The Poetry Path program put out a call for artists last month for artwork that will go outside the renovated Lancaster Amtrak station.
Poetry Paths representatives were intentionally vague to leave the door open for creativity. That makes it difficult to describe what the artwork may look like.
Yet, a submission already received from one artist, shows what can be done when public artwork is fused with poetry.
That submission shows glass walls, etched with words, erected at transit stations. Another artwork appears as an unfolding book. The artist also submitted an image of benches with text on them.
"This is just one artist whose submission has come in," said Kerry Sherin Wright, executive director of Franklin & Marshall College's Philadelphia Alumni Writers House, who developed the idea for Poetry Paths.
The deadline for submissions is Friday.
Poetry Paths, at PoetryPaths.org, intends to combine local poetry with original artwork at linked sites across the city. Poems may be directly in the sidewalk, using pavement inserts, or may include sculpture, painting on building walls or porch stoops. Poetry may be written by famous poets living or dead, regional residents or even schoolchildren. It may be in English or other languages spoken in Lancaster.
Plans call for all the artwork to be installed by the end of next year.
The first installment, at the train station on McGovern Avenue, could comprise several pieces at the front of the building and at the station's southwest corner. It also could be functional, with artwork being in the form of benches and bicycle racks.
Focus groups organized by the program have expressed an interest in public art and poetry projects that relate to the history, culture and people of Lancaster, the request for qualifications states. A seven-member selection committee will want to see those areas reflected in the public art and poetry submitted for consideration.
Wright said three semi-finalists will be selected by mid-April. Those artists will be invited to tour the train station site. There will be a public presentation of their proposals, likely in mid-May, Wright said.
"The selection committee will be looking for an artist who has experience doing projects of this size and who has had success," she said.
The selected artist, or artist-writer team, will be chosen by June 1, said Wright. Installation of the artwork, however, will depend on the construction schedule for the train station's $12 million renovation. That work is expected to be completed late this year.
The $75,000 fee that will be paid to the artist will come from a grant from the Lancaster Community Foundation and donations for the project. Wright said she hopes to raise about $65,000 from donors.
She said the cost is one-half of one percent of the renovation budget. She believes the artwork is a reasonable expense to make the station stimulating and beautiful to those who use it.