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About the Artist
Maxwell Emcays is a Chicago-based multidisciplinary creative who began his journey creating digitally born work, knowing a t-shirt as his only canvas. While attending the University of Illinois, he explored the relationship between meaning as it pertains to context. His work seeks to create dialog around institutionalized barriers while presenting a more overt conscious meaning. Stylistically, he references abstract expressionism, pop art, and Afrocentrism.
His work has been seen in Miami Art Basel, Chicago galleries, the DuSable Museum, private collections and highlighted on NBC’s “Making a Difference”. He is a philanthropist, author of four children’s books, runs mentoring in a juvenile detention center, holds two patents, does multiple charitable projects, and is a full-time Artist, focused on art activism.
About the Process
Beginning in 2022, Maxwell gathered inspiration and learned about the history of early volunteer groups like the Victor Fire Company. The final artwork was influenced by community feedback through surveys and conversations with stakeholders.
View concept designs and past community engagement in PublicInput
Inspired by the idea of "Service," the public art will include a larger-than-life sculpture showing a firefighter carrying a citizen against a backdrop of abstracted flames.
The sculpture will stand in front of the new Fire Station 3, the centerpiece of a plaza at the facility entrance.
Renderings of the proposed art and accompanying benches and timeline.
The public art will include six benches, each highlighting a different firefighter value. A timeline embedded in the sidewalk will share important dates in the Raleigh Fire Department's history.
The public art will feature internal lighting that makes it glow from within at night.
