What do you do if you move to a downtown neighborhood and don't have a garden any more?
Fena D'Ottavio and Pamela Olin decorated a walkway off Campbell Street in downtown Arlington Heights that has won an award and attracted attention from grateful visitors.
"We are feeding the spirit through art, gardening, words and life," said D'Ottavio.
D'Ottavio started the project on the paver path next to Fuego Mexican Grill, 17 W. Campbell St., three years ago. After she received a Hearts of Gold award and collected cards with thank you notes, sculptor Pamela Olin moved to the next block in February and joined the project.
Olin, who teaches artistic welding at Harper College, installed a steel arch over the entrance to the walkway and displays several of her sculptures.
The approximately 150-foot-long walkway is also decorated with plants, a few tables and chairs and many of D'Ottavio's garage sale finds. Tomatoes, catnip, parsley and mint grow in pots so other gardenless downtown residents can clip some for themselves.
Whimsy is important, too. On one side of the walkway little plates stand up in the dirt, some accompanied with forks and spoons.
"They all have flowers on them," said D'Ottavio. "It's my way of having flowers that I don't have to water. And besides, we're next to a restaurant."
One large jar holds slips of paper with wishes that people have written-from wanting a pony to hoping their mother beats cancer.
D'Ottavio's favorite finds include a wooden crocodile from Guatemala that's a favorite with the children, an embracing plaster couple that a man wanted to buy for his wife but would not accept as a gift, and a broken concrete urn that people love so much they want to buy a copy.
Eddie Nahlawi, owner of Fuego, said his customers love wandering through the area while waiting for their tables.
The women would like to expand to one or two more downtown walkways. But one they have their eyes on requires logistical arrangements to be sure driveways are kept clear and refuse trucks can operate.
D'Ottavio, who had a painting and interior design business before the recession, works in guest services for Advocate Lutheran General and is starting a business called Connecters Networking Groups. She put $4,000 of her own money into the walkway the first year plus at least $1,000 annually in plants.
She is asking people to donate objects, artwork and cash to help with the projects. The web address is commgardens.meetup.com/66/.
Village President Arlene Mulder thinks it is projects like this that make downtown Arlington Heights special.
"These are hidden secrets we can't create, they create themselves," she said. "It's public art to some extent. What a beautiful gift to the community."
Olin is distributing large steel leaves to local artists to decorate, and she knows just the spot in another hidden area downtown where she would like to put them together to make a tree.
And D'Ottavio keeps on dreaming - envisioning other artists showing their work in walkways, musicians performing and one area dedicated to children's art.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
A Little Alley, a Lot of Art in Arlington Heights
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The importance of the arts in economic development...
An interesting article about the impact of the arts in Iowa:
Culture is economic development
Reporter: news@corridorbiznews.com
“Culture is economic development,” said Darcy Bemus, president of the board of the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance, at a recent press conference to announce the results of a cultural economic impact study. It was a simple yet profound statement that might be occasionally uttered without real proof. Now there is proof.
Culture doesn’t fit into the conventional thinking of what helps drive economic activity in an area, but that should now change thanks to the data presented at the press conference.
Consider the results:
•$31,777,183 spent annually in the Corridor by nonprofit cultural organizations
•$31,303,523 spent annually in the Corridor by local and out-of-town arts patrons
•$33,899,000 in resident household income
•$2,744,000 in local government tax revenue
•$3,440,000 in state government tax revenue
•1,986 full-time equivalent jobs
The regional data was part of a national study conducted by Americans for the Arts. We are typically quite skeptical of any economic impact study because numbers can and often are manipulated to prove a point. However, we feel this study is much more defensible because it didn’t even include representation from for-profit cultural organizations in the Corridor, of which there are many.
“Investing in culture is investing in a talented workforce,” said Ms. Bemus, underlining one of the primary the challenges that many cultural nonprofits face: raising money.
Most people in economic development keenly understand that having vibrant arts and culture is just as important as having good infrastructure like roads and utilities. With the competitiveness there is to keep and retain employees, not having strong arts and culture puts businesses in a severe disadvantage.
A prime example is the Cedar Rapids Science Station.
“We cannot lose this (the Science Station). We need them (cultural attractions) to attract and retain quality people,” said Rex Eno, an Aegon USA Foundation senior board member, regarding its $580,000 contribution.
Support for arts and culture from other businesses and business leaders is not new. For example, Mark Ginsberg with MC Ginsberg, John Smith with CRST and Tony Golobic with GreatAmerica Leasing are all excellent examples. But some don’t get it.
The main purpose of the study, in our view, was about respect. Like it or not, the arts and culture community has always been considered a second-class citizen when it comes to economic development. Yes, we need good infrastructure such as roads and utilities, but more and more we also need good culture.
Arts and culture not only enables businesses and organizations to thrive by affording them a vibrant place for employees to live after work, arts and culture organizations are businesses with employees.
Most of the Corridor is proud of our vibrant arts and culture. Now the Corridor should also respect arts and culture.
Culture is economic development
Reporter: news@corridorbiznews.com
“Culture is economic development,” said Darcy Bemus, president of the board of the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance, at a recent press conference to announce the results of a cultural economic impact study. It was a simple yet profound statement that might be occasionally uttered without real proof. Now there is proof.
Culture doesn’t fit into the conventional thinking of what helps drive economic activity in an area, but that should now change thanks to the data presented at the press conference.
Consider the results:
•$31,777,183 spent annually in the Corridor by nonprofit cultural organizations
•$31,303,523 spent annually in the Corridor by local and out-of-town arts patrons
•$33,899,000 in resident household income
•$2,744,000 in local government tax revenue
•$3,440,000 in state government tax revenue
•1,986 full-time equivalent jobs
The regional data was part of a national study conducted by Americans for the Arts. We are typically quite skeptical of any economic impact study because numbers can and often are manipulated to prove a point. However, we feel this study is much more defensible because it didn’t even include representation from for-profit cultural organizations in the Corridor, of which there are many.
“Investing in culture is investing in a talented workforce,” said Ms. Bemus, underlining one of the primary the challenges that many cultural nonprofits face: raising money.
Most people in economic development keenly understand that having vibrant arts and culture is just as important as having good infrastructure like roads and utilities. With the competitiveness there is to keep and retain employees, not having strong arts and culture puts businesses in a severe disadvantage.
A prime example is the Cedar Rapids Science Station.
“We cannot lose this (the Science Station). We need them (cultural attractions) to attract and retain quality people,” said Rex Eno, an Aegon USA Foundation senior board member, regarding its $580,000 contribution.
Support for arts and culture from other businesses and business leaders is not new. For example, Mark Ginsberg with MC Ginsberg, John Smith with CRST and Tony Golobic with GreatAmerica Leasing are all excellent examples. But some don’t get it.
The main purpose of the study, in our view, was about respect. Like it or not, the arts and culture community has always been considered a second-class citizen when it comes to economic development. Yes, we need good infrastructure such as roads and utilities, but more and more we also need good culture.
Arts and culture not only enables businesses and organizations to thrive by affording them a vibrant place for employees to live after work, arts and culture organizations are businesses with employees.
Most of the Corridor is proud of our vibrant arts and culture. Now the Corridor should also respect arts and culture.
Friday, January 30, 2009
We're new!
Welcome to the blog of Sullivan Area Arts! We have created this blog to share information about arts happenings in our area. We're just getting formed, so we invite you to participate by commenting and giving us ideas of art-related activities that you would like to see in Sullivan. Stay tuned for announcements about upcoming events!
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