Marjanne Eggermont’s visual representation of homelessness in Calgary.

A full schedule prevents me from getting out on the town as much as I'd like. With a huge interest in the art du jour, it disappoints me that I can't make it to all the gallery openings, take in the creative energy and see what's happening in the art community. But then it occurred to me that the city itself is a gallery, and public art is flourishing all around us.

The City of Calgary Public Art Program is doing incredible things these days to connect Calgarians with art on a regular basis. The daily downtown commuter has several opportunities to experience thought-provoking art, without even leaving the C-Train platform. I visited three LRT stations to take a look at the art lurking within Calgary's core.

Open Spaces: Window to a View is a new initiative that provides local artists a chance to exhibit their work in a high-traffic area — the Telus Convention Centre windows facing the Centre Street LRT station. It also provides the public with a view of artistic expression that resonates with local life and reflections.

“The program invites artists to consider civic and community spaces and focus on the process of creating socially engaging art in public settings,” says Quyen Hoang, co-ordinator of the public art program. The current exhibition features artists Marjan Eggermont and Judy Ueda until the end of July.

Eggermont's work puts Calgary’s homeless statistics in visual form, featuring 4,060 Monopoly houses representing each homeless person in 2008. The thousands of little houses are the elephant in the room (or city).

Ueda's work explores the vastness of Alberta. Her simplistic paintings capture the beauty and familiarity of the prairies. They remind us that although we buzz about in our metropolis, we are encircled by the seemingly endless solitude of the Alberta landscape.

Venturing further down the C-Train line, another public artwork reveals itself, but only if you have your eyes peeled and you’re looking up, way up. SWARM, by Stuart Keeler, serves a practical purpose: sheltering commuters. Created from digital screened film and laminated glass, the work is incorporated into the Sixth Street S.W. LRT station’s overhead canopy. The colourful square pattern is dusted with what appears to be fallen leaves, and casts a beautiful shadow on the ground. It is meant to represent a swarm of birds taking flight. Keller's work explores the human landscape, and the relationship between what is constructed and what is natural. It's wonderful to see a work of art that is integrated into a functional structure, adding warmth to an otherwise cold and sterile surrounding.

In the struggle against time known as commuting, SWARM isn’t the only work of art you need sharp eyes to see. Arrival Time – Departure Time, by artist team Living Senses, is a play on time and sight.

Located above the Seventh Street S.W. LRT station, this series features clocks that look like iconic timepieces, but won’t help you keep your date. Look closely, and you realize the clocks only have one hand, which is stuck at one particular time. This piece is a play on the mundane, turning an everyday tool into something a little more playful and lighthearted. It would be interesting to know what each person is thinking when they do a double take. Does it inspire a little chuckle, or a grumble about the incompetence of city bureaucracy?

There are so many opportunities to be inspired in the public realm. These ones are only a few pieces along a daily downtown commute. If you’re feeling more adventurous, you can check out the Plus-15 art circuit. This tour of 14 artworks from the civic art collection is accessible by walking a six-block radius in the Plus-15s. You can download an IPhone app to lead you through it. For those of us who haven't bought into the smart-phone revolution yet, there is a podcast available at calgary.ca/publicart, and an audio tour of the circuit accessible at 403-268-1616.