to come. Baylor Station artist Karen Blessen enjoys seeing her vision at work in daily life. “It is something I am proud to show my 10-year old daughter and know “I love sitting at the coffee shop near the that it will be there when she is old station, watching people and dogs strolling enough to ride DART by herself…it is through the tall grasses in the park, then especially meaningful to me to have walking through the park and enjoying it be in Deep Ellum where I officed the detail and color of the mosaics in the for a decade, witnessing the ongoing sidewalks,” she says. evolution of that neighborhood.” Philip Lamb, station artist for Bachman Now that you understand how Station, points out that having the DART’s Station Art & Design Program opportunity to work locally is meaningful. works, let’s explore the finished art along the Green Line. “Having a public artwork in any community leaves a legacy of one’s career as an artist, but it is especially significant when the artwork is in the city in which the artist lives.” -7- -8- -9- Artist: Leticia Huerta Buckner Station Location: Buckner Boulevard and Elam Road THREE UNIQUE STATIONS. ONE EVOLVING STORY. The three southern-most stations along of long ago – the hardworking people who the Green Line tell a story of evolution. made the life we enjoy today possible. Viewed as a single entity, these stations show how society has, over time, evolved The fencing also has a riveted look, but from the era of hunter-gatherers, to the the real attractions are the 7’ x 4’ art panels pioneer era, on to the industrial revolution. embedded into the fence. Seventeen The two artists who had the vision for polycarbonate panels, each featuring a these three stations worked together to different fabric design from the 1900s to weave this story of change. the present, offer the viewer a brief history of textile design. The southeast community has a rich heritage, one with a long link to rail. The windscreens depict machine parts, Historically, the railroad promised a new magnified and toned in primary colors. way of life for settlers, an influx of new This splash of color adds a little variety to experiences and ideas. This design echoes the otherwise monochromatic look of the rail’s past – using the brown and gold station. The platform is paved with a mix of colors you might see at an old train stop, light and dark pavers and features a circular combined with the rivets and metalwork motif reminiscent of the artwork from the from the industrial age. industrial era, as well as the wheels of machinery used in manufacturing. The station features sleek steel columns riveted together to echo the look of Despite its historical focus, the station has industrial machinery. Containing seams as if been given a modern feel by artist Leticia assembled with a rivet gun, these columns Huerta. It’s inspired by the past but living in imply the strength of the factory workers the present – a station that urges riders to look back as they move forward. -9- -10- -11- Lake June Station Location: Lake June Road and US Highway 175 The second in this evolutionary series, of an inviting spring from Pemberton’s Lake June Station pays homage to the Farm. Painted in gold, yellow and white, area’s agricultural roots, telling the story the columns also echo the appearance of the pioneers that once called this place of a furrowed field. home. Their lifestyle revolved around a cyclical calendar of planting, harvesting The station landscaping and fencing and preparing for the next season – a life are all in rows, much like crop rows of balance. Artist Viola Delgado captured in a field. this concept beautifully by using a mix of organic shapes, natural materials and The windscreens use sepia-tone vibrant colors. photographs of farming equipment, as well as the words of noted poet Since farming communities grew up Susan Davis. Her poem “Farm Days” around rivers, the artist used the paving beautifully completes the station to symbolize a river. The platform is made concept, telling the story of a Artist: up of blue concrete pavers in a stream-like farming community.

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