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Artist describes 'Strut' as a 'stitch' linking West Side to downtown; community peacock inspired palette
Summary
Artist Tom Druegan said community meetings and a neighborhood peacock nicknamed 'Romeo' inspired the long fence-based artwork designed to 'stitch' the West Side to downtown; he explained engineering constraints and why the art appears on both sides of the trail.
Tom Druegan, one of the artists behind 'Strut,' said design choices came directly from community dialogues and visits. He described using the fence and safety barriers as the primary art element so the artwork could run continuously and "literally connect the 2 sides and create the whole experience as an artwork." He noted higher fencing was required over the railroad and that engineers and fabricators helped adapt the art to safety standards.
Druegan recounted a neighborhood anecdote that informed the design: on an early site visit he and a collaborator saw a peacock walking down the sidewalk, and residents later identified the bird as part of a local flock, with one peacock nicknamed "Romeo." "We were struck by this," he said, and the artists folded that local identity into the color scheme and the idea of the art moving as people move through the space.
