Title: Willys Overland/International Harvester Tractor
Artist: Myklebust and Sears
Material: Carved granite and cast bronze
Two carved granite wheels from an antique Willey's Overland Jeep and an International Harvester tractor (one at each platform) and a bronze post that resembles stacked wheels and rims, and the words "Saint Paul" and "Minneapolis" carved, with arrows pointing their direction, in granite inlaid in the platforms.
Historically, the Westgate Station area has been a hub of industrial and commercial activity with various modes of transporting goods, products and people. The artwork at this station, Raymond Avenue Station and Union Depot Station represent that history through carved wheels of the vehicles that helped create St. Paul. Westgate Station has two carved granite wheels. On the westbound platform is a wheel from an International Harvester Tractor and on the eastbound platform is an antique Willy's-Overland (Jeep) wheel. A lamppost on the eastbound platform is wrapped by a seven-foot-tall bronze sculpture of stacked wheels, representing the many modes of wheel transport in St. Paul's history.
Andrea Myklebust and Stanton Sears are a husband-and-wife team that has worked collaboratively since 1993 and have created more than 70 large-scale public art projects for sites across the United States. They have many pieces throughout the Twin Cities area, including popular mosaics at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport.
Myklebust and Sears create context-driven sculptural works which are made meaningful by reflecting the natural and cultural histories of their sites. They use many materials including stone, metal, and terrazzo with many of their pieces incorporating lighting elements.
Blum was the recipient of 2006 Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant in New York.
Each artist chosen needs to create concept drawings for the public art at the LRT stations. These drawings envision what it could look like to install a piece at the station. These drawings are open to being re-thought and changed. Sometimes these drawings look similar to the final piece and sometimes they are vastly different. Here are some of the concept drawings for the work at Westgate Station. Can you see how they were changed?
