COMMITTEE UNVEILS PLANS FOR CENTURY WALK -- YEAR 2

June 22, 1997 — Source: Naperville Sun, The (IL) — Author: Karri E. Christiansen

Naperville residents and visitors soon might be able to enjoy high tea at the Jefferson Hill shops while admiring one of this year's addition to the Century Walk.

Michael Trippiedi, Century Walk administrator, said the courtyard at Jefferson Hill Tea Room on east Jefferson Avenue is being considered as the home for a 10-foot steel sculpture depicting growth, change and diversity in Naperville.

The sculpture, which will be constructed of steel by artist Jack Holme, is one of three artworks planned for the Century Walk, Trippiedi said.

The artwork also will show various tools used over the past century by Napervillians, he said.

Other projects for the trail of public artworks through downtown Naperville will include a mural on the east side of the Lantern restaurant building, at the southwest corner of Chicago Avenue and Washington Street, and a mosaic relief sculpture on the east side of the Hozhoni Native American Art store building at Main Street and Jefferson Avenue.

The mural, which likely will show how transportation has affected Napervillians, will be painted by Chicago artists Mariah de Forest and Hector Duarte.

Preliminary plans for the mural emphasize the importance of the DuPage River, the advent of train travel, the first automobiles and possibly even may show airplanes like those flown by some of Naperville's Aero Estates residents, de Forest told members of the Century Walk Committee Thursday.

All the elements of the mural will be shown with the artists' rendition of the American flag -- which shows white atoms on the blue background rather than stars to represent work done in Naperville's Hi-Tech Corridor.

"The flag is behind all this because Naperville is the perfect American city and we thought that should be part of the mural," de Forest said, adding that the atoms on the flag also represent Naperville's superiority in technology.

Brand Bobosky, chairman of the Century Walk Committee, said he likes the ideas behind the mural.

"I like the idea about the river, and the train is very important," Bobosky said.

"The river actually slipped by me -- and that's the whole reason we're here."

Kathleen Scarboro and Kathleen Farrell, dubbed Thursday "the Kathleens," said another important part of Naperville's history is its farm community. Their mosaic relief sculpture, which will measure 11-feet wide by 6-feet-3-inches at its tallest point, is called Amber Waves of Grain.

The mosaic will honor the importance of farming in 20th Century Naperville by depicting such crops as wheat, barley, corn, alfalfa, oats and soy beans.

The piece also will show a silo and farm, as well as one of the many enemies of farmers: the velvet bean caterpillar, Farrell said.

"We, too, thought that Naperville is really the all-American city, and we wanted to honor the farming community," Scarboro said.

Farrell and Scarboro will form the mosaic out of small squares of tile that likely will be sliced into different shapes.

Farrell said she and Scarboro also likely will recruit artist volunteers to help lay the tiles, but the final product will be installed on the wall by a professional.

This year's artworks will complete the second year of the Century Walk, the brainchild of Bobosky, that has received financial support from the City Council.

The first year saw artists complete a mural depicting the history of journalism on the west side of the Naperville Sun building, a relief sculpture of the Naperville Municipal Band on the west side of the Firstar Bank building and two mosaic chaise lounges on Jackson Avenue near the Riverwalk Plaza building.

Passers-by likely will notice that only one of the benches created by Glen Ellyn artist Jennifer Hareth is finished.

Century Walk officials have said Hareth could not complete the second bench last year because of inclement weather, but it should be completed by September of this year.

Hareth is scheduled to hold a presentation at the chaise lounges from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 25, to demonstrate tapeta painting.

The public is welcome to attend.

Section: NEWS — Page: 10