Naperville Art: The Grinch

Since it’s December, it seems appropriate to wrap up the past year of learning about the artwork sponsored by Century Walk with a holiday-appropriate piece: “The Grinch.”

This faithful three-dimensional adaptation of the beloved Dr. Seuss character was installed in 2012 outside of the Naper Boulevard library. It was the third Dr. Seuss statue that Century Walk placed in front of a library. “The Cat in the Hat” was installed at Nichols Library in 2007 and “Green Eggs and Ham” was installed at the 95th Street Library in 2008. Now each of Naperville’s libraries has a Dr. Seuss statue to greet the city’s youngest readers.

All three of the statues were created by artist Leo Rijn. Audrey Geisel, the widow of Theodor Geisel (who wrote as Dr. Seuss), started The Art of Dr. Seuss Collection six years after her husband’s death and Rijn was chosen to create bronze renditions of these favorite books.

Theodor Geisel actually created quite a lot of art in addition to the book illustrations, most of which was never displayed during his lifetime. Not only did Geisel illustrate his books and paint, but he also created the Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy. He “stuffed” and “mounted” totally invented creatures similar to those in his books, often using actual horns, beaks and other parts from deceased zoo animals. Audrey fulfilled his wish to share his “secret art” with the public by launching the Dr. Seuss project in 1997. The collection includes limited edition reproductions of his original art as well as interpretations of his work by other artists, such as these sculptures by Rijn.

A number of bronze statues were created by Rijn for the the first Tribute Collection. In addition to the three installed by the Century Walk in Naperville, other characters he sculpted include Horton, the Lorax and the Turtle Tower.

Rijn was also commissioned by Universal Studios to develop scale models of Dr. Seuss characters to be used at their theme park in Orlando. Seuss Landing, for the youngest park visitors, features several of Rijn’s Dr. Seuss sculptures and the buildings and decor were all influenced by his art direction.

When not sculpting Dr. Seuss characters, Rijn works on Hollywood film projects. His art has appeared in films from “Masters of the Universe” to “Star Trek” to “Thor” and he has worked with likes of Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg and Ang Lee.

All of the Dr. Seuss statues are familiar landmarks at Naperville’s libraries. In past years, The Cat in the Hat at Nichols Library has been “yarn bombed” during the winter, making it look like he is wearing a brightly-colored sweater against the chill and and people often take selfies in front of the statues. In fact, getting a photo of yourself with The Grinch could make a nice Christmas card!

Naperville Art: Faith, Hope and Charity

The trouble with murals is that when the wall goes, so does the mural. Planning ahead, the 40th piece in the Century Walk art collection was painted on a removable board that was taken down a couple of years ago and recently re-installed. 

“Faith, Hope and Charity” was sponsored by Euclid Lodge 65, the Naperville chapter of Freemasons, and first unveiled in 2011 on the west wall of Russell’s Dry Cleaners. But after 50 years in business, Russell Breitwieser retired in 2017. The building needed to be torn down, so the Masons put the mural in storage. The outdoor outfitter, Filson, opened in that space this past September, but without the mural. 

Naperville’s Euclid Lodge was founded on October 2, 1849, which means they just celebrated their 170th anniversary last month. In honor of the occasion, they held an open house at their headquarters and rededicated the mural at its new location. You can now find “Faith, Hope and Charity” on the south wall of the Gap on Main Street. 

The mural was painted by artist Marianne Lisson Kuhn. Kuhn, who was born and raised in Naperville, is a familiar sight in the local art community. Other Century Walk art pieces she created are “Naperville Loves a Parade,” “World’s Greatest Artists” and “The Way We Were.” She has also painted several of the fiberglass sculptures that are part of the downtown scene every summer. 

“Faith, Hope and Charity” depicts George Washington and Joseph Naper wearing their Masonic aprons as well as many other symbols of the Scottish rite. 

On Washington’s side of the painting are listed notable Masons such as Winston Churchill, Wolfgang Mozart and Theodore Roosevelt. On Naper’s side are listed local notable Masons such as James Nichols, Lewis Ellsworth and Willard Scott. The first Worshipful Master from 1848, Keith Aylmer, is not listed and others on the list were not Masters at all. 

Behind Naper, Kuhn painted the current lodge meeting hall. The Masons built it in 1916-17 after outgrowing several of their earlier halls. Before 1977, the first floor housed the Naper Theater and the Naperville Running Company currently operates out of the space. During the mural rededication, the hall was open for visitors to tour and ask questions of the members.

Other places Euclid Lodge used to meet include the east part of Empire’s building, Blue Mercury (which was Starbucks until they moved across the street) and the La Sorella di Francesca building, among others. The group’s website features a nice history page with photos of the old locations and past Masters for further information.

Naperville Art: Naperville’s Own

The Century Walk initiative started in 1996 with three works of art: “River Reveries,” “The Printed Word” and “Naperville’s Own.”

“River Reveries” is a grouping of two mosaic-adorned benches across from the Riverwalk near Egg Harbor Restaurant. “The Printed Word” was originally painted on the a wall of The Sun newspaper building until it was torn down and then repainted on a wall at Ellman’s Music until it also came down to make room for Q-BBQ. The third piece, “Naperville’s Own,” is on the wall of what is currently US Bank at the corner of Washington and Jefferson.

Back in 1996, the building was a Firstar Bank and artist S. Michael Re said he was subject to some suspicious stares as he drilled into the bank’s wall to mount the sculpture.

