Conversations

The City of Evanston, Raymond Park Public Art Project , Conversations; Here and Now

Conversations; Here and Now presents a central space that’s empty; yet full of the possibility for dialog and understanding. This interior space is created by a circular arrangement of seven bronze chairs each of which is intricately carved with words and symbols that are the result of community conversations representative of Evanston’s rich history, its diverse customs and ethnicities, its creative energy and its collective hopes and dreams as recognized by its residents. Chairs, objects that are intimately familiar to most people become vehicles of communication, bridging differences and allowing common goals and concerns to flourish.

Commissioned by the Curley family Conversations; Here and Now is a memorial to their mother, Isabel Alvarez Maclean and the citizens of Evanston.

Evanston is a community with a long history that reaches back to its first inhabitants, the Pottawattamie Indians and forward through time with a continual back and forth of new residents, European, African American, and the current influx of immigrants from Latin America and Asia. In order to represent these different voices, Conversations; Here and Now began with a civic dialog held at various sites in Evanston.

Meetings were designed to facilitate the listening to and telling of stories and sharing of memories thus building an understanding of what is important to each of us so that together we could identify and project our collective hopes for our community.