Naper Settlement welcomed a new hairy attraction on Wednesday that will be howling at the moon during the museum’s upcoming Halloween events.
This 15-foot-tall werewolf structure was created by local artists Paul Kuhn and Luke Salvesen.
Naper Settlement reached out to the two to collaborate on a structure for the museum’s All Hallows Eve and Howlin’ at the Moon events.
“I think they suggested maybe like a skull or a jack-o’-lantern, you know, something along those lines, and then we saw the name of the event, and it seemed like the natural thing to do, make a wolfman, right,” said Luke Salvesen, co-creator of the werewolf structure.
Putting the pieces together
The steel structure required a lot of welding, cutting, bending, and painting to become the completed werewolf.
During the process, Salvesen and Kuhn, who he calls his “artner”, would sometimes focus their attention on different parts of the structure.
“Like for instance, Paul ended up doing that whole tree, I didn’t even really touch it. I ended up doing a lot of the head while he was doing other stuff,” said Salvesen. “And then as far as everything else, it’s both of us every step.”
Kuhn and Salvesen also received support from another artist, who helped the duo complete the werewolf structure in less than a month.
“We got in touch with Don to come through and, man, so much of that paint job you see is Don Mega. So thank you, Don Mega,” said Salvesen.
See Naper Settlement’s werewolf
The sculpture is now set at its new Halloween home, and the museum is thrilled with the addition.
“A lot of their artwork they create for festivals across the country, and so it’s amazing to have a Naperville artist have his artwork displayed here at Naperville at Naper Settlement,” said Denise Cartina, the Public Relations and Social Media Team Leader at Naper Settlement.
Guests can get a glimpse of Naper Settlement’s new werewolf during the family-friendly All Hallows Eve event on Oct. 20 and Oct. 21, or at the 21-and-up Howlin’ at the Moon event on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28.
Get used to seeing this face as it will return to Naper Settlement’s Halloween events each year.
“I think it’s going to really wow people just because of how large it is and how unique it is. And again, we’ve never had anything on Naper Settlement like this, so we’re excited,” said Cartina.
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