TRIBUTE TO JOURNALISM MOVING TO ELLMAN BUILDING

June 28, 1999 — Source: Naperville Sun, The (IL) — Author: Pucky Zimmerman

The tribute to journalism will be relocated and re-created.

Students from School District 203 will depict diversity through the medium of mosaic.

The late Genevieve Towsely will be memorialized in sculpture.

And a parade scene will march down the alley between Talbot's and The Gap.

Those are the 1998 programs for Naperville's Century Walk, a collection of public art works in downtown Naperville that celebrate Naperville's past. Started by attorney Brand Bobosky three years ago, Century Walk adds three new art works each year.

One of the Century Walk's first contributions, however, almost became a casualty of the central business district's dynamic real estate market.

A mural about journalism in Naperville was painted on the west wall of the Naperville Sun building, 9 W. Jackson Ave. But the building has been sold and new owners will convert it to retail stores.

That means alterations to the mural-covered wall.

Bobosky said the mural will be re-created on the north wall of the Ellman's Music Center building, 103 S. Main St. Artist Timm Etters has agreed to paint the mural, with some changes and modifications.

Because the students' tile work and the Genevieve Towsley sculpture will be created in studios, the public won't see them until they are installed next year, Bobosky said.

The tile work, created by 250 District 203 students under the direction of artist David Bringle, is destined for the west wall of Anderson's Bookshop on Jefferson Avenue.

Genevieve Towsley was a long-time columnist for The Naperville Sun. Her sculpture, by Pamela Carter, will be life-sized and placed in front of the Barnes & Noble Booksellers under construction on Washington Street.

The parade scene will be painted by artist John Pittman Weber on the north side of The Gap on Main Street.

Public Works Director David Barber said the alley between The Gap and Talbot's will soon become either a pedestrian walk or limited to west-bound-only vehicle traffic, reducing the chances that trucks driving through the alley would bang into the wall and damage the painting.

The Naperville Public Libraries board also has agreed to add three art works outside Nichols Library to the Century Walk, bringing the number of works to 13.
     

Section: NEWS — Page: 18