Over the summer Oak Lawn artists were given an exciting project. The Village of Oak Lawn held “Acorns on Parade”, an event similar to Chicago’s “Cows on Parade”, which many different organizations around Oak Lawn participated in. Artists painted large acorns that would decorate around Oak Lawn.

The Idea of the Acorns was brought up with the Village of Oak Lawn Arts Commision, by Commissioner Thassos Papadoupolus, way back in January of 2015. During that Summer, the village of Oak Lawn made a prototype of the acorn for the Oak Lawn Bank and Trust. “The Commission Hopes these iconic acorns will be the ‘seeds from which mighty things grow.” Acorns On Parade Taking Shape, taken from the Oak Lawn Website.

This was indeed the case. The organizations in Oak Lawn were eager to participate and personalize their own acorns. Painting the acorn was all volunteer work, which all the residents of Oak Lawn were invited to get involved with. The volunteers started working on Monday, june 20th, and were given two weeks to complete their designs. These volunteers were arranged into groups and paired with the acorn sponsors. The designs of the acorns are all unique and have their own style. The acorns themselves are made of durable fiberglass. After finished the acorns were given an automotive grade ‘clear coat’ that will keep the artwork looking fresh for many years to come.The acorns were displayed at the Village Green, two weeks after the 4th of July. Now they can be found on the property of the sponsors, like OLCHS and the Oak Lawn Library.

OLCHS really embraced the project and the opportunity to participate around the community. Spartan artists and teachers all worked together to make our very own acorn, an acorn that would embodied the ideals at OLCHS and our students. Our PRIDE acorn is displayed on Southwest Highway next to the school sign. The Acorn highlights “Once a Spartan, Always a Spartan,” seeing as many former spartans are still involved in the community. Our acorn has the PRIDE acronym stretching across it, along with the signatures of all of the current teachers at OLCHS.

This project was the Oak Lawn Arts Commission’s first public arts project in the community, hopefully the first of many.