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| Post-Tribune Thursday, June 29, 2000 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Project director Mitch Markovitz (left and artist Bruce Cegur unveil the latest in the South Shore millennium poster series. It depicts the Old Lake County Courthouse. | ||||||||||||||||
| Old Lake County Courthouse latest in South Shore series | ||||||||||||||||
| BY DEBORAH DIDDIE Correspondent CROWN POINT -- The Grand Old Lady was unveiled in all its splendor June 22 as the 33rd piece in the 52-piece South Shore millennium poster series. In a special ceremony on the east steps of the Old Lake County Courthouse, the 42-inch-by-28-inch original oil version of the Old Lake County Courthouse was presented during the Taste of Crown Point. Gayle VanSessen, executive director of the Greater Crown Point Chamber of Commerce, said the building's original central structure was built in 1876, using 50,00 bricks made at the nearby Wise Brick Yard. Additions were made 20 years later, then years after that. The building was used for government offices until 1974, when the Lake County Government Center opened north of downtown. |
It's probably the best-known structure in northern Indiana," Van Sessen said. "We see the poster project as a way to promote Crown Point," Chamber President Carol Highsmith said. "We see it as a way to spread the beauty of the downtown past the borders of the Crown Point area. It's a way to spread the word that the Crown Point community is great not only to live in, but also to work and establish a business in." Mitch Markovitz is the founding artist and art director of this project and has personally painted about half the posters. The poster campaign is sponsored by the Northwest Indiana Forum and dates back to 1925 when the South Shore used the posters to promote its rail line. |
"The artist, Bruce Cegur, brings to us a really cosmopolitan and metropolitan style of artwork," Markovitz said. He added that Cegur's work is the first of the new series that has added an element of modernism to the posters. Cegur, a Hammond native and resident, has completed five South Shore posters and has been commissioned for a sixth. "It's been a real privilege to be the artist chosen to do this monument," said Cegur. "I just hope I actually did the Grand Old Lady of the Square justice." Cegur, largely a self-taught artist, said the poster took about three months to complete. |
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| How to order
Unsigned posters are available for $20 each at the Greater Crown Point Chamber of Commerce office in the Old Lake County Courthouse. |
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