Art In Transit

 

South Corridor walls and bridge enhancements

2007

Ranis, one of two lead artists on the project team from the early design phase, focused on the enhancement of corridor bridges and retaining walls.

Four of Ranis' eight specified standard formliners altered the surfaces of more than 10,000 running feet of high and low retaining walls and bridge piers. A split faced running bond block with a brick-like appearance is used at Woodlawn and Arrowood stations. A marching lane wave or fractured rib formliner at I-485, Archdale, and Tyvola, adds vertical lines and texture to the walls as well as to the bridge support columns. Two liners mimic tree bark and the texture of tree leaves on the Crump Road bridge at Sharon Road West, complemented by a brown and light green paint scheme covering over 25,000 square feet.

A Carolina earth color and a sky gray, drawn from nature, are the artist's choices for the majority of the bridges and walls (except Sharon Road West) in the six station areas from Woodlawn to I-485. Ranis' palette included the selection of textures and color inspired by the natural and man-made landscape of the City, colors of the earth and sky, textures of trees and buildings, and the appearance of traditional architecture associated with the area.

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​Born in Poland, Marek Ranis is an assistant professor of sculpture at UNC Charlotte and a practicing artist. His conceptually based projects take many forms, including video, photography, sculpture, and public art, and illustrate issues like sociology, history, and environmentalism. He acquired a Masters in Fine Art in studio art and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Art in Wroclaw, Poland before moving to the United States. He has exhibited in multiple galleries and museums in addition to his work on the CATS South Tryon Bus Facility and LYNX Blue Line, which he won a Public Art Network recognition Award for. ​

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