Schaumburg Sculpture Park on municipal campus to resume growth after 7-year pause
Six new purchases will grow the Schaumburg Sculpture Park on the village’s 60-acre municipal campus for the first time since it received a single donation in 2019.
The works by two artists totaling $117,500 are part of an overall $684,269 upgrade planned this year.
The park already saw new pathway lighting and security cameras, updated signs, public benches and trash bins installed as well as other preventive maintenance.
The village’s One Percent for Art Program that began under former Mayor Al Larson in 2000 aimed to use about 1% of the village’s annual capital improvement fund for cultural enhancements.
But the plan was paused by such periods of economic stress as the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.
This week’s purchases were the first since before Larson left office in 2019. In the wake of his 2024 death, village board members and staff recalled his influence on the program at Tuesday’s approval.
“I think Mayor Larson would have been very proud,” senior Village Trustee Jack Sullivan said.
“I thought it was time to get back to this,” Mayor Tom Dailly said. “I think we should keep this going, maybe every couple of years.”
Schaumburg Landscape & Design Planner Todd Wenger — the last member of the original One Percent for Art team — said he was moved to tears by the discussion about Larson.
“He was such a force and promoter of the arts,” Wenger said. “It’s important to resume the things that make Schaumburg a great place.”
The six new pieces were submitted for consideration by artists Nicole Beck and Don Lawler, and chosen from among others for their artistic vision, compatibility with the park and resilient materials.
Lawler is the sculptor behind the park’s iconic Awaking Muse.
His new pieces are titled World Berries, Heave Ho! and Water: Go With the Flow. The latter consists of three water-themed pieces that can also be used as benches.
Beck’s sculptures are Peace Tree, Asteray and Sunstruck.
“I think they’re going to be a great addition to the sculpture park,” Trustee Michael LaRosa said.
“I do think some of this is pretty cool,” Dailly agreed.
The purchases were made at the same meeting trustees renamed the entire grounds the Robert O. Atcher Municipal Campus after Schaumburg’s influential second mayor and its 40-year-old Al Larson Prairie Center for the Arts as the Al Larson Cultural Center.
“For Al, it was all about culture,” Dailly said.