Ted Lownik and Bill Tellano are carving new life into old trees that had been destined for the chipper truck. In the process, they are creating art for Alsip’s new open-air museum.
Using chainsaws and chisels, Lownik is in the final stages of carving L-O-V-E from a 42-inch diameter sycamore. Tellano carved two eagles from a 6 1/2-foot length of maple trunk, which was recently installed in his front yard in the 12200 block of Hamlin Avenue.
Lownik, a professional artist, learned that the Alsip Public Works Department removes 40 dead or problem trees each year. It gave him the idea.
“It’s all about economy and use of resources,” said Lownik.
The timing couldn’t have been better for first-term Mayor Patrick Kitching, who was searching for a new identity for the village to overshadow its two water towers.
The mayor named Lownik chairman of the new Alsip Beautification Committee in June.
Plans are to move the Alsip Open Air Museum collection beyond trees. Ten additional pieces are in the planning stages, including sculptures made of steel, hand-painted murals and other landscape features, such as waterfalls and fountains.
Allowing artists a new creative outlet is only half the fun, Lownik said. The rest stems from working with materials that are of no use to anyone else, so that an artist can transform somebody else’s junk into a work that will spruce up streets, neighborhoods and parks.
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Residents and businesses provide the materials at no cost to the village. Material planned for a steel sculpture, for example, is coming from a resident who has connections to a nearby steel business. The committee inherited a huge supply of stained glass, some of which will be pieced into designs already in progress.