Schaumburg resumes public art purchases

In its first sign of activity since before the recession, Schaumburg’s One Percent for Art Committee recommended the purchase of a $35,000 sculpture approved by village trustees Tuesday.

“Rubber Tipped Crane” by Christine Rojek is a three-dimensional depiction of a bird in flight which will be displayed on the southwest side of the pond in Town Square, at the southwest corner of Schaumburg and Roselle roads.

Schaumburg’s One Percent for Art program began in 2000, Cultural Services Director Betsy Armistead said. Mayor Al Larson and Trustee Marge Connelly are the only elected officials among the committee members.

Though its name refers to the original idea that one percent of the village’s capital improvement budget would be spent on public art each year, the reality has been far short of that, Connelly said.

“It’s the kind of thing we look at year to year and budget to budget,” she said.

In fact, “Rubber Tipped Crane” is the first piece purchased by the village since the Public Safety Memorial in front of the police and fire stations on Schaumburg Road was dedicated in 2007.

Other examples of outdoor art which the committee is responsible for are “Spirit of the Prairie,” Veterans Gateway Park, “Heart of the Basket Maker” outside the American Indian Center’s Trickster Gallery — all in Town Square — and “Waking Muse” by village hall.

A second piece by Rojek, the sundial-like “Ecce Hora,” also stands near village hall.

Various criteria have gone into the commissioning or purchase of these pieces, but the committee has typically looked at the location first.

Surprisingly, given how naturally “Waking Muse” by Lawler White Sculpture Studios ties into the topography around the pond at village hall, it was originally envisioned for Town Square, Armistead said.

But “Rubber Tipped Crane” will be heading to Town Square because of how well it will fit in with the native vegetation around the pond there, Connelly said.

The pieces selected by the One Percent for Art Committee are not to be confused with those in the sculpture garden southeast of village hall, which were donated by the Chicago Athenaeum while it was still located in Schaumburg.