This project is a community invitation to help create a piece of public art.
The Project –
Janet Austin and Instituto Gráfico de Chicago (IGC) are creating a public sculpture to be permanently installed at the Logan Square Blue Line CTA station in Chicago.
The Big Idea –
Instead of just making the sculpture by themselves in a studio, the artists want the artwork to reflect the actual people of Chicago. They want it to tell stories about how we travel through the city, what we see every day, and how we welcome people to our neighborhoods.
How You Can Get Involved –
They are hosting free poetry and printmaking (drawing/stamping) workshops this summer. Follow them on Instagram to learn more about upcoming workshops and events!
The Goal –
If you go to a workshop or catch them at a festival, the poem you write or the drawing/print you make may be selected and literally be embedded (built into) the final sculpture.
In Short –
They are asking you — and anyone else in Chicago — to come hang out, make some art, and have your voice become a permanent part of a CTA train station. It’s a way to turn a public transit stop into a community scrapbook.
Sculpture for CTA Blue Line Station
Instituto Grafico De Chicago
at the Interactive Arts Tent
June 27 + 28, 2026
12 – 5 p
The Instituto Gráfico de Chicago (IGC) is dedicated to maintaining the critical activist tradition of Latino printmaking that unites communities of struggle around the world. They are inspired by the socio-political art of Mexico's Taller de Grafica Popular (The People's Print Workshop) and use their art as a platform to inform and generate community discourse about urgent social issues. IGC believes that art is not separate from public life.
IGC advances the legacy and vitality of printmaking by fostering collaboration and solidarity amongst print artists through transnational dialogue and art making. They also create programming outside of formal education settings that celebrates and demystifies printmaking techniques and process for the public. IGC's praxis responds to the social conditions that impede equity and access to art-making and critical consciousness.
Over the past 25 years, Janet Austin has produced a rich body of work in both the studio and the public realm. By combining traditional sculptural materials—including glass, steel, bronze, ceramic, concrete, and mosaic—and frequently incorporating text, she creates works that are both visually compelling and intellectually engaging. From intimate bronzes such as Larvae for a Better Tomorrow, to monumental outdoor sculptures like The Nightingale in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, to expansive land art projects such as Embark/Embrace on San Juan Island, Washington, Austin’s work takes many forms.
Accessibility is an essential component of her practice, achieved through approachable subject matter and opportunities for direct participation. By inviting community engagement, she creates work that connects with a broad and diverse audience.
Jose Luis Gutierrez (elgtz) was born and raised in Chicago, IL., he is an artist and a founding member of Instituto Grafico de Chicago (IGC) a printmaking organization that has organized the annual printmaking festival “Grabadolandia” in the Pilsen Neighborhood for the past thirteen years. He is a Chicago Public Schools art teacher, teaching artist, art education consultant, veteran and musician. He was formerly the associate director of education at the National Museum of Mexican art where he oversaw after-school and community art programs that were implemented in the Chicagoland area. He curated art exhibitions and developed educational curriculum related to art exhibitions. Work he continues to do through IGC. His artwork and music explore social issues like: relationships, politics, and idiosyncrasies of the human and social condition. He strives to build collaborative art projects, curriculum and music that address issues of identity, race, self-expression and social justice. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign with a dual Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting and Art Education and earned a Master of Arts in Art Education from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.