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Business & Tech

Meet Artist Lorna "Rockin'" Shaw

Lorna Shaw designed and painted six of the 50 rocking chairs that will be auctioned off this Friday, Sept. 9.

As I walked through downtown La Grange recently, admiring the that are in front of many of the local businesses, I found myself wondering about the artists: who painted these chairs, what was the inspiration and how do they do it?

Lorna Shaw, The Creative Scot, lives in La Grange Park and is one of the artists of the , as well as past projects including the giraffes, the elephants, the easels, the rain barrels and the Adirondack chairs. The public art arena mushroomed for her as a result of working with some of the students at Ogden Avenue School on a large chalk drawing.

“One of the moms saw it and contacted the newspaper and everything took off from there,” said Shaw.

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It turned out that the Ogden mom also was involved with the giraffe-for-auction project, the first art-inspired auction for La Grange that was held six seasons ago.

Shaw moved to the United States from Scotland in 1995. Nanny by day, self-proclaimed combination of Martha Stewart and Bob Vilas, she has successfully incorporated what she loves into her every day life. Shaw’s philosophy is that art and creativity go hand-in-hand when caring for children. Art can be fun, can be therapy and can make others happy.

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“I always loved to draw," Shaw said. "I always had a thing for art, and like many things, the more you paint, the better you get at it."

This year, Shaw created six of the 50 rockers that have been installed in downtown La Grange since June.

One of my favorites is the Million Dollar Chair. Shaw got her inspiration from a furniture store when she spied a recliner that had a spot for a remote. She envisioned the newspaper hanging there, ready for the occupant to sit, read and watch TV. She fashioned her rocker with ‘studs’ to resemble leather upholstery. Some of the headlines on the paper are real copy from the paper.

Shaw also drew inspiration from .

“That was an idea that made design easy–red, white and blue—perfect for the fourth of July and to honor the armed forces. I thought, ‘eagle’ and there it was—the Red, White and Blueberry,” Shaw said.

Shaw is extremely busy from May through September. For the past couple of weeks, she has been repairing and refurbishing her chairs for the upcoming auction this Friday, Sept. 9.

In addition to the rocking chairs this year, Shaw also painted patio umbrellas that were raffled off at the . They are beautiful. All umbrellas sold at the Bash and all proceeds for that event go directly to cancer research.

Shaw utilizes local merchants for her supply and cites  as her spot for paint.

“Larry is my go-to guy and he always helps me out,” she said.

After admiring the chairs all summer long, this Friday is the chance to bid on one of your favorites. All proceeds go to local charities.

“It's nice to see people getting excited when they start bidding. It's exhilarating, a real adrenaline rush," Shaw said.

The chairs will be on display for browsing at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9 in front of Village Hall. The live auction begins at 7 p.m. on the front lawn of Village Hall. If you can’t be there, you can submit a proxy bid by calling 708-285-1430.  

So, where do these works of art end up? If you have purchased a chair, or discovered a chair in its new home in your travels around the village, please share it with Patch. You can upload a picture on this story even!

For more information about Lorna Shaw, please visit her website at www.thecreativescot.weebly.com

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