PILSEN — One oversized plaster head just wasn’t enough.
So students of the ElevArte youth arts program in Pilsen created another one.
Teaching artist Alfonso “Piloto” Nieves said he was inspired to make the second head after the installation of the 10,000 Ripples Buddha statue at the Gad’s Hill family center, where he teaches sculpture to kids from kindergarten through high school.
The Buddha heads, designed by artist Indira Johnson, are being placed in ten Chicago neighborhoods as a way to promote peace.
Talking with his students about 10,000 Ripples, they decided they wanted to create a sculpture representing multiple religions and races and came up with the design of a head made up of other smaller heads.