MyShadowProductions: Soul of the Stone @ South Shore Cultural Center - South Shore Beach & Nature Sanctuary - Fall Colors 2026

Howdy everybody !!

Time just seems to keep flying by and the 1 hour most of us “gained” by turning the clocks back (remember when that was an actual physical task?) is hardly a difference.

I am not complaining, just making an attempt to open this Post and get the “show on the road” :) Besides, if the saying is right about when time flies, I might be having a “good time” if I choose to allow it.

The “show” starts with my visit to the South Shore Cultural Center on the South Side of Chicago. As you will see in the Video the trip was altered a little because of some track work by Metra but a shuttle bus past the affected area added a little variety.

I had two things in mind with visiting the Cultural Center, one was to see the Soul of the Stone exhibit and the second was to walk around the Beach and Nature Sanctuary areas.

Remember the Soul of the Stone sculptures that were on exhibit at the Garfield Park Conservatory (GPC)? The Cultural Center is another part of the overall exhibit. You can see my previous post and videos at GPC here.

Also, I visited the Cultural Center and Beach a couple of summers ago for the Chicago Park District Volunteer Appreciation Day, click here to refresh your memory.

Now for the latest videos :)

Click this Link for the Soul of the Stone exhibit at the South Shore Cultural Center.

One main question that kept going through my mind, other than “how do they do that?”, is with the Green Opal sculptures and why/how the rougher/lighter colored stone and the polished green opal sections. (Springstone too)

This is one explanation I found.

“The off-white, matte, or chalky parts on Shona green opal sculptures are achieved by leaving those specific sections of the stone unpolished and rough.

Shona master sculptors utilize a deliberate contrast technique based entirely on how the stone is finished:

The Dark Green, Glossy Parts: To get the rich, translucent green color, the artist sands the stone smooth. They then heat the sculpture (using a blowtorch or open fire) to expand its microscopic pores and apply a clear natural wax (like beeswax). When buffed, this brings out the deep, saturated green hidden inside the mineral.
The Off-White, Textured Parts: The raw, unpolished, and un-waxed state of Zimbabwean green opal stone naturally looks light green, greyish, or off-white. By using hand tools like chisels, rasps, or toothed chasing hammers and intentionally skipping the heating and waxing process on those areas, the stone retains its pale, chalky, and textured appearance.

This stark contrast between the "raw" off-white stone and the "cooked" polished green is a signature styling choice used to represent hair, clothing, or abstract textures.” (From a Google search)

There are also Soul of the Stone exhibits at the Chicago Cultural Center (where the Tiffany Domes are) and the Field Museum so I have those spots on my list for colder/wetter days.

For a walk around the South Shore Beach and Nature Sanctuary, click here.

Kind of like the natural areas at Montrose Beach in my last Post, I missed the color of the blooms but Nature still provides so many shades of color regardless of the season. This simple picture below had so many shades of color that changed as the intermittent clouds passed, my camera didn’t “capture” all that but it tried :)

The next Video that I want to share is created from my pictures mostly at Morton Arboretum and GPC and a few in Downtown Chicago and Aurora as Fall displayed its 2026 version of “Colors”.