Publications & Sites 
Oak Park artist’s work honors home, Scots heritage
One of the wee homes created by Oak Park artist Deborah Pieritz.
‘My Home Your Home Wee Home’
The Scottish Home, 2800 Des Plaines Ave., North Riverside
Opening reception 2-3:30 p.m. Saturday, April 14; Exhibit runs through May 31
For more information contact Chris Cortez at (708) 447-5092 or chriscortez@thescottishhome.org
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Combining the idea of home and a Scottish heritage, Oak Park artist Deborah Pieritz created her art installation “My Home Your Home Wee Home” at The Scottish Home in North Riverside. It will be on exhibit through May 31.
Pieritz, whose mother lives at the Scottish Home, was invited by the administration to show her work there. The public is invited to view the work, and to an opening reception set for April 14.
Though Pieritz helps run her family-owned office supplies store, Pieritz Bros., Inc., in Oak Park, she’s loved creating things since childhood and has a developed a solid background in art. She describes her artistic outlook as “a combination of Emily Dickinson and the Wright Brothers.”
Which means, she explains, she constructs pieces from wood and found objects while incorporating word play into the concept. The final product, she says, resembles an experiment.
“The title is ‘My Home Your Home Wee Home,’ so I was playing with that and the idea of home, and that this (the Scottish Home) is all the residents’ home now,” said Pieritz, speaking of the new installation. “It’s a twist on what’s expected and using things in a little bit of an unexpected manner, using materials a little bit differently.”
The display created for The Scottish Home includes about 500 small five-sided wooden blocks with digital prints closely resembling various Scottish tartans that Pieritz collaged in the shape of houses.
While thinking of a home plate in baseball, she says, the five-sided shape reminded her of a house and the pieces fit perfectly on the facility’s window rails. She then discovered the different patterns of the Scottish tartan, the historic, plaid clan fabrics that have come to identify various families of Scotland.
Residents will be able to view the pieces from their rooms while community members can see from the outside, allowing everyone to see the colorful work.
“I want them to just be able to enjoy it and think a little bit differently about it,” she said. “My feeling is, that place is such a hidden gem and they have taken such good care of my mom and everybody else there. The Scottish Home tries to be a part of the community over there. They seem to get a lot of neighborhood projects in and I think that’s really important to the residents and also to the little kids.”
