Cox draws inspiration for the murals from the traditional Book of Kells, which contains the four Gospels in Latin and traditional artwork created around the ninth century.
It’s disputed where the book was originally created — Scotland, Britain and Ireland all are possibilities. But it’s now kept at Trinity College in Dublin.
The book includes full “decoration pages” that feature Celtic designs. Cox takes inspiration from them and incorporates many of those elements in his art.
Dozens of murals decorate the center. Some feature parts of traditional Celtic designs. Others represent the four provinces of Ireland.
Some fit neatly in corners. Others span entire walls.
Cox doesn’t do it all alone. He took his granddaughter Maura Lally under his wing when she was just starting elementary school. Now 20 and a junior at Northwestern University, she still helps out when she can.
“Since before I could remember, my family has been hanging out here,” Lally, who’s studying physics, says of the center.
Following a visit from former Ireland President Mary Robinson, the center was dubbed the country’s “fifth province,” Cox says. One piece of art represents all four provinces — Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster — and the symbolic “fifth province,” representing Chicago and the rest of the world.
Cox, a retired art teacher who was born in the United States, says he wasn’t particularly connected to his Irish roots until his daughter took up Irish dance in the 1980s.
That’s when he found the center, which was undergoing renovations. He offered his artistic talents, and began working on the murals.
“And when I finished one, I just started another one without telling them,” he says.
He hasn’t stopped in more than 30 years.
Cox says he starts with a design combining elements from the Book of Kells and works his way into the center of the piece.
Cox’s murals also have been copied onto coasters and other knickknacks sold at the center’s gift shop.
