Walking With Giants
Summer 2026
This summer, in honor of the United States’ 250th anniversary, the McAninch Art Center and Cleve Carney Museum of Art, in association with the College of DuPage Foundation, will present Walking With Giants, a free, outdoor, walkable exhibition celebrating American artistic achievement.
Opening in June and continuing throughout the summer, the exhibition will feature 10 larger-than-life painted silhouette sculptures, each approximately 10 feet tall, installed along a walkable route surrounding the MAC on the College of DuPage campus in Glen Ellyn. Developed with community input and created by contemporary artists, the works will honor influential American figures in visual art, music, theater, and dance, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dolly Parton and Lin-Manuel Miranda, among others.
Featured Artists
Following an open call for artists, Chicago’s Judith Mayer and Naperville’s Rich Lo were selected as the artists charged with designing and creating the works. The MAC and CCMA will fabricate and install all sculptures, allowing artists to focus on the design and surface treatment of those forms.
About Judith Mayer
Mayer is an artist and designer who creates brightly colored, graphic, and typographic artwork for brands, publications, experiences and murals. Born and raised in the Midwest, she is the daughter of an immigrant. After working at several design firms, she started Judith Mayer Creative, based in Chicago.
Mayer enjoys experimenting with letter shapes and legibility, and her work is inspired by mid-century modern design, pop art and traveling. Public art is a part of her practice. Her projects include painting a rainforest-inspired mural in Costa Rica, painting a commemorative mural at Harold Washington College and designing the Illinois stripe for a collaborative 19th Amendment flag design, displayed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. and at the William J. Clinton Library and Museum in Arkansas.
Mayer’s work is published in more than 40 design books and magazines and is included in the collections of the Chicago Design Archive and the Newberry Library. For more information about Mayer visit judithmayer.com.
About Rich Lo
Born in Canton, China, Lo was always drawing and painting with his six siblings. Today, he is known as an American visual artist and author. An accomplished illustrator and fine artist, his work can be found on packaging and creative ads for national brands, and on large installations in public buildings. In summer 2025, in support of the Hokusai-inspired “Waves of DuPage: Beautiful Cities Public Art Project,” Lo designed more than 30 site-specific, large-scale, vinyl murals created in the ukiyo-e style each depicting an iconic landmark in the participating DuPage County community.
Lo is also a published children’s book author. His first picture book, “Father’s Chinese Opera” about his relationship with his opera composer father, was published by Sky Pony Press (2014) and received an ALA Asian Pacific American Award for Literature Honor Book.
Lo’s author-illustrator credits include “New Year,” published by Sky Pony Press (2016). Illustrator of the award-winning “Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed His Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service” (2016); and “Dim Sum—A Mandarin English Counting Book.” For more information about Lo visit greatsketch.com.