That corner of Washington and Jefferson has long hosted a bank, although the name and even the architecture has changed over the years. Willard Scott, and later Willard Scott, Jr. started a bank in their Washington Street store in 1854. By 1907, the First National Bank was operating on that location.

Re’s sculpture celebrates one of our community’s treasures:  the Naperville Municipal Band. Originally known as the Naperville Brass Band and later as the Naperville Light Guard Band, this organization also dates from the time of Willard Scott as it was started in 1859.

The relief sculpture is meant to show band members marching through history, from the “old” bandstand on the left side to the “new” band shell. There have been several performance centers over the years. The first bandstand was built in the 1880s. You can see a replica of it at the Naperm Settlement today. It was replaced by another wooden structure in the 1920s which was in turn replaced in the 1960s by a bigger band shell. That is the one depicted on the right side of the sculpture, the one still in use in 1996.

Today we enjoy an even newer Community Concert Center which hosted its first Naperville Municipal Band concert in the summer of 2003.

Naperville Art: Reflections on Scotts Mill

The DuPage River of our downtown Riverwalk is technically the West Branch. The East Branch breaks away around 95th Street. Joseph Naper’s first endeavor in town was a sawmill that he later repurposed as a flour mill. But there was a second sawmill on the East Branch operated by Stephen Scott.

In 1825, Stephen moved his family from Maryland to Grosse Point (the Evanston area). On a hunting trip in the summer of 1830, he checked out the DuPage River and decided to relocate. They moved later that year, months ahead of Naper’s settlers.

By 1839, the Scotts were operating a sawmill on the East Branch to help the growing community build homes and shops. A flood washed away the mill in the late 1800s, but by that time the Scotts had already moved into town.

Stephen’s son Willard Sr. became a storekeeper and banker for the fledgling town and Willard Jr. continued the “pillar of the community” tradition. The impressive Italianate house on Washington Street that now houses attorneys was built in 1867 for Willard Sr.

The Scott family rests in the local cemetery — all but Stephen, the first Napervillian — and no one knows where he is buried. While in his 70s, Stephen was caught up in Gold Rush fever. He started for the west in 1849 and died around 1854, but there are no other details on record.

The Scott family’s rise to prosperity, mirroring that of the town, inspired the creation of “Reflections on Scott’s Mill.”

Chicago-based installation artist and sculptor Lucy Slivinski was chosen to create this representation of Scott’s Mill. Slivinski is known for using salvaged materials in her work and this piece features old gears, chains, hooks and other metal pieces reminiscent of a 19th century water-powered sawmill.

The sculpture welcomes visitors to the Knoch Knolls Nature Center, operated by the Park District. Indoors, there are exhibits for families to learn about nature-related topics. Outside, there are trails, bridges and picnic areas. While Scott’s mill and the family cabin are long gone, a map on the trail can give you an idea of where they were located.

Naperville Art: Man’s Search for Knowledge

At Jefferson Avenue and Webster Street is a brick wall mural called “Man’s Search for Knowledge Through the Ages.” Since the wall spans a corner of the Nichols Library parking lot, the title is absolutely appropriate.

The mural is a bas-relief sculpture, a dimensional mural carved directly into the brick face. The images “symbolize the human quest for learning through the ages” from the biblical Tree of Knowledge through explorers in outer space.

“Man’s Search for Knowledge” is the work of Mara Smith, a nationally-known artist who works out of Seattle, Washington. Smith intended to teach jewelry-making and metal-working, but was given the opportunity to create brick murals for a hotel in Dallas which jump-started a new career. Her work is displayed internationally and she has been called “the pioneer of modern brick sculpture" by the Brick Institute of America.

Smith originally created the wall in 1987, years before the 1996 incarnation of the Century Walk Foundation, but the mural was adopted by Century Walk in 1998.

More recently, Smith’s work suffered serious damage when in July of 2016, a driver in the library parking lot accidentally accelerated into the wall, knocking out a four foot by five foot section and shoving a large portion of the rest of it off its foundation.

A Naperville resident who worked for a Broadview masonry company contacted Century Walk and offered their services. They disassembled the wall, numbering each brick as they went, and rebuilt it to stabilize the basic structure.

Century Walk then contacted Diosdado “Dodie” Mondero, the artist responsible for other pieces downtown such as “Naperville Loves a Parade” and “Pillars of the Community,” to fit the brick pieces back together and re-create the pieces that were not salvageable. Mondero worked with a special effects company to match the color and texture of the replacements to that of the original brick and mortar.

The first installation cost about $42,000 back in 1987. The 2016 bill was closer to $50,000 for restoring the mural after the accident.

“Man’s Search” is only one of several public art pieces that were “adopted” by Century Walk to join the many new installations since 1996. The first 30 pieces installed focused on the history of Naperville, but later works added to this local public art “museum” have featured other themes.

December 2, 2018 was declared “Century Walk Day” by the city of Naperville. One of the celebratory events was a fundraiser for Century Walk titled “The Bicentennial Birthday Bash,” in honor of the 200th anniversary of Illinois’ statehood. Also on that day, the 50th piece of public art was unveiled in Central Park near the bandshell. “Laughing Lincoln” was dedicated on a drizzly afternoon and afterward, art and history supporters retired to Wentz Hall. Of course, the not-for-profit also takes donations throughout the year, so if you’d like to help, just go to centurywalk.org for more information.