ILLUMINATE Lockport Public Art Program Displays History, Community

LOCKPORT, IL — ILLUMINATE Lockport, a new public art program that will be projected on the historic Norton building, which is also the Illinois State Museum, at 201 W. 10th St., will open on April 21.

The 4,000-square-foot video will project onto the building, and show a video of Lockport's history. The display will be open Wednesday through Sunday from dusk until 11 p.m., according to a release from the City.

"This is a long-term installation," Wendy Streit, the City's Summer Art Series Committee Chair, told Patch. "[It will be] something ongoing and changing, and relevant with things that are happening in society, [or] futuristic, [or a] look at our past."

An official ribbon cutting will be held outside the building at 8 p.m. on April 21, and the short films will be immediately shown. While supplies last, the first 100 attendees will receive a LED foam glow stick, the City said.

The films on display are “The History of the I&M Canal” and “The Reign of the Umbrella Man” curated by Eric Scott Fischer. Fischer was one of the artists of the fiberglass ducks that were placed around Lockport in 2021, Streit told Patch. He also participated in the City's Midwest Waterways Short Film Festival in 2019.

Streit said one of the films is an entertaining and educational piece about the canal, its history and how its evolved over time.

Local artists are encouraged to submit content celebrating the Lockport community online, the City said.

Streit said the installation will change in the fall, with new presentations already tentatively in the works.

"It will change eventually with all the seasons," she said.

The funds for the project came from the Summer Art Series' 2021 duck art project, which included an auction of the fiberglass ducks at the end of the summer. The funds from the duck sale purchased the equipment needed for the projection display.

"The goal of the Summer Art Series is to reinvest, reinvest in our community," Streit said.

The project is supported by Homer Companies, Walmart, Bettenhausen Automotive, Lockport Summer Art Series and the City of Lockport.