Niles North and Niles West students met at the end of September to unveil and share with the world two clusters of  ceramic sculptures they created over the past two years.  The totemic sculptures are on display at the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park (SNSP).

The project began in 2010 with North art teacher Michael Rush (who’s currently studying in China) and West art teacher Barbara Wismer. Barbara Goldsmith, a substitute teacher at Niles West and a SNSP  board member, pitched the project to Wismer. The park had a youth gallery that sat empty for years. “We were hoping for some time a high school would take up our offer to do a project,” SNSP board president Sheila Oettinger said.

Wismer and Rush created the concept of having a totem pole style piece that students could contribute to individually. “Once we presented the concept it was up to students to design their own original piece,” Wismer said. Niles West students designed pieces inspired by sea life while Niles North students portrayed their vision of Skokie. Junior Hannah Kamm, pictured above, designed a block of the  sculpture centered around the evolution of technology and featured items of technology ranging from the water wheel to the light bulb to the laptop.

The entire process– creating, glazing and installing the pieces of the sculpture– took two years. “The whole process was a bit of trial and error since it was my first time doing such a large scale project,” Wismer said.

Wismer, along with her husband and four adults from SNSP, installed all the pieces of the sculptures once they were complete. “There was a lot of planning, testing and problem-solving especially since clay shrinks when it’s fired so we had to make sure all the holes were exactly the right size,” she said. “With everyone’s help we pulled it off!”

“They could hold their own in the professional section as far as I’m concerned,” Oettinger said.

To visit the sculptures created by D219 students, visit the section of the sculpture park between Oakton and Howard streets.