The bench was purchased and placed in the courtyard in 1999 as a memorial to Library staff member Steve Oserman. Steve began working in the Library as a shelver while in high school and continued during the summers while attending college and graduate school. Preferring library work to writing and teaching, he accepted a position as Reference Librarian. During the recession years of the 1980s, Steve and a colleague created an Employment Resource Center at the Library and he became widely known as the “job man,” was interviewed by local and national media, and spearheaded a national movement to encourage all libraries to develop services for those seeking employment. Later, with colleague Frances Roehm, Steve wrote the first book on Internet job searching. His death in 1998 prompted an outpouring of contributions to the Library, and it was decided to honor him with a lecture series and a piece of art. The Zen Bench was chosen because of Steve’s interest in Eastern thought and religion, and his love of the outdoors.

The Zen Bench is not currently on display.]]>
Cats glare at
Giraffes with their dust covered knees. Folios of
Elephants and gatherings of
Frogs distract us from the gutter with foxed, dog-eared
Dogs… Includes drawings of a tiger, a zebra losing its stripes, an elephant, a giraffe, kangaroo, bluejay, and several books.

Poem and illustration are copyrighted 1998. The piece was printed by The Stinehour Press, Lunenburg, Vermont and is signed below the artist’s name near the bottom of the piece.

The print was a gift from Sid Block in 2003.

Originally from the Chicago area, Susan Barron studied music and chemistry and worked for many years as a chemist in New York City. She has created several art books, most notably, the eleven-volume, Labyrinth of Time, which was premiered at the Newberry Library in Chicago. Barron’s drawings, collages, etchings, books, and photographs have been exhibited internationally and can be found in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Newberry Library in Chicago, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

This print is not currently on display.]]>

On original plaque:
Joanne E. Baumann
Untitled
Gift of Joanne E. Baumann
This drawing is not currently on display.]]>

As a child, Gerda Meyer Bernstein was a member of the Kindertransport, sent from Germany to England in 1938. Much of her work explores the difficult realities and suffering of victims of the Holocaust, but also “addresses healing, hope, and continuity.” She was one of the founders of ARC Gallery in Chicago and is represented by Fassbender Fine Art.

This painting is not currently on display.]]>
The Canterbury Tales.

On original plaque:
The Canterbury Tales
by
Geoffrey Chaucer
The New Ellesmere Chaucer Facsimile
Gift of Yusuke Kihara
This is copy number 100
The original manuscript is in the collection of the Huntington Library of San Marino, CA, and includes 23 portraits of the storytellers, and 71 decorated pages. The facsimile was published in an edition of 250, was edited by Daniel Woodward and Martin Stevens, and printed by Yushodo Co, Ltd, in Tokyo, Japan.

This copy was given to the library in 2001 by friend of the library, Yusuke Kihara.

This item is not currently on display.]]>

Roger Colombik graduated from Niles North High School in 1979 and studied art at Southern Illinois University and was a student of Elliott Balter. He is a member of the Art & Design faculty at Texas State University. He works collaboratively on sculpture projects with his wife, Jerolyn Bahm Colombik, as well as on several large-scale photographic installations in Armenia, Romania, the Republic of Georgia that have addressed issues of emigration, education, and communal memory.

This sculpture is not currently on display.]]>

“Warrior’s Dream,” depicts horses with riders against a blue sky;

“Peace at Last” depicts two figures with holes in the center of their bodies with a yellow and green background;

“The Angel of Peace Covering a Calmer World” depicts a black and white angel with and green branches against a blue and yellow background;

and “The Prisoners Are Free!” depicts a bent black and white figure at the left edge and a nude figure at the right.

Each print is signed on the bottom right and produced by Fidelity World Arts Publisher. The suite of prints was given to the Library in July 1973 by a private donor and are each numbered 109/300

On original plaque:
Salvador Dali
Peace Suite
Liberation: The Prisoners are Free
Angel of Peace Covering a Calmer World
Warrior’s Dream
Peace at Last
lithography
1973
According to an article the Skokie Review (July 19, 1973, p. 12), the six-color lithographs were "[c]reated by the artist under exclusive commission to the Skokie-based [Fidelity World Arts]" and "express the hope and relief that Peace brings rather than dwelling on the tragedies of war."

Further, "In the words of the artist, the 'Angel of Peace Covering a Calmer World,' means:
The allusive but majestic Angel of Peace emerges from the chaos and clutter of war. Her action is poised to spread a calming influence across the world. Mankind will return to the way of Peace but he will not forget. The scars of war run deep. And the wreaths of Peace will be in the wind. The sky, a clear, clean blue... the fields - ochre and umber. The bright sun - yellow and warm again. But, she is illusive - and hard to hold. The Angel of Peace must rise and prevail.
Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) is perhaps the most famous of the Surrealists. Throughout his career, he experimented with many forms of art, including drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, writing, set design, and film making. Born and raised in Spain, he spent much of his life in France, moving to Paris in 1929 to join the French surrealist movement of the late-1920s and 1930s, but was later expelled from the group. His later life was fraught with controversy when the rights to his own work were sold leaving him with none of the profits.

These prints are not currently on display.]]>

On original plaque:
Ted Gall
Continued Dialog
Plate aluminum and copper 1981
Gift of
Fel-Pro Manufacturing Corporation
Theodore (Ted) Gall studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the American Academy of Art and worked for twenty years as the artist in residence at Fel-Pro, an automotive gasket manufacturer in Skokie before moving to California. The Library owns another of his sculptures, “View from McCormick.”

This sculpture is not currently on display.]]>

On original plaque:
Norris Hall
Jungle Library
1991
The painting was purchased for Skokie Public Library’s 50th Anniversary with support from the Skokie Fine Arts Commission and Cole Taylor Bank.

Norris Hall was born and educated in Tennessee. He lived briefly in Illinois and during that time was commissioned by the Library Board to paint "Jungle Library," which was the first artwork hung in the Youth Services Department in 1991 during National Library Week. Norris Hall's graphics also decorated the Library's previous Bookmobile.

This painting is not currently on display.]]>
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/]]>

On original plaque:
Lydia Hwang
SILENCE (WINTER SCENERY)
Gift of
Friends of Mary Radmacher
Lydia Hwang (Pei-Quincita) studied the fundamentals of traditional Chinese brush painting for ten years under Professor Chen, Hong-Zen, a well-known artist of Chinese calligraphy, brush painting, sculpture, and woodblock painting. In 1975, Hwang immigrated to the United States where she continued her art career. She studied with professors Monica Liu, and Mr. Chi-An Yang. Hwang worked at Skokie Public Library for over twenty years.

This painting is not currently on display.]]>
Located on first floor on the west wall of the Radmacher Meeting Room.]]> http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/]]>