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Two August shows at La Grange Art League
Laura Lein-Svencner (from left), Cheryl Ann Spram and Nancy Green with prayer flags like those on display at the LaGrange Art League. | Dan Luedert~Sun-Times Media
Creative Prayer Flags, ‘Memories’
La Grange Art League, 122 Calendar Ave., La Grange
Free
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, through August
(708) 352-3101
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Updated: August 20, 2012 12:32AM
The power of good thoughts can change the world, said Eve Ozer, one of a small group of area artists who drew on an ancient Tibetan tradition to create the latest project at the La Grange Art League.
The Art League is currently decorated, inside and out, with dozens of prayer flags created by members and friends of the organization.
Artists were free to use whatever they chose, from paints to ribbons, fabrics to feathers, to create these small but powerful works of art.
“It has exceeded my expectations,” said Cheryl Ann Spran of Oak Park.
She first had the idea for the Creative Prayer Flag Project after the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
“That’s when I kind of had this seed of an idea,” she said. “I thought, ‘Maybe I can help what is under my feet by looking over my head.’ ”
And that’s exactly where admirers of the project must look. Strings of prayer flags flutter in the wind outside the League’s front doors and from the ceiling inside.
The flags were purchased as blank canvases back in May and then returned as part of what will become a traveling exhibition. Among them are childlike drawings, flags festooned in color, and simple messages of hope, strength and love. Some have words, while other convey their messages through pictures and colors.
Artist Nancy Green of LaGrange Park said she meditated on positive words while creating her flags. Laura Lein-Svencner of Darien said she encouraged artists who took part in her July 8 Prayer Flag workshop to think of someone they wish to help or of something they want to make better as inspiration.
The flags will hang at the La Grange Art League through August. They then will become a traveling exhibit, with their first stop expected to be at the Oak Park Art League.
The project is intended to be philanthropic as well as inspiring. Half of the money raised through the sale of the blank prayer flags will go to the West Suburban Food Pantry. The other half will be used to fund further creative endeavors at the La Grange Art League.
Also through August, visitors to the La Grange Art League can catch the “Memories” exhibit.
While the Prayer Flags decorate the ceilings overhead, the walls of the gallery are covered with “Memories,” artists’ interpretations of the show’s theme.
“Memories” of these artists, many of them local, show up as landscapes and portraits, floral paintings and scenic pastels and other media.
