New Cleveland bus shelter sculpture offers ‘reflection of the neighborhood’

The longer one contemplates the new bus shelter at MetroHealth Glick Center, the more beautiful it becomes. 

That’s because it isn’t just a bus shelter. It’s a sculpture by Chicago-based artist Edra Soto, and its glories lie less in the beholding than in the pondering, in grappling with and understanding what it signifies. 

“It’s not just a structure but a reflection of the neighborhood,” said Grace Chin, executive director of The Sculpture Center, the Cleveland nonprofit that commissioned the work with support from the Joyce Foundation, RTA and MetroHealth. “The definition of sculpture has expanded. It’s not just something on a pedestal. It’s a whole installation. The idea is to be a catalyst for conversation and make you think about the work and its relevance to today’s cultural and political issues.” 

Titled “La Distancia” (“The Distance”), the new shelter – unveiled Thursday, Sept. 18 – is a stop on RTA’s 18 line, which runs from West Blvd. in Cleveland to Marymount Hospital in Garfield Heights. It sits on a patch of grass near the Glick Center, along a curved access road off W. 25th St. 

More importantly, it occupies a prominent spot in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood, a district heavily populated by Puerto Rican and Latinx people, near CentroVilla25 and other Hispanic organizations. Soto herself is from Puerto Rico. She chose the location explicitly to address that community and to counter today’s unwelcoming political climate with a structure that’s familiar and friendly. 

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Read the full article at thelandcle.org