The Arts Council of East Dundee plans to seek artists to create three bronze sculptures to enhance the Fox River, with one piece possibly placed in the middle of the waterway.
If the concept is approved by the East Dundee Village Board, the artwork that is commissioned will feature an animal theme.
“We’re looking at having different animals … (that) you would find on the Fox but bigger than life,” East Dundee Trustee Andy Sauder, a member of the Arts Council, told the board at this week’s meeting.
That could include foxes, toads, eagles or any others that call the area home, he said. Two of the bronze statues are to be placed along the river banks and the third could sit on cement pillars south of a footbridge that connects East and West Dundee.
The pillars once had chains attached to them, which were used as a way to break ice in the water, Sauder said, “but they are perfect statue pedestals.”
Arts council member Mary Kay Harvey did research and contacted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to make sure the village could place a sculpture in the river, Sauder said. No permits are needed because it would be a decorative use, he said.
The council wants to provide something unique and interesting that will be memorable to people using the river path or paddling down the waterway, he said.
The estimated cost is $80,000. Village officials are discussing the project with West Dundee to determine if there’s interest in sharing the expense, Sauder said.
Village President Jeff Lynam questioned the cost, asking whether sculptures made from concrete might be less expensive. Sauder said it’s something the village could get price quotes on but he wasn’t sure it would be cheaper option.
In general, Lynam and trustees liked the concept. Trustee Sarah Brittin, however, questioned whether this was the right time for the project given that the waterway could be changing depending on whether nearby towns decide to remove their dams, a recommendation that had been made by the Army Corps of Engineers.
“I love this idea, but I don’t love it right now,” Brittin said. “I really want to know what the river is going to look like. It doesn’t feel like it’s the right time for it without a real understanding of what the water will look like around (it).”
One dam has already been taken out. The Forest Preserve District of Kane County had the Carpentersville dam, located a few miles north of the footbridge, removed last year.
Brittin said she’s lived near the river for 18 years. With that dam now gone, “it looks very different right now than what it has previously,” she said.
Village Administrator Erika Storlie said the arts council was seeking a consensus to proceed with the concept. Details, like whether a sculpture would go in the river, would be discussed later, she said.
If the installation in the Fox River can’t be done, the village could put the third sculpture somewhere else, Sauder said.
Trustees agreed to have the council seek design concepts for the sculptures. The project could take eight to 12 months to complete if approved.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
