GLENVIEW – A story about a devoted mother robin inspired visual artist Elisa Boughner to create a contemporary sculpture for Flick Park in Glenview.
The Glenview Park District and the Glenview Park Foundation approached Boughner last year with the idea of adding public art to the Synnestvedt Arboretum at Flick Park, 3600 Glenview Road. The sculpture cost $17,650.
Boughner designed a 10-foot-tall tree made of brushed aluminum with a cast 12-inch bird, made of glass, to sit on top of the tree. The sculpture was installed in Flick Park on May 9 along a wooded path of trees preserved from the former Synnestvedt Nursery. Boughner attended the installation ceremony with other notables, including Austin Bader, whose Skokie-based company, Bader Art Metal & Fabrication, constructed the sculpture, and Matt Synnestvedt, Barbara Synnestvedt.
Boughner did some research and came across a story from Ralph Synnestvedt, who formerly owned the land where the piece would be displayed, according to a press release from the Glenview Park District. Synnestvedt said that the day his nursery was relocated from the now-Flick Park, a robin’s nest was discovered in a tree after it had been pulled out of the ground and placed onto a truck to be transported to another city, and the crew noticed a robin was following the truck. Boughner found an article in which Synnestvedt was quoted, “Robin just chased this tree all the way to the new site. That’s loyalty!”
Boughner has had a visual arts gallery/studio in Glenview since 2000.
