Sculpture show to benefit DuPage Co. nonprofit

Anybody who knows anything knows this: If you happen to be in the market for a handsome prince, you've got two choices.

The first, and most risky, is to wait around for that guy in England to finally get up the nerve to slide a ring on your finger.

The second, and much better option, is to hang around a pond until you spot a frog sunning himself on a tree stump, race over, plant a smooch on his smacker, and jump back while poof! he morphs into the man of your dreams, complete with a funny little crown.

Frogs, as the star of any fairy tale will tell you, make excellent princes.

A helping hand

Susan Fritz isn't exactly looking for a prince, but she is looking for a way to help people in need in southeast DuPage County live a little happier ever after.

Fritz is executive director of Hinsdale-based HCS Family Services, a not-for-profit agency that's committed to providing low-income individuals and families with the tools, resources and education needed to become self-sufficient, along with providing emergency food, housing and utility assistance for those in crisis.

HCS offers everything from personalized guidance and support to education and career development help. Most recently it added a parent mentoring program.

The agency began in 1937 as a small, grass-roots effort, but now has grown into an organization with an $800,000 annual budget and designs on expanding and helping even more.

To do that, of course, requires money and even Mother Goose will tell you cash doesn't grow on trees.

But maybe it will on frogs.

Animal house

Susan Fritz knows a little something about baby giraffes. And bears. And carousel horses. And farm animals. And bugs.

Even frogs.

No, she hasn't worked at a zoo, but she did work for the Naperville Area United Way when that agency borrowed an idea from the city of Chicago to raise both money and the group's profile.

The idea is fairly simple: Produce some attractive and whimsical Fiberglas garden sculptures, find sponsors to pay for them, select artists to decorate them, put them on display all summer and then auction them off in the fall.

Chicago's “Cows on Parade” was a smash and the Naperville effort was a consistent fundraiser, beginning in 2001 with a Baby Giraffe Walk, and rolling through all sorts of other creatures until finally running out of steam about eight or nine years later.

Fritz thinks the same thing could work in Hinsdale and the HCS Family Services board agreed.

The only thing left to decide was what kind of sculptures to put on display this summer as part of the group's “In Bloom” garden art sculpture event.

They settled on three: a bench shaped like a morning glory, a fountain shaped like a hibiscus, and a 4½-foot-tall frog getting ready to jump off a lily pad.

The frog is smiling.

The perfect spot

The 60 Fiberglas sculptures will go on display right around Memorial Day at Oakbrook Center along with 10 more unique fine art pieces. They'll remain on display until just before Labor Day.

Officials at the scenic outdoor mall already have picked spots for each sculpture, mostly among the countless flowers and fountains that dot the landscape, says HCS Development Director Deb Baker, who's helping put the event together.

Organizers currently are focused on finding sponsors for each of the sculptures. The basic pieces go for $3,800 including the cost of the artist and the fine art selections for $10,000.

Baker says it's a great deal, especially because Oakbrook Center officials estimate the sculptures will be seen by about 10 million people expected to pass through the mall during the summer.

“We're trying to come up with another way for a corporation to spend $3,800 and get seen by 10 million people,” Baker said. “I can't imagine how you could do that and also make a statement about supporting a charity.”

Fritz says organizers will be looking “primarily at the corporate world” for sponsorships and the Oak Brook-Hinsdale area seems rich with possibilities.

“It's an easy ask,” Fritz says.

In addition to the months-long sculpture display, Fritz says organizers are planning a preview party and a “huge gala” in September to auction the pieces with an eye toward raising roughly $250,000.

The best teacher

Her experiences in Naperville taught Fritz a few things about outdoor sculptures, artists and auctions.

One key lesson is to keep the pieces as practical as possible. Kids may love to look at the more outlandish pieces, but mom and dad probably aren't going to buy one to anchor their rose garden.

“People want functional, beautiful pieces,” she said. “People don't want big ol' dinosaurs in their home.”

She also learned about the importance of securing the best artists possible to work on the pieces. All the frogs start out looking the same; it's what the artists do to them that make some more valuable auction prizes than others.

“The pieces that sold for the top dollar were always from the top artists,” she says.

This year's show will be juried, organizers say, and HCS officials are selecting the artists themselves by examining photographs or websites that show their work.

The cost of the artists is included in the sponsorship fees, Baker said, and “generous” cash prizes will be awarded to those who produce the most spine-tingling but tasteful sculptures.

Baker says organizers still are accepting artists' submissions. Many of the chosen few probably will have worked on similar art projects in other towns.

One last thing Fritz learned in Naperville: It's possible to overdo a good thing.

“If Oakbrook Center finds it a huge success, we might consider doing it every other year,” she says.

The frog prince

Susan Fritz is hoping the “In Bloom” display turns Oakbrook Center into more of a tourist destination than it already is.

She's hoping the sculptures are a giant hit and the fall auction raises all sorts of money.

But mostly she's hoping HCS Family Services, which celebrates its 75th anniversary next year, is able to use that increased recognition and financial assistance to support more programs and find even more ways to help people in need pull themselves back up.

“We want to demonstrate how you can help low-income people earn money and become self-sufficient,” she says. “We're trying to build good feelings about our organization.”

And if a smiling frog can help, well, maybe he'll turn out to be the most excellent prince of all.

Ÿ For details about HCS Family Services' sculpture event, visit inbloom2011.org or contact Deb Baker at (630) 323-2500, ext. 102, or dbaker@hcsfamilyservices.org.

FYI

What: In Bloom, A Garden Art Sculpture Event

When: Sculptures will be on display from the end of May through the end of August

Where: Oakbrook Center, Route 83 and West 22nd Street, Oak Brook

Who: Sponsored by HCS Family Services

Cost: Free to view; sponsorships are $3,800 or $10,000

Info: inbloom2011.com or (630) 323-2500, ext. 102