A "Quarter Moon" Shines in Downtown Champaign

Quarter Moon

Carl Billingsley (artist) & David Wilcoxen (PAL president)

The Public Art League is proud to welcome Quarter Moon by Carl Billingsley (Greensboro, NC) to downtown Champaign.  The piece is installed near the Gold Rush Pawn Shop on the north side of Main.

The artist states: "Quarter Moon is an exploration of a vertical motif.  It is constructed of standard industrial steel shapes such as I-Beams, and various sizes of pipe that are welded and mechanically attached.  The technique that I employed in constructing Quarter Moon is also industrial and continues the tradition of 19th century 'constructivists' who introduced industrial materials and techniques to 'fine art.'  'Economy of means' and 'the hand of the artist' are both expressive aspects of the sculpture that any viewer can see and readily understand.  Quarter Moon is a unique and somewhat mysterious object that enlivens the public space and references the natural world symbolically by employing universal design elements such as color, planes, lines and circles in a sort of poetry of object and space."

A big thanks goes out to Jos. Kuhn & Co. for the site sponsorship of this piece.  We thank them for their continued support of public art in our community.

"Dakota Memories" Purchased with Generous Donation

Dakota Memories

By Shawn Morin (Bowling Green, OH)

Photo by Della Perrone Photography

The Public Art League is proud to announce the purchase of Dakota Memories (artist: Shawn Morin).  The purchase was made possible with a generous donation from Fred and Donna Giertz.

Dakota Memories came to the community in 2015 and is installed at the Northeast corner of Neil and Chester Streets in downtown Champaign.  The piece is made primarily of Mount Rushmore granite and serves as a remembrance of times the artist spent working with the Dakota Granite Company on a project in Sioux Falls, SD.

Dakota Memories is installed just steps away from another Shawn Morin piece, Remembering Horeb.  That piece was also purchased by The Public Art League in a previous year (with a donation from Barham Benefit Group).

We are happy that Dakota Memories will be staying in the community and thank Fred and Donna Giertz for their generosity.