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Apr 26, 2024

Hunting for hidden artwork at Evanston's Civic Center

Sign up for our free newsletter to have Evanston news delivered directly to your inbox every weekday! Now that the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center is open to the public once again, I feel compelled to

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Now that the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center is open to the public once again, I feel compelled to call attention to some public artworks by women there that are not easily seen – in fact, I’d dare to call them “hidden.”Two large, vibrant abstract landscapes were donated to the City of Evanston by the family of Rosemary Zwick (1925-1995), a well-known Chicago-area artist. With her husband, Sidney, a community activist, and their four children, the Zwicks lived in Evanston for many years, in a house brimming with her artwork.

Along with her mother, Ida Pearce, for 18 years (1962-1980) Rosemary Zwick owned and operated an art gallery at 1629 Oak Ave., across from the main post office. There they sold painting, prints, sculpture and crafts – thus the name “4 Arts Gallery.”

Zwick’s two gifted oil paintings hung for many years in the wide, second-floor hallway of the Civic Center, where they were seen by alders and citizens on their way to meetings, applicants seeking building permits, visitors to the city manager – everyone.

Rosemary Zwick was a painter, printmaker, sculptor and ceramic artist. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa and during her career studied with the famous Max Kahn and Phillip Guston, among others. Her work was exhibited around the country and in prominent museums. The Art Institute of Chicago owns two of her prints.

Suddenly the paintings were gone. They turned up at the very north end of the center, ground floor (basement), hanging in a suite for the Northwest Center Against Sexual Assault. Doors were closed and visits were by appointment only. (Who made this decision anyway?)

The city no longer supports CASA, the executive director of that agency said by phone in the spring, and that area in the Civic Center is no longer closed off but stands open and “welcoming,” although dreary.

The CASA offices have been replaced with Victim Services advocates, formerly operating at the Evanston Police station. The Zwick paintings are still at the Civic Center, however, along with kids toys and a few chairs. They are not even hung together.

Zwick created a number of ceramic reliefs and other commissions for public spaces in Michigan and Illinois. Two large works of hers can be found in the Unitarian Church of Evanston. She also served on the board of the Evanston Art Center.The Civic Center paintings are skillfully done and perfectly exemplify the 1950s and ’60s modernist school of abstraction. Their presence in Evanston is a testament to the prolific output and the generous spirit of their donor. They should be better displayed.

Another artwork, and more unusual, is Jill King’s three-story, three-part sculpture, a “chandelier” that hangs in an odd, vertical space adjacent to a stairwell there. King is an Evanstonian who was commissioned to create the work for this particular site.

In 2016, then Cultural Arts Coordinator Jennifer Lasik, newly in her position with the City of Evanston, accessed funds from her discretionary budget to have this piece created, she said at the time.

King is an Evanston painter, sculptor and art educator with a master’s of fine arts from the University of Wisconsin. Her work appears in public and private collections throughout the state of Illinois and the Midwest. The Noyes Cultural Center is home to her studio, which she shares with three other artists.

Lasik had seen King’s work at the One State Together in the Arts show in 2015 in downtown Evanston. She asked the artist for a proposal for the unique space at the Civic Center and further requested that the piece incorporate lighting, as the site felt dark and dreary.

The welding of King’s sculptures requires oxyacetylene, which, in turn, requires a fireproof setting. So she does that work in Rogers Park at the Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center. King lives near Ridge Avenue and enjoys the walk to her studio, she said.

Her sculptural works, like Evanston Odyssey in the Civic Center, often combine welded steel rod, sewn and painted fabric coated with acrylic medium, glass shards, and color-changing LED lights. Many of King’s large sculptures are wall-mounted.

For the last two years, King has been working full-time on sculpture commissions, a joyful situation for any artist. She has taught painting, drawing and sculpture at the Evanston Art Center, Fusion Academy in Evanston, The Art Center of Highland Park, Oakton Community College, The American Academy of Art and in her own studio.

The Civic Center was for 55 years (1915-1970) a Catholic girls school called Marywood Academy. Built in 1900 as Visitation Academy, it was designed by architect Henry J. Schkaks. It was first an all-ages (K-12) school and later only a high school. (This writer well remembers the recognizable Marywood girls’ uniforms.)

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. Although there is discussion every decade about the cost of maintaining such an edifice versus building a new, more efficient one, many (including me) are happy to see this beautiful old building still standing and well used.

Access to the building has changed, unfortunately. COVID-19, security issues throughout the country and ADA requirements have forced some unattractive developments. No longer do visitors climb the wide stairways on the east or west side to the main floor’s gracious entry lobby.

Instead, employees of the city and visitors are now routed through one of two inconsequential entrances on the ground floor and must report to a seated guard. Asked about his recent move from one hallway to the other, the guard laughed, “I just follow the desk.”

The building manager, Lukasz Tatara, said that the two main entrances will not be reopened in the immediate future, but that “the public is welcome to enter on the ground level and check in with the security officer.”

During the pandemic, a security guard posted immediately inside the entry door, and it was practically impossible to get into the building. An outdated ventilation system was supposedly to blame. Now, at least, the guard is placed further inside — and is friendly.

Plenty of parking is available, and signs point the way to the ground-level entrances.

Without asking for its exact location (that’s cheating – no fair!), go to the second floor of the Civic Center and find Evanston Odyssey. Take a selfie with the suspended artwork and send it to [email protected] for a chance to be featured in the RoundTable’s daily email newsletter.

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Gay Riseborough is an artist, has served the City of Evanston for 11 years on arts committees, and is now an arts writer at the Evanston RoundTable. More by Gay Riseborough