Arts Commission - Bylaws Subcommittee - Regular Meeting

Okay. It's 05:05. We're gonna start the meeting. Katie, would you do a vote call, please? Yep.

Commissioner Falado? Present. Commissioner Franks Tapley? Present. Chairperson Krotowski?

Here.

Commissioner Romano?

Not here

yet. Commissioner Rosati?

Not here.

Commissioner Simpson? Here. Commissioner Summers? Here. Commissioner Bowling?

Okay. So our agenda item is CJ Chen Unity film final presentation. I'm gonna hand this over to Anne. Sure.

Thank you so much. CJ and Michael, can you hear us okay?

Yes. We can hear you.

Sija, can you mind do you mind talking again? I wanna make

sure I can hear you.

Hi, everyone. I'm following.

Okay. And apologies. Sija and Michael can't actually see us. So but thank you. So tonight, we're pleased to welcome our Sija Chen, the designer of the City Of Joliet's Unity Dome sculpture. This evening, she will walk us through the completed design components, share the inspirations behind the final artistic choices, and outline how these elements come together to reflect Joliet's spirit of resilience, diversity, and unity. As members of the Arts Commission, you'll have the opportunity to ask questions, and we'll discuss the next steps towards bringing the Unity Dome to life. So please join me in welcoming Sija Chen.

Everyone, I'm going to share my screen. Can everyone see okay? Yes. Yes. Perfect.

So after I was selected, we launched community engagement process from October 3 to November 9, and it's both in person and online. So I would like to actually, before we start, take an opportunity to thank Anne for being the best guy and more engagement, I first but in person once, we visited the historical museum, old prisons, the rock and roll museum, the theater, and many other places in Joliet. And exploring these land landmark really gave me the richer understanding of Joliet itself. Its history, resilience, and the creative energy. And insights become became an important foundation enthusiasm.

And alongside having people with me, people generously shared their perspectives and thoughts about Joliet. The students at Joliet Central High actually wrote me letters opening up about their stories and experiences. And all of these experiences from this workshop enriched my understanding of Joliet's spirit and really shaped my approach in ways that only direct engagement can. All of them are featured on the gallery page of our community engagement website. So together, these form a collective record, one that becomes part of the unity loan story and part of the ongoing story and history of Downtown Joliet's transformation.

From our community engagement process, the most frequent responses are the river and like, social legacy, the Bruce Brothers, the sunglasses of the Bruce Brothers. And now turning from the other side, you'll see the river and the bridges along the bottom. And on the left hand side are the railroad tracks. And at the base is a hard motif, one that appear frequently in the payment of submissions from the public. It represents the strong sense of family and community that people in Joliet share with us.

Moving upwards in notice of will symbolizing the constant movement of cars and the road Joliet played as a major major hub for transport transport transportation. Above that is the signature chair from the reality. You may need to tilt your head slightly to recognize it because this element will be primarily viewed from the side of the structure. You also see another j standing proudly or joling it. And finally, the flowing curves that play and read through the composition of the And of the the unique spirit.

And this is the front view of Yunnan Yorgs. View from behind. From the side, and from the other side. And this is when you're looking up from the bottom of the door. The elements not

the

sky. So I hope this sculpture becomes a source of pride for the community and a meaningful part of Downtown Joliet's revitalization. It isn't just my artwork. It's something that we created together. Every story, every workshop, every contribution helped shape in the deal. So thank you. I really wanna thank you for trusting me with this opportunity and for allowing us to build something truly special for Joliet. And that is the end of my presentation.

Thank you so much, Sija. What a great presentation. A really amazing

year. And case.

Think

my staff commentaries. That's it. Okay. Member that's comments.

Anybody? I I like it. Are we going to have any kind of a plaque that might explain to people what to look for. Will you make sure to speak into the mic so she can hear you? Oh, sorry. Are we going to have I I I love the design, Are we going to have any kind of a plaque that everything that's in there that some people will look for some of these items that they might miss?

I think we discussed that with Anne. Mhmm. That we're gonna Michael, you wanna say something?

No. I I was was not.

Oh, sorry. Yes. We discussed with Anne. I think that educational even though informational flat will be helpful to place alongside. So kinda help people to know what they're looking. Yeah. To also give sorry. Go ahead. To also give a little more information about the Joliet history and culture, you know, the stories behind the sign. I think that will be very that will be very good.

Yeah. I I concur curve because I also think that people will see things and pick out, but they may miss something. So the plaque would have them linger a little longer and look a little closer. Yep. Yes. We are planning on having a plaque.

We're working with the engineer. We were waiting for the final design, but we've already identified some possible locations for that to be within City Square. And then Cesar will work with you to incorporate what should be on that plaque as well. So thanks, Deb. Great suggestion.

I'm excited. Excited. It's a overwhelmed.

Thank you. We'll be there. Thank you.

