A second sculpture by Chicago artist Terry Karpowicz will be installed at Flossmoor’s Ballantrae Park.
Village board members Monday approved the acquisition of “Totem,” a seven-foot sculpture made from granite and steel. Flossmoor trustees also OK’d a resolution authorizing a license agreement with the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District.
“Totem” will complement “Mount,” another Karpowicz work, at Ballantrae Park. Both pieces will be installed by the artist on existing concrete pads at the park, located at Antholl and Kinross streets in the village’s Ballantrae neighborhood.
The board approved the acquisition of “Mount” last December.
Both sculptures will be on loan to Flossmoor and its Public Art Commission for the next three years. In return, Karpowicz will receive a $4,000 honorarium from the village.
Commission Chair Nancy Burrows told the village board that Karpowicz, a longtime supporter of the village’s public art program, made the second sculpture available to Flossmoor after the acquisition of “Mount” was approved.
“We have been tasked with doing more for less,” Burrows said, adding that acquiring a second sculpture at Ballantrae Park increases the commission art outreach into the community.
Adding the second piece of art increased Karpowicz’s honorarium by $1,000.
“So we will be getting a second piece with the cost not going up that much,” Burrows said.
Karpowicz has been creating three-dimensional artwork since the 1970s and his sculptures are renowned for gracing public spaces across the United States. His sculpture “On the Edge of Awakening” was a founding piece of the permanent collection at Flossmoor’s sculpture garden. Over the years, he has also advised the Public Art Commission on maintenance issues.
Karpowicz will be responsible for transportation and installation expenses for both “Mount” and “Totem.”
Flossmoor currently has 10 sculptures in its permanent public art collection and four pieces in its rotational collection. The rotational pieces are on loan from the artists.
The sculpture garden program was established in 1998 through private donations and an Illinois FIRST grant.