Latest news with #ArtForum
Chicago Tribune
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Naperville News Digest: Teen artwork to be displayed on streetlight controller boxes; forest preserve district wins $1.9M grant for trail, roads
Six local high school students will have their artwork displayed on streetlight controller boxes located near Naperville Central and Naperville North high schools. City officials announced the teen artists selected for the project were Avani Aggarwal, Jumana Janoowalla, Soha Javaid, Olivia Mancha and Annie O'Boyle from Neuqua Valley High School and Alice Wang from Naperville Central. Their artwork will be installed by June 30, officials said. The city this spring solicited designs from students ages 13 to 18 and received 30 entries, a city memorandum said. Members of Naperville's ArtForum made the final selections. Winning selections include colorful jungle scenes, hot air balloons, a look at the seasons, and rainbows and music. Naperville resident Wing Yu Ng, a graduate of Waubonsie Valley High School, was awarded a $2,500 scholarship from the Illinois Municipal Utilities Association as part of its essay contest. She plans to major in finance at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. About 70 high school seniors submitted essays from which four were selected to receive scholarships, a news release said. Ng's essay, 'Daily Lifestyle Changes to Help Mitigate the Impacts of Climate Change,' discussed how everyday choices and changes can affect the environment, according to the nonprofit utilities association, which represents Illinois municipalities that own and operate public utility systems. American Legion Post 43 has awarded $3,000 college scholarships to Naperville Central High School graduates Arwa Hameed and Lucy Ross and Naperville North High School graduate Madeline Pecak. High school seniors were asked to submit an essay describing the responsibilities of citizens in a democratic society and were graded by four judges based on grammar, spelling, originality, context and content. Other factors considered were students' academic achievement, leadership, participation in school and community activities, honors, community service and patriotic involvement, according to a news release. Hameed will be studying business and political science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Ross will be studying elementary education at Central Washington University; and Pecak will be studying psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Forest Preserve District of Will County is the recipient of a $1.9 million grant for trail and road improvements through the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program of the Illinois Department of Transportation. Meant to help expand local travel options and enhance a community's quality of life, the funds will support a trail that will be built in partnership with the city of Aurora and Wheatland Township Road District, according to a news release from state Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora. It will stretch along the north side of Wolf's Crossing Road west from Carls Drive and on the south side east from Carls Drive, the release said. Trail users will be able to head west to Hoffman Boulevard to connect to a system of Aurora trails or east towards the forest preserve district's Normantown Trail or the Naperville Park District's Tallgrass Greenway Trail. The project is in the first phase of engineering, which includes a preliminary design alignment.
Chicago Tribune
03-06-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Naperville's new public-private ArtForum to unveil new artwork at Nichols Library
A new public-private nonprofit devised to help Naperville expand its repertoire of public art is officially live. Dubbed 'ArtForum: The Naperville Partnership for Public Arts,' the initiative launched last month and will unveil the first new artwork with which it's been involved Wednesday at Naperville's downtown Nichols Library branch. 'It's going to be our coming out party, in a way,' said Michael Gold, a Naperville resident and chair of ArtForum's executive board. The venture has been more than a year in the making. For nearly three decades, soliciting and producing public art in Naperville had been the work of nonprofit Century Walk Corp. But after relations began to strain between Century Walk and the city — and the organization itself faced internal changes as well — Naperville started to chart a new path forward. Last September, early plans for a reinvigorated public art program were laid out at a meeting of the city's Special Events and Community Arts Commission. The cornerstone was a public-private partnership that would help the city solicit public art projects, similar to what Naperville has had for years with the Naperville Development Partnership, which promotes city business interests. About a month and a half ago, ArtForum secured its 501(c)3 nonprofit tax status, according to Gold. '(We've) been really getting all our ducks in a row' to secure that so they could capitalize on as many funding opportunities — grants, for instance — as possible, he said. 'We're just going to do our best to find as many funds as we can that absolutely do not turn back on the city,' Gold said. 'We don't want this to be a burden on taxpayers. The worst thing that can happen for public art is that the community feels that money is being spent somewhere that it shouldn't be. 'Art should be enjoyed. It should be appreciated. It should build a community. … It should tell our stories. It should reflect who we are, and the minute it becomes what dollars were spent on, it kind of sullies all of that a little bit.' ArtForum is led by a five-member executive board. It also recently formed a 20-person community advisory board. Asked how ArtForum will go about facilitating public art in town, Gold said the process will be a mix of seeking artists for projects the organization has in mind and artists pitching their own ideas. On its website, there is a submission form for public art proposals. 'What we're really trying to do is be the conduit between the artist and the community,' he said. 'In doing that, it's helping to find funding, helping to find locations, helping to find a venue. … That's really what our philosophy is at this point.' ArtForum's first community event Wednesday is the unveiling of works created by Naperville artist Richard Lo as part of a larger, county-wide art initiative. This summer, the Cleve Carney Museum of Art at the College of DuPage's McAninch Arts Center is presenting a new exhibit entitled, 'Hokusai & Ukiyo-e: The Floating World, Artworks from the Chiossone Collection.' The exhibit, which will run through Sept. 21, will immerse guests in Japan's Edo period (1603-1868). The collection features 53 paintings and woodblock prints by the masters of ukiyo-e, a major artistic genre that flourished during the Edo period. In conjunction with the exhibit, the museum partnered with Lo to create ukiyo-e style images showcasing the cities and villages that make up DuPage County. Lo, reached over the phone, said he made 37 pieces in all for the initiative, called 'Waves of DuPage: Beautiful Cities.' Works highlight distinctive locations in each participating municipality, which ranged from Naperville to Hanover Park. For Naperville, Lo highlighted four places: Dandelion Fountain, Millennium Carillon, the Naperville Riverwalk Covered Bridge and the city's downtown along Jefferson Street, Lo said. The pieces will be displayed in windows at Nichols Library. Wednesday's unveiling ceremony begins at 5 p.m. ArtForum will be there to commemorate the occasion because it helped bring Naperville's participation in the county project to fruition, Gold said. Looking ahead, ArtForum is currently eying its next venture. The nonprofit has put out a call for artists to fashion a new mural that will be installed on the side of the downtown Lima Brex building at 220 S. Main St. Any artists or artist teams interested in applying can submit a brief description of their proposed work and a rough mural sketch to shannon@ The deadline to apply is July 18. The chosen mural will be displayed from October through next April. Gold, who grew up in Naperville, said what ArtForum plans to do — and his being a part of those plans — is 'very exciting.' 'I have always been in awe of the commitment that the city and the community has had for art,' he said. 'From the sculptures to the paintings to the murals to everything that's up around town, it's obvious that people work hard and believe in those pieces. And to be a part of organizations that help facilitate that in town, it's quite an honor.' Naperville City Clerk Dawn Portner, who is also a founding member of ArtForum, echoed Gold. 'I can't wait to see what (ArtForum) is going to do,' she said. 'I think the future is just going to be amazing.'
