Bill Swislow, author of Lakefront Anonymous: Chicago’s Unknown Art Gallery, will showcase the thousands of magnificent rock carvings that line much of the Chicago lakefront.
One of the Chicago area's most unusual cultural assets is also one of the world’s most remarkable art treasures: The thousands of magnificent rock carvings that line much of the Chicago lakefront. Unique in the world but mostly unknown, these urban petroglyphs range from minimalist initials to full-blown portraits and mythological scenes, and from a few square inches to several feet in size. Many are individually spectacular, and they combine to form a collective work of public art, a sort of spontaneous social history of Chicago at play stretching 22 miles north from the Indiana state line. But the carvings are easily overlooked, and have been since their mostly anonymous creators started producing them almost a hundred years ago. In this highly visual program we will learn the story of this art underfoot and discuss the carvers who made it, the beautiful lakefront that made it possible, and the long-term threats to its survival.
William Swislow, a founder and former executive at Cars.com, is a writer, art collector and operator of the cultural web site interestingideas.com. He sits on the boards of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art and the Society for Commercial Archeology. Before joining Cars.com, Bill worked at the Chicago Tribune and at other media organizations. He has written extensively on self-taught and outsider art and is the author of Lakefront Anonymous: Chicago’s Unknown Art Gallery, the first book about Chicago's unique waterfront rock carvings.
Armchair Travels is generously funded with a gift from the Rutherford Family Trust.
From the south: Go north on Green Bay Road. Turn left on Wilmette Ave. Turn right on Park Ave. Library is located on the corner of Wilmette Ave. and Park Ave. Parking lot is on the north side of the building.
From the north: Go south on Green Bay Road. Turn right on Wilmette Ave. Turn right on Park Ave. Library is located on the corner of Wilmette Ave. and Park Ave. Parking lot is on the north side of the building.
From I-94 (Edens Expressway):from the South - exit at Lake Ave. East. Go east on Lake Ave. a little over 2 miles. Turn right on Park Ave. • from the North - exit at Rt. 41/Skokie Blvd. Turn left (east) on Lake Ave. Go east on Lake Ave. a little over 2 miles. Turn right on Park Ave.
Mass transit options include CTA, Metra, and Pace.
