Yep – that’s right. Sprinkled along the Lynx Blue Line, which runs between Interstate 485 and South Boulevard to Seventh Street uptown, is $1.9 million worth of public art. It features the work of 13 artists commissioned by the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS). This is my first light rail trip, so I’m excited about the ride as well as the art.

I walk toward the sidewalk where I stumble upon my first piece of art, a round concrete relief of two oak leaves, complements of New York-based sculptor Alice Adams. On a scale of 1-10 on the “conspicuous” scale, this would be a 5. If I hadn’t had my head down to avoid the chilling wind, I might have missed it.

A recorded announcement blares: “The train is arriving in one minute.”

“Oh my gosh,” I say to myself. “I need to get a ticket.”  I scramble. I insert a $10 bill into the machine but the face of Alexander Hamilton doesn’t move. Probably because it’s an old, worn bill. I try again. Nothing. I panic. The train glides up to the station. The doors open. I grab the limp bill and jump on.

Now, I don’t advise riding the LYNX without a ticket. Not only is it dishonest, it can also be costly. The fine is $50 if you get caught. My plan is to buy a day pass at my first stop in the South End. Hopefully, I won’t be busted before then. I start to sweat. What will I say if I’m asked to show my ticket? That the machine wouldn’t take my money? That I was too cold to wait? Nobody’s going to buy it.

Meanwhile, I sink into my seat and try to relax. It’s not hard. The LYNX ride is as smooth as butter. No rocking or jerking. It’s also void of that constant “tennis shoe in the dryer” sound prevalent on many older trains and subways. It’s so quiet I can practically hear the guy breathing three seats away.

The scenery isn’t bad, either. Each passing station takes on its on distinct personality. This was the intent of Leticia Huerta, the Texas-born artist who designed the pavers, mosaics and windscreen etchings for 11 of the 15 stations. Each stop features a different theme based on Huerta’s research of our community’s history. For instance, the Arrowood station pays tribute to the Catawba Indians with snake, arrow and feather designs while the Scaleybark station celebrates the area’s growing Latino population through its use of motifs based on Mexican Bingo cards.

Speaking of Scaleybark, the stop also showcases Thomas Sayre’s giant clay-colored sculptures along the median. On the “conspicuous” scale, these babies are a solid 10. Unless you’re asleep, you can’t miss them. The meaning behind these forms, however, is less apparent. And believe me, everyone has their own interpretation. In my case, I visualize prehistoric satellite dishes, the ones Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble would hoist to their rooftops with the help of a dinosaur.

According to Pallas Lombardi, program manager for CATS’ Art-in-Transit Program, Sayre’s pieces symbolize the harrow discs used to plow the fields in Scaleybark’s former farming community. His work speaks to the change in land use as well as to the movement of cars, trains and pedestrians. It all makes perfect sense, I think. Says Lombardi, “With contemporary art, our job is to educate people about what is original and extraordinary.”

And these disks truly are extraordinary. Constructed out of reinforced concrete, they also contain the red clay dirt used in the light rail excavation. Lombardi explains how Sayre set up a staging area across from the Scaleybark station and molded these 11-ton pieces using pure Carolina earth.

The focus on the local landscape continues with the design of the track fencing at the stations spanning from Woodlawn to the 7th Street station. British-born sculptor Shaun Cassidy took his inspiration from the leaves of four tree species – the Magnolia, the Pin Oak, the Sweetgum and the Cottonwood. He created 40 different metal leaves and welded them onto the standard fencing. Each leaf appears to float along the top of the fence as if being blown by a gentle autumn breeze – not by a cold-winter blast like we’re getting today.

But the coolest part about these floating leaves lies within the web of intersecting bands of steel. Cassidy replaced the natural vein patterns of the leaves with lines of neighborhood street maps. Granted, reading the maps isn’t easy. Due to the leaves’ windswept angles, I find myself in some awkward positions, one that requires me to bend my head and body 90 degrees. It’s not quite like playing Twister, but it’s close.

Cassidy, who teaches at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., also designed the seating fabric and ceiling art in the 16 rail vehicles. Again, he incorporated the leaf image to highlight Charlotte’s well-known tree canopy as well as the changing seasons.

Alice Adams, the lead artist on the design team for the South Corridor Light Rail Project, used the tree canopy as the central theme. In the exhibition catalog of the SCLRP Artists’ Proposal, Adams said, “We have recognized trees and other plant material, not as backdrop, but as important visual players in the everyday comings and goings of the transit riders.”

Adams, who has served on design projects throughout the United States including the Downtown Seattle Transit Project and the St Louis MetroLink light rail system, also said that her goal was to enliven the experience of people in their everyday passage through public places.

