CTA selects artists for Red Line stops

The CTA has selected seven artists to create artwork for seven Red Line stations that underwent renovations last year.

The CTA board on Wednesday approved the project funding, which won't exceed $381,900. More than 200 artists submitted their ideas for the North Side stations, CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase said.

"This was a pretty intensive process to select these folks," Chase said. "It's a diverse mix of artists who will soon reveal their plans."

Lynn Basa of Logan Square said she will create a colorful mosaic that will "evoke flowers" at the Argyle stop in Uptown.

"I basically just followed my own aesthetic," said Basa, an abstract painter who teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. "I felt like the CTA has been going in a fairly sophisticated way in the art that it's choosing."

For the Berwyn stop in Edgewater, West Town sculptor Dorothy Hughes said she plans to create a ceramic piece that will be 8 feet wide and 5 feet tall and a "reflection of natural things in the environment."

"It's like a wand moving through the landscape bringing high and low together," Hughes said. She said she hasn't visited the Berwyn stop but has seen pictures of the wall where her art will go.

Other artists selected: Thomas Denlinger for the Jarvis stop in Rogers Park; Harold Mendez for the Morse stop in Rogers Park; Jim Bachor for the Thorndale stop in Edgewater; Shin Gray Studio for the Granville stop in Edgewater; and Deedee Morrison for the Lawrence stop in Uptown.

The seven stations underwent renovations last year that included painting walls, improving lighting and repairing viaducts. During the $86 million overhaul, the stations were closed for six weeks on a rolling basis.

The art is expected to be installed by the end of the year, Chase said. The CTA has more than 50 pieces of art at 40 stations.