Jacqueline von Edelberg, who moved to Highland Park a year ago, had done several public art projects highlighting the toll of gun violence before it struck her new hometown.
The basic model is the same: She and her collaborators tie strips of fabric to suspended ropes and wrap trees and posts in yarn to create colorful scenes infused with meaning.
“I tied a ball of orange yarn to each one of the posts in the pavilion,” she said. “As people came, I just asked if they wanted to wrap a pillar and people were like, ‘Yes, yes, I do. I would like to do that.’ And a lot of people stayed for five minutes, five hours, five days, and they wrapped everything in sight.”
She said the pavilion has become a center of unity, with near-nightly music performances, giveaways of donated cookies and numerous visitors who, like her, who have made a ritual of preserving the memorial. “They’re part of a growing conversation among artists and organizers who are ensuring that the acts of memory and advocacy go together,” he said.