Downtown Highland Park will come alive with whimsical art pieces lining city streets this summer. The Downtown Highland Park Alliance has collaborated with The Art Center (TAC) of Highland Park to create a public art display featuring artwork depicting summer events in Downtown Highland Park.

The Downtown Highland Park Alliance allocated a large portion of its summer promotions budget to fund the outdoor artwork that will serve as a creative “save the date” for the many public events held in Downtown Highland Park throughout the summer. Working with the leadership and faculty members of The Art Center, the funding was transformed into eight dynamic pieces that are being installed throughout the commercial district and will remain in place throughout the summer.

Events depicted in the art pieces include: Fourth of July (July 4); Auto Historica X Vintage Car Show (July 31); Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experience (August 22); Taste of Highland Park (August 27-29); Port Clinton Art Festival (August 28-29); and the Summer Concert Series (ongoing event series on Thursdays through August 21).

Installation of the public artwork will take place this week, just in time for The Art Center’s annual Festival of Fine Craft, to be held on Sheridan Road between Central Avenue and Elm on Saturday and Sunday, June 26-27.

“Public art is a unique way that we’ve found to create renewed interest in Downtown Highland Park,” said Downtown Highland Park Alliance Executive Director Sarah Wiebenson. “By featuring the talents of local artists, we both engage our community and creatively advertise our summer events.”

Eight TAC faculty members donated their time to create eight pieces of artwork. Each of the artists received a stipend for materials and supplies from the Alliance. TAC members also contributed to a portion of the costs to create the artwork.

The artists, sizes, mediums and locations of the pieces are:

“Fourth of July” – 4’x 5’ copper sculpture by a collaboration of 14 people. Led by TAC Metalsmithing/Jewelry Teacher Pixie Eslinger, seven TAC metalsmithing students including Diane Rodevich, Nancy Hudson, Miguel Palacios, Betty McDonald, Pam Podstawa, Tina Smith, Michelle Christensen, five of their children and faculty members Amy Butts and Suzanne Santos worked for approximately 200 hours to create this piece. There is a star for each of the U.S. states and each star has a different jewelry, metalsmithing, enameling, beading, painting or wiring technique. “Fourth of July” will be located in a landscape planter in front of 595 Central.

“Auto Historica X Vintage Car Show” – 3’x 4’ mosaic board by Barbara Schmidt, a Highland Park resident who is an artist and lawyer. “Auto Historica X Vintage Car Show” will be located in a landscape median at the east end of Central Avenue.

“Pride and Passion: African-American Baseball Experience” – 3’x 4’ painted board by Cheryl Steiger. Steiger is an award-winning artist, TAC faculty member for over 15 years and a Highland Park resident. “Pride and Passion: African-American Baseball Experience” will appear in a landscape planter front of Running Right.

“Taste of Highland Park” – 4’x 3’ painted board by Judith Joseph. Joseph is an award-winning artist and TAC faculty member who has exhibited her artwork in traveling shows in museums around the country. “Taste of Highland Park” will be located in a landscaped median at the intersection of Central/Deerfield at the west end of Downtown Highland Park.

“Port Clinton Art Festival” – 4’x 3’ painted board by Linny Coale Freeman, an artist and TAC faculty member. “Port Clinton Art Festival” will appear in a landscape planter in front of Port Clinton.

“Summer Concert Series/Battle of the Bands” – A painted bench by Kelly Gillum, an artist, TAC faculty member and corporate headhunter. “Summer Concert Series/Battle of the Bands” will be located in the parkway on First Street at Elm Place.

“Late Nite HP” – A painted bench by Didier Nolet. Nolet is an award-winning French artist and Chicago resident. He is a TAC faculty member whose artwork appears in collections around the world. “Late Nite HP” will appear in the parkway on First Street at Elm Place.

“Downtown Highland Park” – 2’x 4’ mosaic sculpture by Nancy Wolff, an artist, TAC faculty member and owner of Forest Bootery. “Downtown Highland Park” will be located in the landscaped median at Central Avenue and St. Johns Avenue.

“The Art Center is very grateful to the Downtown Highland Park Alliance for giving us the opportunity to participate in this fun summer project for the whole community to enjoy this summer,” said Gabrielle Rousso, Executive Director of The Art Center of Highland Park. “I am so impressed with the work of our participating TAC faculty artists! As a 20-year resident of Highland Park, I am excited to see these creative and colorful art pieces on display around Downtown Highland Park all summer.”

A printable calendar of all of the 2010 Downtown Highland Park summer events can be found at www.downtownhp.com

About the Downtown Highland Park Alliance

Downtown Highland Park is brought to you by the Highland Park CBD Alliance, a partnership of the Downtown Property Owners Association, the Highland Park Chamber of Commerce and the City of Highland Park. The Alliance was founded in 2008 to enhance the economic vitality of the central business district of Highland Park. For more information, visit www.downtownhp.com.