There is a new face in town, at least, for one year.
A large turnout on Oct. 8 officially welcomed “Explorer,” an eight-foot bronze sculpture interpretation of explorer Jean Baptiste Point DuSable. The monument is installed on the northeast corner of Church Street and Orrington Avenue, adjacent to the Evanston Main Public Library.
The Evanston Arts Council announced the arrival and unveiling of the sculpture.
Born in Haiti, Jean Baptiste Point DuSable was a prosperous fur trader who settled along the north bank of the Chicago River in the 1780s, making him the earliest recorded non-Native resident in the area. He is widely regarded as the first permanent resident of Chicago and has been given the title “Founder of Chicago.”
“Explorer” will have a 12 month stay in Evanston before being shared and moved to other venues, including the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago.
“Public art is an opportunity for us to come together in appreciation of aesthetics, come together in appreciation of joy, come together and grow together, and learn together, and especially to educate ourselves,” Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss told the audience.
He said the bust teaches those who see it about the erasure of minority groups in our country’s history and gives the city the chance to reverse some of that and start conversations.
“It’s just the best of what art is meant to be and what art is meant to do,” he said.
“Explorer” is the work of sculptor Erik Blome of Crystal Lake, a former Evanston resident. Blome was raised in Deerfield and is of Deerfield High School Class of 1985.
Blome’s inventory of works include life-size bronze sculptures of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall. Blome’s bronze bust sculpture of DuSable on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, commissioned by Evanston resident Lesly Benodin in 2009, served as inspiration.
For this project, Blome’s wife helped to find a hired model for DuSable’s likeness and found the right person unexpectedly at a McDonald’s.
“I turned him into DuSable,” the artist told the audience about the model.
Due to the lack of photographs from the time period, there isn’t exact depictions of what the fur trader would have looked like.
“But what we do know is what they said about him (DuSable), we know that he had a scruffy beard, we know a few things, and we know some sketches that exist from not long after his death, right, memories that people put down.
“All art is a guess,” Blome said. “Art is an interpretation. This is mine.”
Joyy Norris of Evanston, cultural arts coordinator with the City of Evanston, also spoke.
“It is my hope that children and adults of similar heritage, curiosity and spirit of exploration here in Evanston and around the Chicagoland and beyond are inspired by this beautiful piece of work,” Norris said.
Etzer Cantave, president of the DuSable Heritage Association of Chicago, told the audience that DuSable was an entrepreneur who mirrored many trades known today.
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“Today in Evanston, a giant step has been taken to advance the cause of the full and unfettered recognition of Black historical figures in Chicagoland and the Midwest,” Cantave said. “This sculpture literally says it all.”
Morris “Dino” Robinson, Jr. of Evanston, former executive director and now a board member of Evanston’s Shorefront Legacy Center, spoke of how DuSable’s timeline is relevant today.
“I think for me, historically, it’s like correcting, making a more accurate history,” Robinson said. “For a long time, his name was always recognized but it seemed like his name was always diminished as to the role he played in basically creating what became Chicago.”
In addition to the unveiling on Oct. 8, the Evanston Arts Council is planning a series of activities throughout the year.
Karie Angell Luc is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.