As the Park District of Oak Park continues working towards the expansion of Longfellow Park this fall, it has inherited a 10-foot-tall statue from the Parks Foundation of Oak Park.
The statue, titled Safe Haven, was placed recently outside the park, 610 S. Ridgeland Ave. It was created by Shencheng Xu and was previously located in downtown Oak Park on Lake Street as part of the Oak Park Area Arts Council sculpture walk, where it had resided for a year.
The installation at Longfellow Park was made possible through a donation from the Parks Foundation of Oak Park, according to a release from the Park District of Oak Park.
Safe Haven depicts three children playing under a squirrel, a cardinal and an owl while under a tree with leaves falling upon them.
“The piece captures a sense of peace, innocence, and harmony among humans and nature,” Xu said in a statement. “It reflects a shared longing for safety and belonging — something precious in today’s world. Safe Haven reminds us to value and protect these moments and strive for a life where we can exist without fear.”
Camille Wilson White, executive director of the Oak Park Area Arts Council, said the relocation of Safe Haven has been in the works for a while.
White said Jan Arnold, the Park District’s executive director approached her during last year’s Sculpture Walk about acquiring the piece for Longfellow Park. White said she told Arnold the piece would be on display for the next year, but when the time came close she’d put her and Xu in touch.
Xu, a professor of sculpture at Northeastern Illinois University, has at least two other works of art installed in the village, White said, including a depiction of caterpillars with human faces called Catch Up that was featured in the 2017 Sculpture Walk.
The addition of Save Haven comes as part of renovation for Longfellow Park, one of the 18 parks in Oak Park, which is set to be open in November, according to Ann Marie Buczek, the director of marketing and community engagement for the Park District of Oak Park.
“Seeing it in our park, it just adds so much color and it just fits so perfectly because it’s after school, the playground’s getting renovated so I think it just adds a lot,” Buczek said. “We don’t have many sculptures around our other parks so I think this adds quite a unique and beautiful feature to what’s soon to be an amazing park.”
The renovation of Longfellow Park will feature four new pickleball courts, an expanded splash pad, a sensory garden and new playground equipment. The addition of the sculpture is going to add color to the park Buczek said, adding she is thankful for the partnerships that brought Safe Haven to Longfellow.
Buczek said she looks forward to the opening of the park and said she expects it to be a “huge success” because residents have been asking for the new installations, she said.
“We’re just really grateful for the Parks Foundation and their mission to help us with the parks and to beautify the parks,” Buczek said.
