Oak Park Sculpture Walk

Oak Park has a summer tradition of installing temporary public art pieces around the village called the Sculpture Walk. Sculptures from all over the country are featured at various places and this summer it is hosted in the "Arts District", which is on Harrison Street. I serve as a board member on the Oak Park Area Arts Council (OPAAC) and I was able to help judge and select some of the pieces this year. The Sculpture Walk helps to highlight Oak Park as a jurisdiction, it fosters local business, and I like how it brings critical visual thinking to the community. While some pieces are more material based others have symbolic meanings. I love being apart of OPAAC and I think this year's Sculpture Walk has been a great success.

"Nutrition Sculpture" - Will Vannerson

"Blue Woman in The Twilight" - Jacqueline Willis

"Three Muses (Memory, Song and Practice" - Valerie Jean Schafer

"Quarry Moons" - Shawn Morin

"Popsicles" - Craig Gray

"Catch Up" - Shencheng Xu

"Ecosystem No. 1" - Margot McMahon

National Gallery

The National Gallery in London is a tour de force when it comes to housing some really good art. From Caravaggio to Velasquez, from Gainsborough to Turner -- masterpieces by master artists make for a helluva an afternoon in London. I remember I searched out the Arnolfini portrait by van Eyck as well as Delaroche's Lady Jane Grey -- two marvelous paintings surround by other amazing works of art. 

In my trip to the National Gallery back in February, I remember strolling through the galleries really in awe of all of the amazing paintings I recalled that I had studied as an undergrad. The significance of so many wonderful pieces of art and the cultural weight was so wonderfully impressive and also riveting.