Meet Lucky!

The Ville Team is excited to introduce Lucky, our dog sculpture in the Downtown Naperville Alliance’s 2026 Sculpture Series!

Lucky is a Labrador Retriever brought to life with pennies and nickels, creating the rich colors, texture, and character of her fur. Inspired by a coin-covered sculpture in Tahoe City, California, Lucky brings that same sense of wonder to downtown Naperville.

Created by four talented artists — Angelique Burrell, Kymmy Butts, and Roberta & Jack Wiesemes — Lucky is the result of collaboration, creativity, and countless hours of detailed work. Every coin was carefully placed to create the unique patterns and texture that make her one of a kind.

Artist Statement: How Did Lucky Come to Be?

The inspiration for Lucky came from a statue in Tahoe City, California of a mother bear and her two cubs. The statue, named Ursa Mater (aka Mother Bear), is over 12 feet tall, weighs 5,700 pounds, and is covered in more than 200,000 U.S. and Canadian pennies.

Before creating Lucky, we reached out to Lisa and Robert Ferguson, Ursa Mater’s artists, for advice. In their reply, they encouraged us to make art by experimenting since “that is where the fun is.” We followed their advice, laughed through all the trial and error, and brought a work of art to life.

Lucky is nowhere as large as Ursa Mater, but we hope the public can experience the same joy we felt when we first met her.

Experience Lucky

Lucky is meant to be a tactile and visual joy. Run a hand along her “fur,” discover pattern variations, search for the two hidden miniature bones, and guess the number of pennies and nickels used to create her.

COMING SOON: Enter our contest by submitting your guess for how many coins (pennies and nickels) were used to create Lucky. One lucky winner will receive a $250 Downtown Naperville gift card!

Lucky is currently located in front of Hugo’s Frog Bar as part of the Downtown Naperville Sculpture Series, which features 24 dog sculptures and 1 cat sculpture displayed throughout downtown Naperville all summer long. See the map!

We hope you love Lucky as much as we do.

Lucky Dog

is part of the Downtown Naperville Alliance’s 2026 Sculptures

located in front of Hugo’s Frog Bar (see map)
sponsored by The Ville Team – Coldwell Banker Realty
Artists: Angelique Burrell, Kymmy Butts, and Roberta & Jack Wiesemes