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By Brent Hoffmann, 2005

“I’ve always been interested in public art,” said Ed McDevitt. “In 2005 I started casually collecting information on Chicago’s public art. By around 2009, I realized that Chicago’s public art collection was really vast. I wanted to make this known, and tried to find data. It was scattered all over the place, so I needed to find other people who could help. But it was tough making connections. My wife suggested connecting with an organization that knew how to do this sort of thing, such as the Chicago Architecture Foundation. I interviewed to join the 2010 docent class and was accepted. The class and the experience of becoming a docent grounded me in Chicago’s history and the relationship of public art to architecture. And it’s all interwoven in what we call the ‘built environment’.”

In 2011, Ed founded Public Art Chicago. “Our mission,” he explained, “was to enhance Chicago’s cultural legacy by making the city’s full collection of public art accessible for the first time and to the widest possible audience.” Insufficient organizational funding has reduced the scope and size of the organization, although data collection still continues.

English Lit.

Ed is from the East Coast. “I’m still, basically, a Bostonian,” he said, although he came to Illinois in 1983. He’s lived in River Forest with his wife Judith since 2003. He grew up in the Boston suburb of Belmont, and earned a BA in English literature at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Then an MA in English literature at Northeastern University in Boston. He followed up with further study of literature at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York.

Ed began his career as a health claims adjuster for Continental Casualty Company in Boston. He moved on to various jobs in group insurance with Prudential Insurance and Life Insurance Company of Virginia. After arranging the purchase of a mainframe claims payment system at the latter company, Ed became a salesman for the company that sold the software. He crafted software business solutions for companies that included Digital Equipment Corp. In the early 1990s, he struck out on his own as a business and IT consultant.

Art Blog

Ed writes a blog titled “Art Can Save Us and Many Unrelated Ideas,” found at www.edmcdevitt.org. He is a frequent poster to Facebook and Twitter. He’s musical, too. “I sang a lot in high school, then, years later, I sang in a barber shop group. Now I’m a member of the choir at Unity Temple in Oak Park.”

Ed is certified to lead the Chicago Architecture: A Walk Through Time, Discover Chicago: Open-top Bus, and Elevated Architecture: North Side Art tours. He is the tour director of Hidden Art — plus the pub tours of Lakeview, Near North, River North, Andersonville and West Loop.

About the pub tours: “I’m an amateur beer expert,” he explained. “Originally, I was a coffee geek who loved to find local roasters. But after the Starbuck’s coffee phenomenon took hold, I transferred my affections to beer — particularly to American microbrews. And the pubs of Chicago have some of the best of them.” He’s won some of his most-favorable feedback on pub tours. On a West Loop tour, four young couples agreed: “We’ll go on the next tour only if you’re leading it.”

Breathing Park

As well as a prolific researcher and writer, Ed is a storyteller. On his tours, to illuminate the sights, Ed often weaves stories with a bit of history. On a recent Neighborhoods by Bus tour, he signaled for a stop at Arrigo Park in the Little Italy neighborhood. “This park dates to 1857,” he told his audience. “It’s a ‘breathing park’.” For a look-and-listen to Ed as he showed the park, CLICK HERE.

Ed still develops tours and serves on the docent council and tour committee. He was recognized with a service award in 2011, and an award for new tour development for the CAC move at Docent Appreciation Night in 2018. “I’m not Ellen Shubart-active,” he admitted, “but I am active.”

The Meaning of “We Will”

He has a favorite anecdote about speaking with sculptor Richard Hunt at a museum reception. Ed suggested his idea about the meaning of Hunt’s “We Will” sculpture on Randolph Street by the Heritage building. It seemed to be a metal depiction of a flame referencing the Chicago Fire and the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair motto of “I will,” opined Ed. The sculptor listened and said, quietly, “well, no.” Hunt patiently explained that his sculpture title “We Will” actually was a reflection of his sense that Chicago is always capable of bringing people together to find solutions. “Since then, I do not share my thoughts about an art work’s ‘meaning’ with the artist,” Ed admitted.