Sculpture Thu Oct 10 2013

Native American contributions to the Six Corners community will be recognized when a new sculpture titled Portage is dedicated outside the Six Corners Sears Store this weekend.





Sculptor Ted Sitting Crow Garner working on Portage. Photo courtesy Six Corners Association.

Portage, a modern interpretation of a Native American preparing to portage his canoe, was created by artist Ted Sitting Crow Garner and developed with the assistance of the American Indian Center of Chicago. The center consulted with the Six Corners Association on the theme, artist selection process and design selection.

The sculpture came about because the Six Corners Association wanted to make public art part of revitalizing this historic neighborhood "downtown."

Portage is an aluminum sculpture about 10 by 6 feet, depicting a stylized image of an American Indian, as he swings the canoe up to set it on his shoulders and set off for the next watershed. Garner has created many public sculptures in Chicago and the region, including Throne for Martin Luther King Jr. at the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park at Governors State University and Tussle at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Mich.



The dedication ceremony will open with a Native American drum circle followed by comments from the artist and representatives of local organizations. Storytelling and a lunch of Native American cuisine will follow at the National Veterans Art Museum, 4041 N. Milwaukee Ave.

The northwest side neighborhood of Portage Park, with Six Corners now at its center, served as an overland route for Native Americans between the Chicago and DesPlaines rivers in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The landscape of Six Corners then was high ground surrounded by the swampy land that later became Chicago.

You can attend the dedication and view the Portage sculpture at 12pm, Saturday, October 12. The sculpture will be placed at the west wall of the Sears store at 4730 W. Irving Park Rd., at the northeast corner of Irving Park Road and Cicero Avenue. The luncheon following the dedication is open to the public, at no charge. For more information, call 773-685-9300.