Check out the story behind this work of art by my friend Tonya! These signs are arranged in the geographic shape of McLean County, including the relative location of the towns.
"As part of a volunteer assignment to capture positive images in McLean County for the January 9th session on “Planning & Sustainability on the Prairie”, I took the opportunity to drive to every two in the county. To determine what all the towns in the county consisted of, I took a look at an Illinois State Map and then looked at the following website: http://illinois.hometownlocator.com/il/mclean/ I was quite surprised to learn of towns that I’d never hear of before. I’ve lived in this area for 20 years now and thought that I was very familiar with the surroundings. Upon visiting each of the towns, I was able to take photos of available signs and in some instances stopped to have a bite to eat in a local restaurant. I struggled with not being able to find signs or in some instances more than one house for all the towns listed. This was a bit of a disappointment, but the advantages to the activity have been wonderful. Besides being able to capture positive images, I was able get away with an increase in self for the areas of knowledge, relationship, and creativity.
Knowledge: I now have an understanding of where others are living and what the town looks like. Also, some history of the county was obtained. I’ve heard Carolynne Saffer (fellow classmate) mention her town of Cropsey, but I had no idea where it was in the county or the size of the community. It was really nice to see children riding their bikes from one house to another picking up friends along the way to just hang out together. The community is small, but felt inviting. Did you know that at one time there were 55 towns in McLean County? I was able to capture images of 42 listed signs for listed towns. I used to wonder where Barnes was located on Towanda Barnes Road, now I know. Having this understanding of where towns are in the county will be helpful in building relationships with co-workers and business partners.
Relationships: I was able to spend quality time with my husband while taking the tour of the county. We talked about each others bucket lists, goals, missions, and state of being. This time was well spent and would never be able to be replaced by anything more important.
Creativity: I cropped the photos to create a collage of images making an image of the county. Besides providing this to the facilitator, Mercy Davison (Normal Town Planner), I had a copy printed for framing to place in my own house. My husband and I are planning to work on others like it of the counties we were born in and have lived in."
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