Sculpture at the Library

St. Charles Public Library Foundation Read Them Like A Book Sculpture

Since 1993, donations to the St. Charles Public Library Foundation have enhanced and enriched the programs and services of the St. Charles Public Library.

The Foundation’s most recent project was the commissioning of an outdoor sculpture to be placed on the Carnegie lawn. Local sculptors were invited to submit proposals and Geneva sculptor James Jenkins proposal was chosen. Jenkins’ interpretation of the Foundation’s directive ‘to reflect the cultural and educational purposes of the St. Charles Public Library’ and ‘to create a sense of wonder’ is powerfully original, thought provoking, and humorous.

View the two polished stainless steel human-shaped figures, side by side, faces turned skyward on the Carnegie lawn. The overall height is nearly 12 feet. The Sun and the Moon shine reflectively off the surfaces suggesting one form of enlightenment or illumination. The figures, as viewed from directly in front of the St. Charles Public Library sign, appear as two parallel lines in the landscape. As the viewer moves around the Library grounds, the parallel lines are revealed to be human shapes with words, numbers, and symbols cut out from the interior sections of the figures. The interplay between the various cut out shapes, the ever-changing surroundings, will provide the viewer a new perspective and viewpoint each time the figures are encountered. The words are in several languages and character fonts. In translation, the various languages provide further insight into the extended metaphor of enlightenment. There also may be for the viewer some humor available either thinly veiled, disguised or nearly impossible to avoid.

Keep Your Balance

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a FROG! The Friends of St. Charles Public Library donated a whimsical sculpture to The Loft during National Library Week in 2002. The sculptor, Ray Kobald grew up in St. Charles and is a Distinguished Alumnus (Art) of St. Charles High School. This gift was the second major gift from the Friends to enhance the Young Adult section. The first was a donation to purchase lounge chairs for the area.

Ray Kobald is a nationally known painter and sculptor who lives and works in St. Charles. Ray grew up in St. Charles, is a Distinguished Alumnus (Art) of St. Charles High School, and raised his family of seven children here with his wife Phyllis. He graduated from Bradley University and later received a Master of Fine Arts from Instituto Allende in Mexico. He has exhibited at the Danada Sculpture Show in Wheaton, the Norris Art Center, the St. Charles Art and Music Festival, and other shows and galleries in Illinois, Iowa and Colorado. His work is represented at the Wilde-Meyer Galleries in Scotsdale and Tucson, Arizona, the Illinois Artisan Shop in Chicago, and the Dearborn-Rieder Gallery in Boulder, Colorado.