Aurora to unveil statue of longtime activist
The unveiling of a sculpture of Marie Wilkinson, Aurora resident and children's and civil rights activist, is scheduled for Saturday at the Paramount Theatre, 25 E. Galena Blvd.
Wilkinson celebrated her 99th birthday Tuesday.
A reception will begin at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The program will commence at 2:30 p.m., and performances by community choirs will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. Hosts are Mayor Tom Weisner and the Aurora City Council. The honorary chairperson for the event is Alderman Scheketa Hart-Burns.
Weisner said he is looking forward to the event as a way to thank Wilkinson for her many years of service to Aurora. But even more than that, he said, he looks forward to something else.
"When Marie Wilkinson smiles, she lights up the whole room," Weisner said. "I look forward to seeing this great lady's response to the sculpture."
Rena Church, Aurora Public Art Commission director, said when she saw the finished sculpture, she was speechless. "It is absolutely stunning," she said. "When people see it, they will be bowled over."
The life-size bronze sculpture was commissioned last summer by the Aurora Public Art Commission. Preston Jackson, a professor of sculpture at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, was guided in his work by photographs and input from Wilkinson's family.
"The sculpture I have created of Marie Wilkinson for the city of Aurora is about honoring and remembering the life of this amazing person more than it is about artistic styles," Jackson said. "It was very important to me that the sculpture be well-crafted to properly depict her, (and) that the piece be beautifully executed so that the message of who Marie Wilkinson is comes through more clearly.
"In researching her life, I found that I am the one that is honored to be chosen to speak to future generations about her good works."
Wilkinson was instrumental in launching the first fair housing ordinance in Illinois. She has helped to start many charitable organizations and was rewarded for her work in 2001 with the Catholic Church's highest honor for American missionary work, the Lumen Christi Award. Both a child-care center and food pantry have been named for her.
Among those organizations that have commissioned Jackson's work are The Chicago Transit Authority, McCormick Place West, city of Chicago, Northwestern University, the University of Illinois, Disney, and city of Peoria.
The $95,000 sculpture, which depicts Wilkinson sitting on a bench and holding a bouquet of flowers and a bullwhip, is being funded through the Public Art Commission and federal community block grant funds. (Wilkinson inherited a bullwhip from her father-in-law, a former slave.)
"Symbolically, the piece is about perseverance and kindness toward one's fellow human beings, no matter their race, gender or ethnicity," Jackson said. "Marie Wilkinson should, and will be remembered, and that was the intent of the city of Aurora, the Aurora Public Art Commission and myself in creating this cast bronze likeness of her seated on her own stainless steel bench. She sits, welcoming others to join her, created in timeless materials to ensure that her legacy will endure."