Archive for April, 2022
Hooded Sweatshirts given to CPN Volunteers have this logo map of College Point on the backs. This year, 2022, marks the 20th year of CPNs service along the East River shore between the parks. For 50 years Hermon and Carol MacNeil’s home and studio was located above the “C” in “College Point.” Thanks for your “housekeeping”, CPN Volunteers.
Coastal Preservation Network (CPN)
Kathryn Cervino reports that College Point volunteers have been cleaning, planting, and beautifying Hermon MacNeil Park since 2002.
“Uncle Hermon” would be Sooo… proud.
The MacNeil Medallion marks the 150th Anniversary of his birth. Available on eBay.
They periodically scour the shore line of the East River in between MacNeil Park and Powell’s Cove Park, raking, planting, collecting trash, plastic, and any debris that threaten the life, beauty, and enjoyment of College Pointers along this public shoreline of the River.
To honor the work of CPN Volunteers, 25 MacNeil Medallions were given to Kathryn Cervino, president of CPN to distribute to her Volunteers at College Point.
1
A quartet of smiling College Point Volunteers show off their Hermon MacNeil souvenir Medallions during an afternoon of “polishing” the shoreline.
Kat Cervino (lt) with a proud CPN Volunteer show off their MacNeil Medallions in Hermon MacNeil Park.
CPN logo of 20 anniversary sweatshirts
Related posts:
- MacNeil Park ~ A Call for Sculpture Proposals. Thanks Kathryn Cervino! (4) oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo MacNeil Park: Portico to the East River 156 Candles…
- MacNeil Park – College Point, Queens, NY (2) Hermon A. MacNeil Park in College Point, Queens, offers 29-acre…
- Another “Chief of the Multnomah” Has Appeared in the East. (2) There is another “Chief of the Multnomah.” Today I received…
- MacNeil “Merry Christmas” (2) Christmas Greetings from the home of Hermon and Carol MacNeil. …
- Jo Davidson (cont.) in the MacNeil Atlier (2) Jo Davidson continues the narrative of his adventures working in…
- “Hermon and Jo” ~~ Story #1 ~~ For MacNeil Month ~ February 2021 ~~ (2) Jo Davidson started as a “studio boy” for…
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ What’s the FUTURE of the PAST? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The Chicago Monuments Project
Posted by: | CommentsAll of Hermon MacNeil’s Lifeworks
enshrine the PAST.
SO… What is the Future of the Past?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Chicago Monuments Project
Throughout 2021 the Chicago Monuments Project has been pursuing its Mission. From over 500 public monuments in the City of Chicago, the Project has identified 41 for review related to the following issues:
- Promoting narratives of white supremacy
- Presenting inaccurate and/or demeaning characterizations of American Indians
- Memorializing individuals with connections to racist acts, slavery, and genocide
- Presenting selective, over-simplified, one-sided views of history
- Not sufficiently including other stories, in particular those of women, people of color, and themes of labor, migration, and community building
- Creating tension between people who see value in these artworks and those who do not [ Source: https://chicagomonuments.org/about ]
The PAST is under REVIEW
Hermon MacNeil’s
Marquette-Jolliet-Ilini Indian Memorial
is one of the 41 under review.
Webmaster, Dan Neil Leininger and Donna on their first visit to the Marquette – jolliet – Ilini monument at Marshall and Twenty-fourth Boulevard in Chicago.
A report of recommendations is expected to be released in
Summer of 2022
The Project created written introductions for each of the 41 pieces being reviewed. MacNeil’s Jacques Marquette-Louis Jolliet Memorial is introduced as follows:
Title: Jacques Marquette-Louis Jolliet Memorial
Date: 1926
Artist: Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947)
Location: Marshall and 24th Blvd
Context: As the first Europeans to explore and document the northern portion of the Mississippi, which included the river link from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi basin through what would become Chicago, French missionary Jacques Marquette and the Quebec-born cartographer Louis Jolliet, along with their Indian guides, are ubiquitous figures in the modern iconography of the founding of Chicago.
This imposing representation of Marquette and Jolliet, with a subservient American Indian at their side, was created by Hermon Atkins McNeil, the academically trained sculptor who contributed the relief sculptures of Marquette’s life to the extraordinary decorative cycle at the Marquette Building in thirty years earlier, in 1895.
Other representations of Marquette include the commemorative plaques near the site of the Damen Avenue Bridge (1930) and at the DuSable Bridge (1925), as well as on the northeast DuSable Bridge pylon (1928).
Source: Chicago Monuments Project (https://chicagomonuments.org/monuments/jacques-marquette-louis-jolliet-memorial) retrieved March 28, 2022
“Statues of Limitations:
MacNeil’s depiction of Marquette has the priest with an inviting open right hand as his left hand holds out a crucifix above his heart. Their (Ilini) Indian guide looks on in seeming fascination.
MacNeil’s Marquette-Jolliet-Illini Memorial
“Whether they’re made
of bronze or marble,
apparently not all of Chicago’s monuments
are set in stone.”
We eagerly await the Chicago Monument Project
report scheduled to be released Summer of 2022.
