Title:  Visitation School


Site:  920 Garfield Boulevard, Chicago


Artist:  Phil Schuster


Assistants: Cara Kuball and Christopher Santiago


Community Participants: Visitation School students


Sponsors:  Chicago Public Art Group and GATX Corporation


Year:  2001


Scale:  Four - 44” diameter planters


Materials:  Hand sculpted concrete


Information:  Along the front of Visitation School on Garfield Boulevard a series of sculptures on concrete planters introduces the spiritual mission of Visitation School to passersby. The streetside planters depict biblical stories carved into wet concrete by the artist team. Surrounding the characters from the stories is foliage constructed from leaf forms created by very young students from Visitation.

During the summer, the foliage appliquéd onto the planters mimics the foliage spilling out of them. During the gray days of winter, the polychrome sculptures add a visual interest. The figures surrounding each planter are approximately the scale of children, an interesting means of making the biblical stories relevant to the very small children who walk by.