A Little Alley, a Lot of Art in Arlington Heights

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.