Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl joined civic leaders, artists and community members in officially opening Art Under Glass, a joint project of the Arts and Business Committee of the Evanston Arts Council and Evmark.

The project places works of art by local artists in the vacant storefront windows of downtown Evanston.

"We're so fortunate in Evanston to be rich with arts of all sort," said Penny Rotheiser, Arts and Business Committee co-chair. "This is an opportunity to really showcase those artists."

"In these economic times, this is really a great project to bring the street back alive and showcase downtown Evanston," said Carolyn Dellutri, executive director of Evmark. "I thank you all for really pulling this together."

After the opening remarks, guests of the ceremony received a tour of each window display and a brief explanation of the works by the artists themselves.

For read more about the Art Under Glass project, click here.

Triblocal.com photos by Jonathan Bullington