Selected to create public art for Ohio Creek in 2023
The public art committee has commissioned artist Christine Rojek to investigate meaningful and beautiful interventions to preserve the environment, connect people, and develop the economic vitality of our shoreline community.
Austin based public sculptor, Christine Rojek specializes in interactive, often kinetic, public sculpture. Her site-responsive installations have become destination pieces in over 20 locations throughout the United States. Her affinity for creating large, complex works of art has led to collaborations with distinguished architects, specialty fabricators and engineers.
She has created signature projects for national developers, universities and municipalities, including the Tulsa Parking Authority, Tulsa, OK, “Century Walk”, Naperville, IL, EdVenture Children’s Museum, Columbia, SC, and Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL. Christine Rojek has been awarded seven Grants from the Illinois Arts Council, a DCASE grant from the City of Chicago, a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, an AT&T Technology in Arts Grant, and seven Professional Development Grants from Columbia College Chicago, where she served as adjunct faculty for over twenty years.
Rojek earned a BFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and continued her studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at Fontainebleau, France, where her focus was performance and interdisciplinary art. As a founding member of Chicago Sculpture International (an affiliate of the International Sculpture Center, NYC), Artemisia Gallery (the first female-run cooperative in the Midwest), and co-owner of SculpTours.org, she actively promotes the creative community and the advancement of public sculpture. Christine Rojek’s home and studio are located in the hill country surrounding Austin, Texas.
Rojek states, “I enjoy the challenge of design in response to the natural surroundings, existing architecture, and the history of the community. I’m committed to artwork that engages, informs and uplifts the public. My most recent work explores man’s dialogue with nature through sundials, solar collectors, or sculptures that are activated by the wind. I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the most inventive and accomplished architects, engineers, machine designers and specialty fabricators in the country. My proven team consists of LEED AP Architect, Tom Pociask, HPZS Structural Engineers, and Vector Custom Fabricating. With the help of this dynamic team I’ve brought both interior and exterior public sculptures to fruition while emphasizing structure, safety, sustainability, durability and low maintenance. I look forward to the opportunity to create a unique sculpture for the Ohio Creek Watershed.”
Rojeck’s “Breeze Keeper”, is an installation of 62 counter-balanced (aluminum) prairie images that sway with the wind. This sculpted landscape is a direct response to the prairie and planting rows that appear along I-57 in Illinois.
