Have you walked down Madison Street within the last week and wondered what inspired the colorful tabletop paintings of flowers, animals and abstract designs in and surrounding Constitution Court?
At the end of last month, the Forest Park Arts Alliance positioned five painted tables and 10 chairs at Constitution Court for Sit and Savor, its second public art installation.
As a part of the Sit and Savor installation, businesses could pay $350 per table and had to provide their own chairs. There are painted tables outside the Madison Street businesses Jimmy’s Place, Madison Park Kitchen, Twisted Cookie and U3 Coffee. Elements Massage has a table and chairs inside. When the Constitution Court installation is taken down at the end of September, businesses can keep their tables set up or choose to auction them off.
At Constitution Court, the tables were painted by Susan Buss, Maurice Costello, Glenida Hampton, Margie Wilkinson and Zahaira McRae.
McRae, a 14-year-old from Forest Park, graduated this year from Forest Park Middle School and is attending the Chicago Academy for the Arts this fall. She said she got the inspiration for the woman on her table from bright and bold clothing.
“I really like the beauty and fashion sense in African culture, and I also got inspired by 1920s fashion,” McRae told the Review. “The whole appearance is bold, but I wanted to show a kind gesture in her facial expression.”
McRae started by sketching the image of a woman on her table, then painted in layers, starting with the skin and ending with the dress. She estimates it took about 34 hours to complete the piece and she is looking for other painting contests like this one to enter.
Costello is a self-taught artist who has painted several murals in Forest Park, Oak Park and Chicago. Costello came up with the idea for the painted table while applying for an Oak Park Area Arts Council mini mural. Costello told the Review that the inspiration came from the Pink Floyd song “Wish You Were Here.”
Costello started by painting the background of the table blue before adding the eye, then the fish. Costello estimates the table took about 10 hours to complete.
Buss is a licensed clinical social worker and hobby artist who has painted public art pieces in Forest Park and Oak Park, most recently the table for the installation in her usual Folk Art style.
“My design takes Forest Park’s logo of a park bench, buildings and paths and brings them to life, adding garden gnomes, one happy cloud and our omnipresent jumping bunnies,” Buss said in the online Arts Alliance biography. “Above it, a beautiful rainbow presides, illustrating the village as a safe and welcoming place for its LGBTQIA members.”
Hampton is also a self-taught artist who rekindled a love for painting after her mother and two siblings passed in 2021, “allowing the brush to free my mind from the emptiness of loss,” Hampton said in her Arts Alliance bio. “Thank you, Forest Park, for giving me the opportunity to create a memorable experience, one I can share with my family and my friends.” Hampton’s Sit and Savor table features an amalgamation of red, yellow and white flowers, plus a hummingbird.
Margie Wilkinson painted her table in Constitution Court with a sunflower and bees sitting at its center. The self-taught artist was one of the first Arts Alliance members when the group launched in 2017. She’s painted public art in Forest Park, has been featured at Arts Alliance Makers Markets and will be at this year’s Garage Galleries.
Business tables
Anne Nacht Morgan painted a rising phoenix on the table outside of U3 Coffee for the Sit and Savor art installation. The image was inspired by a series of 11 paintings she created last summer that featured molecular structures of hormones, medications and bioactive compounds — like caffeine, which she represented through a surreal and dreamy phoenix. She recreated the image for the U3 Coffee table.
“The phoenix was a no-brainer to me, as it can represent all of us coffee lovers who rise from the ashes every morning with our first sip, and then maybe burn out again in the late afternoon,” Morgan told the Review. She painted the table in two days, working on the background first, then the phoenix, molecule and script the second day. To achieve a galaxy effect in the background, Morgan added water to the paint and tipped it onto the table before blowing it around with a straw.
She said her biggest challenges were working with latex acrylic paint, which she hadn’t done before, and painting a surface other than canvas for the first time. Morgan added that artists were only supplied with red, blue, yellow, black and white paint and had to mix other colors — also a first for the artist.
Susan Volk painted the table for Elements Massage. Though she said she wasn’t sure if the table would end up in Constitution Court or in front of a business, “I wanted to create something cheerful and inviting that would bring friendliness to the table,” Volk told the Review.
Because she didn’t have much room to paint a vase on the small tabletop, Volk opted to paint a handful of fresh blooms. Volk started by sketching the flowers, then mixing the provided colors. She said she painted the layers of flowers over two days.
Robin Dennis created the table art outside Jimmy’s Place with a colorful mandala design. According to the online Arts Alliance bio, Dennis started creating art as therapy after a cancer diagnosis in 2021. Dennis has only started painting public art within the past year.
“I haven’t put the brush down since, and it has created a new joy in my life. It has helped me become more in tune with myself while also giving me an outlet during difficult times,” Dennis said. “I have learned to see the beauty during even the darkest of times. My hope is to be able to share this beauty with all who want to see it.”
Oak Park resident Marion Sirefman did the art for Madison Park Kitchen with a design of pink and blue flowers circled by ladybugs. Sirefman has painted small murals in Oak Park. She retired in 2011 but previously worked as an artifact illustrator for archaeologists before transitioning to non-art jobs.
Meghan Hunt painted her Sit and Savor table for Twisted Cookie, inspired by her deep connection to nature. The table has a bee at the center, surrounded by dandelion puffs and leaves.
“What I choose to paint shows balance, connection, and one of my favorite medicinal herbs,” Hunt said in her online Arts Alliance bio. “The dandelion is not a weed. Not only can it fix the soil, it can also help detox the human body. There is a great balance in the universe and a connectedness between us and nature, which I hope is reflected in my painting.”