JEFFERSON PARK — Two sculptures have new homes in the Six Corners Shopping District and the Jefferson Park Business District as part of the Chicago Sculpture Exhibit, officials said Tuesday.
The sculpture festival, which is designed to bring art to Chicago's neighborhoods, will include Jefferson Park and Portage Park for the second year in a row, said Eric Craig, one of the exhibit's organizers and a member of the 45th Ward Arts Advisory Committee.
"Scrape" by Dusty Folwarczny was installed Tuesday at Lawrence and Milwaukee avenues, its large steel circles covered in rust and red paint and welded together.
Folwarczny, a Polish-American sculptor whose work has been part of the exhibit since 2009, said she was pleased to see her work in the Jefferson Park Business District on a corner dedicated to the area's Polish immigrants officials have dubbed Little Warsaw.
Folwarczny works with steel salvaged from her father's pipe company outside St. Louis. "Scrape," named for something that was written on the piece of metal that became the sculpture's base, is designed to play with both balance and weight, the artist said.
"I wanted it to be playful and lyrical, although it weighs more than all of us put together," Folwarczny said.
Ald. John Arena (45th), State Rep. Robert Martwick (D-Jefferson Park,) State Sen. John Mulroe (D-Norwood Park) and Gale Street Inn owner George Karzas contributed $3,500 to sponsor the sculpture, which will remain in the Jefferson Park Business District for one year — unless someone buys and agrees to maintain it, Craig said.
"Scrape" replaced "Twin Souls," which brightened Lawrence and Milwaukee avenues for a year. The sculpture has been returned to artists Gus and Lina Ocamposilva.
At Six Corners, Christopher Newman's "Crossing V" was installed Tuesday outside the Klee Building near Cicero and Milwaukee avenues near Irving Park Road.
The bright yellow aluminum sculpture that is all angles and sharp points is part of a series designed to explore the difference between sculpture and architecture, Newman said.
"I want people to have a conversation with the sculpture," Newman said. "Why is it yellow? Why is it that size? Why is it going this way and that way? I hope there will be a response."
The sculpture is being sponsored by the Six Corners Association, said interim director Kelli Wefenstette.
Fisher Stolz's' "Phenomenon" was outside 4901 W. Irving Park Road near Six Corners last year as part of the exhibit.
The artists will get a $1,500 stipend and $2,000 will go to the Chicago Sculpture Exhibit for marketing and additional costs.
The Chicago Sculpture Exhibit was founded in 2002, and focused on Lincoln Park and Lakeview before expanding its focus to the entire city in 2012. After a kickoff party scheduled for June 27, trolleys will take art aficionados on a tour of all of the sculptures, said Craig, a professional photographer.
Business owners in the Jefferson Park Business District and Six Corners have used public art as part of their efforts to reverse decades of economic decline and fill long empty storefronts.
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