April 24, 2024
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Joliet art unveiled for display and raffle

Five sculptures commissioned to depict city’s industrial heritage

By Bob Okon

Artist Kelly Bartels takes a close look at "Strength Through Industrial History" created by Erick "Roho" Garcia and unveiled Thursday at Juliet's Tavern in Joliet. (Bob Okon)

Almost 150 people celebrated the future of art in Joliet with the unveiling of five sculpted pieces commissioned for public display.

The five works are being raffled through the summer while on display downtown and were commissioned to provide perspectives of Joliet and its heritage.

“They all make personal statements of how people respond to our community,” Erick Deshaun Dorris, chairman of the Joliet Art Commission, said of the artwork during the unveiling Thursday at Juliet’s Tavern.

Attendees view (from left) "Steel and Stone," "Joliet's Rich History" and "City of Stone" during an unveiling Thursday at Juliet's Tavern in Joliet. (Bob Okon)

Kelly Bartels painted images of Joliet on wood shaped in the form of a double-dip of ice cream with the trademark Dairy Queen curl on top, reflecting Joliet’s history as home to the first Dairy Queen store.

“They’re all the places I grew up around,” Bartels said of the historic Iron Works site, Jefferson Street drawbridge, Pilcher Park and other locations depicted in her “Joliet’s Rich History.”

The commission called for works reflecting the city’s industrial heritage, and the titles of the sculptures tell that theme.

Artists (from left) Dante DiBartolo, Kelly Bartels, Angelica Aguilar and Erick "Roho" Garcia stand by their art during an unveiling in Joliet. (Bob )

Other works unveiled Thursday were:

• “City of Stone” by Angie Aguilar

• “Steel and Stone” by Dante DiBartolo

• “Strength Through Industrial History” by Erick “Roho” Garcia

• “Steel Tapestry” by Mary Lynn Maloney

Artist Mary Lynn Maloney with her "Steel Tapestry" during the unveiling on Thursday. (Bob Okon)

“That’s their story of our industrial heritage and our history that cannot be taken away,” Eryn Blaser, president of The Art Commission Inc., said at the unveiling. “We want to tell the story and show people what Joliet is all about.”

The artists were paid $1,000 each for their work with funds from the Joliet City Center Partnership.

CCP interim Director Rod Tonelli said art is a big component in making downtown a destination point and called the project “a monumental step forward in continuing the art movement downtown.”

Visitors examine art on display during an unveiling that filled a banquet room at Juliet's Tavern in Joliet on Thursday. (Bob Okon)

CCP and the Joliet Art Commission teamed up to commission the art.

The commissioning and raffle is the first project of the Arts Commission, a city commission created in July 2019 to foster the development of local.

The Art Movement Inc., a local nonprofit created in 2017 to develop connections for artists with organizations and businesses, facilitated the raffle that started Thursday.

Five raffle winners will each get one of the sculptures, and proceeds will go to the Art Commission for future projects.

The five works will go on display sometime in the coming week in the front window of the Rialto Square Theatre facing Chicago Street.

The display will include the QR code that can be used to buy raffle tickets by phone. Posters and flyers showing the QR code also will be distributed around Joliet. The raffle drawing will be at the Tunes and Brews on 66 festival downtown on Sept. 25.