I just wanna say I like the placement of that wheel next to the chair from the Rialto because you said it represents the movement in cars and everything, but it also represents the reels from movies that people from so many years went to the realtors and watched. And I think just that design of that wheel just kinda reminds me of a a movie reel that's right next to the chair from the realtors. I think it was a great place for that. Anybody else? Yep.

Ron? Looks great. I love it. Donna?

I think the design is great also. Was able to pick out a lot of things. I saw the j. There's a s too. Is that your signature for CJ? S is my signature. Yeah. Okay. Just checking. Good call.

People might say it's Saint Joe's.

They can say it's anything they want.

Okay. Any public comments?

I just wanna say, can she

can see you here?

Will you

say who you are? I'm Ceciana Ybarra, Joliet City Council District five, but I'm also a resident. So I'm speaking to you as a resident. I just wanted to say that I think it's beautiful, and the first thing I envisioned when I thought of this was a heart in it, so I'm very overwhelmed. I'm sorry.

I just think it's beautiful.

Great job. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

So

So I I would like

to it's Anne again.

Sija, I just wanted to talk through a little bit of the timeline. I think I'd asked you guys to just be kind of high level and talk through kind of some of the next steps.

Are you okay doing that? I guess. So the next step after we after the spinal design is done, the next step would go into fabrication.

And, yeah, I just wanna add to that. So once we have the finalized engineering design, the structure analysis. We will share that with the engineering team at Juliet. I specifically think that would be Lisa Dorothy because she need to just take into consideration those designs that we work with and the parameters she gave us for the the location. So specifically with just in terms of what we're gonna be sharing with Joliet before we go to the application.

This is Tom, the chairman of the commission. I just wanted to ask a couple questions in case somebody didn't get to these presentations that you do. I know when I I spoke with you, you said this thing was gonna weigh approximately five tons. And I didn't ask, like, what the thickness of the steel is. And you said it's gonna be transported here on flatbeds. And I was just wondering if you could touch on how that's gonna be put together on-site here in Joliet?

That's a great question. Thank you. That is the the key piece of information deliverables from this next phase because we have worked with them, CJ has worked with them to just confirm that this design is viable and and validated for structural purposes. But now comes the the further technical schematic design about what is the gauge of the the metal, the specific any sort of thickness, or I mean, you see minor adjustments on those, like, foundational beams. As far as the actual the construction of the work itself, they'll advise about the rest of the approach.

As far as, like, your point about shipments and and clapping, yes. It's in our experience, this work will be transported and will be delivered to the side of the work on flatbed in a secure shipping container. And then from there, there will be I mean, that's for us as we start to approach about planning for installation, working with our installation team about breakdown. So pretty question that I don't have answers for you today, but that is part of the information that will be coming coming soon.

So this will be coming in one piece or several pieces?

It will be, you know, real property. Right? And right now, we're planning is to break it in several pieces and to assemble on-site just because of the size of it.

So when you assemble on-site, it'll be something that we should probably video to just watch how it's erected, fabricated, finished on-site. I think it would be a really exciting thing to to propose. But think when we talk Yeah. Somewhere around five flat that you you were saying possibly could even probably

cut something. Yeah. Like a few pieces.

We so at one point, talked about lighting on us as well.

Mhmm. There is.

Is the lighting what CJ is she or their her team, are they directing that? Or is that left up to the city to decide on? Or We just as a final lighting? The

the lighting the lighting elements have were have already been selected. I can't I don't recall I'm sure if they I

can Is the lighting just white lighting then, or is

there colors involved? It's programmable multi color.

And to answer your question,

I will 100% confirm,

but I'm pretty sure that it has been installed because it was part of the foundation because it comes from underneath. But I can you know, but Michael was working with our engineering and design team to make sure that those components came in as needed.

Is that for this company completion date? I was just gonna ask if that was still set for May completion.

At the time go? Could

yes. May still is the completion date.

Still in target day. Mean, that's too out

of target. Are we back? We're aiming for before the rail. The

original request was to have it in by May 16 for the hundredth anniversary of the rail tow. So that's that's the goal. We'll make sure that all of the construction falls in line, but and we'll keep everyone updated on that, but that is that's the goal is to have it done. Is that a good way of phrasing it, C.

Jean? Yes.

Other questions from the members of the Arts Commission? Okay. Nothing else? And do you have anything else?

Nothing else at this time.

So I guess that we say thank you to CJ and and Michael for coming online with us today and showing us your final design. We're looking forward to having you back in this great city of Joliet. I look forward to having your heart here for many, many years.

Thank you. Thank you for having us, and it was such a delight to visit and get to know all of you in person. And I we look forward to coming back in and celebrate this again.

Great. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

You. Thank

you, Sija and Michael. We'll talk soon. So

I guess we should call for adjournment.

So move.

And second.

And second. Thank you everybody for coming. Alright.

Quick and easy. I like those.

All in

favor. All in favor.