Elmhurst's Art in Wilder Park to showcase new sculptures by Bernard Williams

Chicago Tribune

22-04-2025

Over 8,000 people flock to Art in Wilder Park each year to enjoy the art show presented by the Elmhurst Art Museum in partnership with the Elmhurst Park District. There will be plenty for those many visitors to see and do at the 28th annual free event, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. May 3-4 at 175 S. Cottage Hill Ave. in Elmhurst.
This year, 87 artists will display and sell their artwork at the juried art fair. The selection includes one-of-a-kind jewelry, paintings, sculptures, ceramics, prints, fiber arts, and even bejeweled cat collars.
A dozen food vendors will sell delicacies ranging from Polish food to hot dogs, citrus drinks, donuts and more.
Entertainment for children is planned at the Kids Court, where nine organizations will offer family activities and art projects.
And an extra attraction is a preview of CROSSINGS, the upcoming solo exhibition of sculptures and paintings by renowned Chicago-based artist Bernard Williams. CROSSINGS is curated by Allison Peters Quinn, executive director and chief curator of the Elmhurst Art Museum since December.
'This is my first exhibition at the museum since I started in December,' Quinn said. 'We wanted to pick an artist that was in the collection. He's an artist that I've worked with in the past for large sculptures.'
Quinn first curated a show of Williams' work around 2005 when she worked at the Hyde Park Art Center.
Artist Williams said he called this exhibit CROSSINGS because 'it captures a broad body of concerns.'
'It connects a lot of the various works together,' he said. 'I'm showing a couple car sculptures. One sculpture is a life-sized farm tractor. I'm showing an airplane. Some of those cross-over each other through history and ideas about human development in various ways. They all have thematic inspirations.'
Several of the pieces that will be exhibited at Art in Wilder Park are sculptures that Williams has exhibited at other sculpture parks. In addition, the Elmhurst Art Museum commissioned two new sculptures.
Quinn praised Williams' sculptures saying, 'He has a very particular visual language. It's almost hieroglyphic in that his symbols are images of a pig or an airplane. He tells a story through symbols that are universal and people can understand.'
Quinn added that she is a supporter of his work because 'he is talking about history that is not maybe so well known or about Black American history that we all need to learn. I think that they're educational but they're also beautiful.'
The exhibit will include four sculptures outside and one large airplane sculpture in the Hostetler Gallery in the Elmhurst Art Museum.
'The airplane was inspired by Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to obtain a pilot's license in the 1920s,' Williams noted. 'Her life story has been really powerful and inspirational and intriguing — and she had roots in Chicago. She was living in Chicago when she left for France because no one would teach her here in the states. She got accepted to an aeronautical school in France.
'In Bernard's work, he's been interested in cars and speed and the liberation that anybody can feel when they're in a car and they have the ability to go place to place,' Quinn said. 'So, we're showing a couple of the cars.'
Another piece, which is a tractor, was previously shown at the Arts Club of Chicago.
'It's in recognition of the Black Famers' Settlement, which was the largest settlement made,' Quinn reported. 'Billions of dollars going to Black farmers for reparations for discrimination against the Black farmers from the USDA.'
'My grandparents were farmers in Alabama,' Williams noted. 'Extended relatives were involved in the Black Farmers' Settlement around 2016.'
The two commissioned pieces are steel pole sculptures—one dedicated to Coleman and the other to the legacy of Black cowboys.
Williams said the pieces in CROSSINGS are typical of the work that he has been doing for the last 20 years. 'It's always been a mix of materials and various historical connections,' the artist said. 'It grows out of some of my own interests and studies around American history.'
The materials Williams used in the various sculptures in CROSSINGS include plywood for the car sculptures, along with machine-carved foam and metal.
A couple of Williams agricultural-themed paintings will also be in the show.
Having his work exhibited at the Elmhurst Art Museum is 'a real honor. It's always great when somebody shows appreciation for one's work,' Williams declared.
The solo exhibit will run until Aug. 17.
For more information about Art in Wilder Park, visit elmhurstartmuseum.org.