So far, Lombardi says the feedback to the art has been very positive. “If you give people a beautiful, well-designed environment with art, your patrons or transit users are not only going to use the system but they are going to appreciate it and take care of it.”

“What about graffiti?” I ask. “Do you have any problems with that?”

“Believe it or not, most people do not graffiti art,” says Lombardi. “But if you put up a blank wall, they’ll have a field day.”

At Bland Street, I jump off to purchase my ticket. This time I insert my debit card. It works. Whew!  Before I walk around South End., I admire one of Hoss Haley’s five rock-like sculptures. These hand-polished steel and concrete pieces also serve as benches. Although they are boulder-sized, they remind me of the small, smooth rocks I might find in a North Carolina stream, the ones I used to slip on while learning to fly fish. It’s no surprise the Asheville artist labeled his work “River Rock.”

As I run my hand across the shiny dark surface, I notice some strange multi-colored scratches. These marks aren’t graffiti but they definitely don’t belong here. It turns out the sculptures are magnets for skateboarders. Haley acknowledges the problem but says the scratches aren’t going to physically hurt the pieces. He says, “Skateboarding is just part of the urban landscape.”

On the other hand, Haley’s purpose was to bring a more natural element into a very industrial environment. He describes his art as a reaction to the whole ergonomic movement where everything has a specific function. Haley wanted a casual, less obvious seating arrangement, one where people could choose how they want to sit.  He compares it to a big rock in the woods, where someone might rest during a hike. Says Haley, “ My goal was to create a space where someone looks forward to spending a moment of his or her day.”

Another place worth spending time is the 360-foot retaining wall along Camden Street at the East/West Boulevard station. Thomas Thoune, a local artist, pulled together a collection of donated and handmade materials such as recycled china, glass, pottery – even melted marbles – to create a mosaic frieze. In all, there are 33 scenes of Charlotte’s historical South End, including one of nearby Atherton Mill. These intricate wall sculptures look like jeweled jigsaw puzzles. Thoune chose circular “machine cog” shapes to represent the area’s early manufacturing history.

Like some of the other LYNX artists, Thoune worked on the project during a three-month residency at The McColl Center for Visual Arts. CATS and The McColl Center solicited the public for materials, resulting in an overwhelming response. Lombardi says there are interesting stories about each donation. The project includes turquoise tiles from a swimming pool, stained glass from a local church and glass beads from a cancer patient. One person even donated a teacup that had been smashed when a pecan tree branch fell through the owner’s dining room during 1989’s Hurricane Hugo. I’m not sure why someone would hold onto a smashed teacup all those years.

At the 3rd Street station, I see the work of Jody Pinto one of the most well-known artists in the group. Having completed dozens of projects in the United States, Europe and Japan, Pinto knows how to transform an environment with color and light. Her fiberglass canopies remind me of cherry and lime Popsicles as they glisten in the January sun.  On the “conspicuous” scale, Pinto’s luminous canopies are definitely neck and neck with Sayre’s earth-like disks.

About a block over, I run across the creations of another heavy-hitter, Andrew Leicester, an internationally recognized public artist from Minneapolis who was born and educated in England. Leicester uses the Carolina textile industry as his inspiration for the pavers and six columns supporting the bridge at the Charlotte Transportation Center/Arena station. Leicester says, “The columns are a bulbous, organic reference to the industry that made Charlotte prosperous.” He compares each column to a ripe cotton boll just as it splits open, releasing the natural fiber that eventually becomes part of a machine-made fabric. This abstract illustration works. The round swollen columns explode with yards and yards of texture, color and pattern.

But Leicester doesn’t stop there. He says, “Because the columns are globular and pendulous and hang off the beams of the bridge they also allude to the ‘hornet’s nest,’ the nickname given Charlotte by British General George Cornwallis during the Revolutionary War.” Wait. Slow down. Art with a double meaning? This guy really is a heavy hitter.

Heading back to the Sharon Road West station, I think about all the incredible art I’ve seen along the LYNX Blue Line. But guess what? There’s more public art on the way.  According to Lombardi, 23 new artists have been selected to work on the LYNX Blue Line Extension. The BLE is an 11-mile extension with 13 proposed stations, which includes stops at NoDa and UNC Charlotte.

Lombardi says there is a lot of enthusiasm about the extension. “The more culturally rich a city is, the more people will want to move here. There is a real intrinsic value to doing all of this.”
As I exit the train and head back to my car, I pass one of Nancy Blum’s drinking fountains. CATS commissioned the New York artist to create water fountains at 12 stations. Cast in bronze, these pieces feature the flower of one my favorite trees, the dogwood. It’s also North Carolina’s state flower.

I pause for a second. Maybe I’ll have a drink. But then a gust of wind nearly blows me down. I decide to pass. Hot tea on the couch sounds better.

~ Toccoa Switzer