The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Between 1995 and 2006, the Oz Park Advisory Council enlisted artist John Kearney to create four sculptures depicting characters from L. Frank Baum’s "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." The Cowardly Lion, installed in 2001, was Kearney's second creation for the park, cast in bronze to emulate a lion's coat.

Kearney, an alum of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, also founded the Contemporary Art Workshop in 1949 with his wife, Lynn Kearney. This workshop provided a platform for emerging Chicago artists until its closure in 2009.