Sculptural Wonderland

Daniel Johnson's home in Alto Pass is also his adult-sized playground.

Over the years, this south Illinois painter and sculptor has set up his tall and angular sculptures in his yard, a strange sight in the midst of all that rolling farmland. Some of the pieces are on wheels, allowing the arching steel structure to be carted from place to place. Others are made of cast concrete and stacked like play blocks. And close to a line of trees a watchtower rises up, pieced together from hundreds of glass bottles and looking like a multicolor silk tree.

Whether you're just looking at his sculptures or climbing atop them, Johnson's interactive works remind viewers of the playful aspects of art, while their large scale seems to shrink spectators and return them to their childhood days.

Address

1140 Milligan Hill Rd., Alto Pass, IL 62905

Click here for directions

Related Links

Southern Illinois offers another outdoor art garden at Mt. Vernon's Cedarhurst Sculpture Park.

Illinoisans living in the northern part of the state are pretty lucky, too. The Friends of Community Public Art put their works on display throughout Joliet, and Chicago's Archi-treasures gives old urban spaces a colorful face lift.