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 in a series of three public meetings held at; the Levy Senior Center, Weissbourd Holmes Center and the Lake Street Church 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 can identify and project our collective hopes for our community.

There is still time to send me your comments, thoughts and ideas so I can incorporate them into the ‘Conversation’. These community conversations would shape and inform the selection of symbols, stories and words which are in the process of being carved into the surface of each chair and the bronze inlays embedded into the platform thus giving community members a stake in Conversations; Here and Now, making it a place of living memory.

We first built the chairs out of Styrofoam to play with their size, shape and relationship to each other. Once that was finalized, we started building the wax models.

For more information about Conversations; Here and Now , email indirajohnson@comcast.net

Click on the pictures to see an enlargement!