Our Haven Park: Karen Abbott Interview, October 19, 2021

Primary tabs

  • Karen Abbott
    This is a diorama that my mother made. As a matter of fact, I think it's her second diorama and happens to be of her visual of a homeless pair in the park on our corner of Illinois and Hamilton, Illinois, Ninth and Hamilton. And I guess I don't know, maybe in the 60s, early 70s or through the 70s, the homeless people used to sleep there during the day. They didn't have tents like they do now and so they would sleep under the trees and this is an old lady fussing at the man under the tree because he's drunk, and she's she's not pleased with him. So but she's got all of her, all of her belongings in her basket. And that's where she lives. You can see the little squirrels. I don't know if you can see the squirrels. She made little squirrels. She got the stones and she made the tree. The tree, I think is probably is–what do you call it, it's not Brillo, but that cleaning pad. Yeah, steel wool. And you can see that's she's even got—even his toes are out in the shoe. The soles of his shoes are no good. She's got all kinds of paper bags and compartments for her stuff. Our Haven, that's what it's the park is called, Our Haven and it's signed by the people.
  • Karen Abbott
    Oh, she even has beer cans here. That he's thrown on the ground. Huh? You see it? She was on a Miniature Club. So, they knew how to find all these little miniature things. And what she couldn't find she made. Like all the clothes, she made all the clothes. I don't know where she gets a shopping cart from. Looks like she could have made that too. Oh, and he's got a bottle in his hand.
  • Angie Whitehurst
    You didn't know he was taking a drink?
  • Karen Abbott
    I didn't see that. I didn't remember it. And she's, so she's pulling on him.
  • Angie Whitehurst
    You really have to look at this at every angle.
  • Karen Abbott
    You have to look at it at every angle because it's there's so much going on. So much detail.