New Sculpture Walk Will Create Arts Corridor Connecting Jefferson Park And Portage Park

JEFFERSON PARK — A sculpture walk connecting the Jefferson Park and Portage Park business districts is coming this year.

The sculpture walk will travel along Milwaukee Avenue, stretching from the Six Corners shopping area to just past the intersection of Milwaukee and Foster avenues. The 2-mile arts corridor will feature 10 sculptures, five of which are new.

The project, which is led by Arts Alive Chicago, is being funded through a $300,000 capital improvement grant sponsored by Sen. Robert Martwick.

Plans for a sculpture walk on the Far Northwest Side have been in the works for years, as discussions began when former 45th Ward Ald. John Arena was in office, Martwick said. Funding for the project opened up after Gov. JB Pritzker signed a $45 billion capital plan in 2019, Martwick said.

Martwick said that Portage Park and Jefferson Park are already home to “burgeoning arts districts” thanks to fixtures like the Filament Theatre, the Gift Theatre, the historic Portage Theater, the Copernicus Center, the Paschke Art Center and the National Veterans Art Museum.

“You have all of these arts institutions growing up around Milwaukee Avenue, and we thought, ‘How cool would it be if we had an arts destination that people could not only drive out and visit, but also walk through and really experience the area and then also patron local businesses?’” Martwick said.

Public Art’s Importance

When Martwick approached Arts Alive about the sculpture walk last year, group President Cyd Smillie reached out to Eric Craig, a Jefferson Park-based photographer who has worked with the Chicago Sculpture Exhibit for almost two decades.

Craig helped Arts Alive find artists and sculptures for the project. Of the five new sculptures, four are existing works that just need to be installed and one was commissioned, Craig said.

The commissioned piece will be created by Chicago artist Terrence Karpowicz and will feature salvaged pieces of the vault that was once inside the old Six Corners Bank of America, which is now the Clarendale senior living facility.

Smillie said she hopes to finish installing the sculptures by this fall. Installations will likely start this spring.

Each sculpture will feature a brass plaque with details on the piece and the artist. The sculpture walk will also include about a dozen trail markers affixed to buildings between sculptures. The trail markers, which are being created by Indiana-based artists Clare Backer Bies and Romy Kissel, will help with wayfinding along the walk, Smillie said.

Studies have shown that public art can benefit residents’ wellbeing, encourage neighbors to walk more and increase tourism.

Smillie said she believes the sculpture walk will help Six Corners become a thriving shopping district once again.

“Six Corners is coming back, but there’s stretches where it’s still suffering urban blight,” she said. “The sculpture walk will encourage people to become pedestrians again and to walk from store to store.”

As school funding for the arts continues to be cut, public sculptures and murals serve an important role in making art accessible, Smillie said. She said the sculptures selected showcase an array of mediums and styles.

“Schools have less and less money for field trips to art museums, and many no longer have full-time art teachers,” Smillie said. “If we can get art out onto the streets, at least kids get exposure to it.”

Martwick said he hopes the sculpture walk draws even more art-related businesses and institutions to the Northwest Side.

Smillie said plans for the sculpture walk have not been finalized. Images of the 10 sculptures and their proposed locations are below:

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