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

Exhibition Reception

Last Saturday, August 6, was my exhibition opening Made Manifest at the Oak Park Public Library. The weather was good, not too hot, and setting up for it was very easy. Several friends, co-workers, and family members showed up to take a look at my pieces on view. My sister Heidi and her husband Jeff came in from Arlington, VA, and my good friends Ryan and Xuan, completely surprised me and also came from Virginia. My new neighbors Paul and Deon came, as well as my in-laws Roger and Ann, who came down from Wisconsin.

I would like to thank everyone who was able to come and support me, as well as all the people who sent me messages and words on encouragement with my exhibition. I consider myself very lucky and I am thrilled to be so supported and encouraged.

The exhibition is on view now until the end of August. Below are photos from the opening taken by friends, family, and myself.

My Birthday

I had a really fantastic birthday last Thursday. Celebrating my big 3-0 was marked mostly by eating a lot. I grabbed an early coffee and bagel after a very nice morning walk and then I headed to the grocery store to get ingredients for a cake. Later I had a lobster roll for lunch. Baking my own birthday cake is a newer habit of mine that I've been doing the past couple of years. This year I wanted to make a chocolate frosted cake with lemon curd filling between two layers of yellow cake. It mostly turned out okay, but I forgot to add a cup and a half of milk in between batches of flour, which made the cake dense. It was still very good and I was very proud of it. The homemade lemon curd was fun to make and it got me to use a lot of arm muscles that I usually don't.

For this past weekend John and I headed up to Wisconsin to spend time with family, celebrate our second wedding anniversary, and visit one of Wisconsin's most bizarre attractions, called the House on the Rock. The House is definitely worth several future blog entries. Along the way, we saw a farm stand that had a very large jack-o-lantern, and since I love Halloween, I could not resist getting my photo taken with it. 

Later on, John had a good idea to grab an old family bicycle for me and bring it back to Oak Park so that we can ride around the village together. John has a great bike he got this past spring. We spent Sunday morning putting some WD40 on some gears, air into tires, and then we took a tour around Kewaskum. Spending an hour riding around the village and smelling the fresh summer grass was a very relaxing way to enjoy the weekend. John's mom made us a great pot roast lunch and then we packed up and headed home. We had a wonderful time.

 

Pioneer Courthouse Square

Pioneer Courthouse Square is also known as 'Portland's Living Room', or simply 'The bricks'. It is indeed the center of the city, which features a curving ramp that leads down into a large communal space. The annual Christmas tree lighting occurs here along with many other activities that happen all year long. Most recently there was a sandcastle building competition here, and during some summer nights they have a large projection screen to show movie classics. It's always fun to pass through or sit and people watch at Pioneer Courthouse Square.