Sheila Reilly
DuSable, a white man (maybe John Kinzie), and an Indian woman (maybe DuSable's wife, Catherine) smoke a peace pipe together after meeting at the top of the hill overlooking the entrance to the Chicago River. This symbolizes the start of Chicago, and more abstractly, the peace we wish for the three races in the world. They have each arrived by canoe (in sculpture) and have walked up the switch-backed path through the wild growth (as it is now) to sit on a blanket together (in sculpture, life-size, perhaps bronze). Around the blanket is an onion patch, the onion giving the name to Chicago. A circular path unites the stairs (already there), the canoe sculpture, and the dock and path up the hill to the overlook. Restrooms are under the hill opening toward the west, out of sight.
Sheila
Reilly
Chicago, IL
Image
produced in collaboration with Marianne Fairbanks, Jane Palmer, and Eigo
Komai at a design workshop, June 2001, Chicago