A South Side artist has paid tribute to the founding mothers and fathers of Meals on Wheels Northeastern Illinois with a new mural featuring paintings of the four faces on the Evanston nonprofit’s building.
Artist Damon Lamar Reed finished the mural in late May. He battled rain and wind to assemble the faces, words, fruits, vegetables and colorful background of the new public art at the corner of Simpson Street and Darrow Avenue in north central Evanston.
“The idea was to make something to honor the people who were integral” in founding Meals on Wheels and bringing it to the neighborhood, says Reed, whose studio is in South Shore. “Create something vibrant and colorful and attractive to the community. Bring a little joy when someone walks by, put a smile on their face.”
The mural honors Meals on Wheels Northeastern Illinois founders Delores Holmes, former Evanston Fifth Ward alder; the late Lillian Fitzimmons of the Evanston Health Department; the late Hecky Powell of Evanston’s Community and Economic Development Association and Hecky’s Barbecue; and the late Sister Mary Alfreda Bracht, former CEO of Saint Francis Hospital.
Deborah Mack, executive director of the regional Meals on Wheels, met Reed in 2021 when he painted a mural of her late father-in-law in Bronzeville. She recommended the artist for the new project.
Reed worked on the mural with students from Evanston’s The WE Program, a nonprofit Powell founded to help young people interested in pursuing careers in tech and the trades.
“We had this big open wall when we moved into the property at the end of 2019. I thought it would be nice to do something on that wall,” Mack says. “As far as the subject matter, it just made sense to honor our founders.”
Powell helped Meals on Wheels find the building to grow its operations and meet burgeoning demand. Holmes was Fifth Ward alder at the time and gave her support for the move.
Now, the organization prepares 100,000 meals a year there for residents from Evanston and northern Chicago suburbs up to the Wisconsin state line. The organization is expanding into the south suburbs and eyeing a second location.
Reed said he and his team spent about two weeks working on Evanston’s latest mural. In the studio, they painted the words and faces on Polytab, a non-woven polyester fabric that resembles “a thick dryer sheet.” They then brought the images to Evanston and stuck them to the brick wall with a gel medium and slicked over the images with a Squeeggee.
Lea Pinsky is executive director at Art Encounter, which helped coordinate the new mural. Art Encounter’s Evanston Mural Arts Program partners artists with organizations, schools and businesses seeking large-scale public art. Reed has worked with Art Encounter before, on his mural at Evanston’s Dawes Elementary School. He also painted a mural at Evanston’s Gibbs-Morrison Cultural Center.
About the Meals on Wheels mural, “I had an idea and had no way to put it together,” Pinsky said.
Once Reed got involved, “it was the perfect fit.”
