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.
International Harvester Tractor
Willy’s Overland Jeep
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.
myklebustsears.com
Terrazzo floor image by Mykleburst and Sears at the Minneapolis/Saint Paul International Airport
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?
