HYDE PARK — The Iowa Building in Jackson Park could soon become the newest venue for a public art project spreading around the city.
Artist Indria Freitas Johnson is proposing installing seven half-sunken Buddha heads in a circle on the hill on the west side of the pavilion, 1759 E. 56th St.
“The idea of the the ‘10,000 Ripples’ project was to teach us how to understand peace,” Johnson told the Jackson Park Advisory Council on Monday. “We need to be reminded that peace is possible.”
The two-foot-high, 300-pound white fiberglass sculptures depicting the Buddha’s head from the nose up are at sites around the city, with several large groupings of a dozen or more along the east side of Lake Shore Drive near Diversey Parkway and at Palmisano Park in Bridgeport.
“The idea is it is growing out of the ground just as we are growing,” Johnson said. “It’s not about Buddhism, it’s about peace, this is a symbol.”
Michael Dimitroff, manager of art initiatives for the Chicago Park District, said he hoped the sculptures would become a gathering place and help the park create activity around the pavilion.
The sculptures are expected to be installed by before Sept. 21, World Peace Day.
The idea of collaborating with Johnson for an art project was proposed more than a year ago when the pavilion’s reputation was struggling against a recent murder and problems with homeless men living in the building.
Other public art projects are about to also kick off in the park.
A dead tree at Cornell Drive and 59th Street will be turned into a large carving, similar to two carvings in Nichols Park, Dimitroff said.
The Park District also recently finished installing a new sculpture titled “Leap” at the corner of 67th Street and South Shore Drive at the southeast corner of the park, Dimitroff said.
Crews have also this week started preparing to install Yoko Ono’s new artwork on Wooded Island in the fall.
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