Catherine Schwalbe-Bouzide and her husband, Paul, were drawn to their Lakeview house by the leafy park across the street, called Gross Park by residents though it wasn’t really a city park in the traditional sense. The greenway on the 1700 block of West Henderson had been created in the late 19th century as part of a subdivision built by housing developer Samuel E. Gross. “It was a nice unique place,” says Schwalbe-Bouzide, a recreational therapist and artist. “And there was a wide variety of income and class levels on the block.”
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Buddhist monks arrived to offer prayers on the February morning in 1999 when city workers destroyed 22 trees on the east end of the green. A lone cottonwood escaped the scourge. “It was devastating,” recalls Schwalbe-Bouzide. “Half the block was just mowed flat.” (Miraculously, trees on the west end weren’t affected.)
“It never looked lovelier,” says Schwalbe-Bouzide, whose group maintains the paths and the plantings with monthly workdays and an adopt-a-bed program; the city’s Bureau of Forestry cuts the grass. Yet Schwalbe-Bouzide still felt something was missing. “I’d always thought we needed art in the area–it seemed like a natural space for such a thing. So when the park was rehabbed, I said, ‘Now’s the time.’”
The Third Annual Gross Park Sculpture Invitational kicks off Saturday, May 18 (rain or shine), on the 1700 block of West Henderson and continues through July 14. The free opening event, which runs from 4 to 8 PM, features performances based on the Exquisite Corpse idea: poetry by David and Victoria Rubin and Caroline Aguilla of Cafe Aloha Poets, along with Jennifer Dotson; dance improvisation by Perceptual Motion, Inc.; and a video installation by Mark Siska. Many of the sculptures, as well as other artist-made items, are for sale; proceeds support park maintenance.
