CHICAGO — A Chicago-area arts center has released and is selling a Blackhawks poster featuring Patrick Kane despite the controversy surrounding the star player.
The Munster, Ind.-based South Shore Arts said in a Friday email it would be selling "LET'S GO HAWKS!" — a South Shore Line Poster with Kane, Hawks captain Jonathan Toews and defenseman Duncan Keith. Kane is the subject of a police investigation after being accused, according to the Buffalo News, of raping a woman on Aug. 2 at his Hamburg, N.Y., home.
The poster was commissioned in 2014, according to Tricia Hernandez, Director of Marketing and Development for South Shore Arts. It premiered in July at the Blackhawks Convention, before the accusations against Kane.
"Schedules of everyone locally at that time set the date in August to introduce it to Northwest Indiana," Hernandez wrote in an email to DNAinfo Chicago Monday. "Certainly there is concern when there are any allegations but they are just allegations and the poster is about celebrating the team’s accomplishments and their fans along the South Shore."
Since the allegation, EA Sports removed Kane from the cover of its "NHL 16" video game on Aug. 12. Only Toews remains on the cover.
The poster was created by artist Mitch Markovitz, a Bowen High School graduate.
An email to officials at the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, which operates the South Shore Line, was not immediately returned.
Markovitz estimates he's made more than 100 posters in his career, according to the Post-Tribune.
The poster is part of a popular Shore Shore Line series, which began in the 1920s and promotes the train that runs from Downtown Chicago through Northwest Indiana and into South Bend.
"Founding Artist and Art Director Mitch Markovitz was the perfect choice to create the poster," Hernandez said in the email. "Connecting Chicago and Northwest Indiana has always been a goal of the poster series."
The poster is available at the South Shore Arts Gift Shop, 1040 Ridge Road in Munster, Indiana, or online at www.southshoreartsonline.org. Two sizes are available: 12-by-18 for $35 and 24-by-36 for $50.
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