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Saturday, May 18, 2024

Murals and Mosaics

Murals and Mosaics

A series that aims to capture, catalog and celebrate the beauty of Chicago’s streets, as seen through its public art.

"Argyle-O-Rama" by Mayumi Lake
Murals and Mosaics
Art at CTA Red Line stations in Edgewater, Uptown unveiled as part of reconstruction
The artwork will be featured in the Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr stations, set to reopen next year after years of construction.
By Mary Norkol
 
Artist Erick Chavez painted this mural on the viaduct at North Elizabeth and West Hubbard streets in West Town during the pandemic in 2020.
Murals and Mosaics
West Town mural was painted in 2020 to bring color during the pandemic
“I try to draw an expression,” muralist Erick Chavez says. “You’re going to get a moment in time.”
By Genevieve Bookwalter
 
Newsletters
Artist Daryl Harris.
Murals and Mosaics newsletter
This Berwyn mural features aliens, monsters and ... a chicken wing?
This week’s murals and mosaics newsletter features a sci-fi mural in Berwyn, mysterious penguin paintings and public art in nearby Milwaukee.
By Sun-Times staff
 
A mural by the artist Ladie One near Hubbard and Morgan streets.
Murals and Mosaics newsletter
Creating this West Side mural was a spiritual exercise of sorts
A sprawling mural on Chicago’s Near West Side, viaduct art inspired by Aztec and Mayan art and public art in Kansas City are all featured in this week’s newsletter.
By Sun-Times staff
 
Everett Reynolds’ mural on Racine Avenue near 16th Street.
In dank locale on outskirts of Pilsen, this painting aims to bring light
This week’s newsletter features a viaduct mural that brings something beautiful to a gloomy viaduct, religious murals and mosaics and revitalized South Side art.
By Sun-Times staff
 

Interactive map of Chicago’s murals and mosaics

Each point on the map is clickable, with a photo, description and sometimes a link to a story about the mural. You can zoom in to focus on a particular neighborhood or suburb.

A mural on Avondale Avenue in Logan Square done in October by artist Chloe Becky.
Why are those eyeballs floating? That and more about Logan Square mural near Kennedy Expressway
By Sun-Times staff
 
This mural in the Taylor Avenue pedestrian tunnel was done by Pilsen artist Juan De La Mora.
Glen Ellyn pedestrian tunnel is filled with trees, thanks to Pilsen artist’s mural
By Sun-Times staff
 
This mural by the “Pop Art Rabbi” is at the Lubavitch Chabad of Skokie in the 4000 block of Dempster Street.
At Skokie Jewish center, this mural by the ‘Pop Art Rabbi’ aims to convey the essence of a ‘mitzvah’
By Sun-Times staff
 
The recently restored “Tree of Life” mural, painted by Frederick Clay Bartlett in 1903, is seen at Second Presbyterian Church in the South Loop, Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. The mural was restored by Parma Conservation Ltd. Co-Director and Sr. Painting Conservator Peter M. Schoenmann, Director Elizabeth Kendall, who is also his wife, and their team.
Murals and Mosaics
Historic mural restored at Second Presbyterian Church
After more than 100 years, the vibrancy of the windows and the mural were hidden by dirt, leading supporters of the church to embark on a campaign to restore the artistic treasures to their original glory.
By Bob Chiarito | Special to the Sun-Times
 
A painting of the Vasa outside the Swedish restaurant SVEA at 5236 N. Clark St. in Andersonville, the once-heavily Swedish neighborhood.
Andersonville mural features 17th century ship that was the pride of the Swedish navy (just very briefly)
By Sun-Times staff
 
This mural, titled “Wakanda Forever,” was painted by artist Rahmaan Statik and features characters from Marvel’s “Black Panther” movies.
For Chicago artist Rahmaan Statik, painting ‘Black Panther’ murals was ‘a childhood dream come true’
By Mary Norkol
 
A viaduct on Lawrence Avenue just west of the Kennedy Expressway includes numerous murals that are replicas of Ed Paschke paintings. The mural at left is based on his 2000 “Orange Bird” painting.
Ed Paschke’s artwork still dazzles even in mural reproductions in a Northwest Side viaduct
By Sun-Times staff
 
A mural by Humboldt Park native Antonio Beniquez facing the intersection of California Avenue and Division Street, near the West Side neighborhood’s namesake park.
Humboldt Park building will block mural — so artist was asked to create new one
By Michael Loria
 
This mural by artist Richard Wilson on a building managed by the University of Chicago that houses the Small Cheval restaurant at 1307 E. 53rd St. honors the late singer Donny Hathaway.
Singer Donny Hathaway inspired Hyde Park mural celebrating his music, promoting mental health
By Sun-Times staff
 
Artist Kaitlyn Beiriger’s 2021 mural “Time Piece” at 1014 S. Michigan Ave.
‘Twilight Zone’ and the pandemic inspired artist Kaitlyn Beiriger’s South Loop mural
By Austin Hojdar
 
Part of a series of murals along a CTA Orange Line retaining wall that spotlights video game and comic book characters. The image at left, painted by the artist Rawooh, shows “Angela,” who originated in the Spawn comic book series. The gamer image in the middle was done by Viril the Mouse. Many Super Mario Bros. images at right were done by members of the CAB crew of graffiti artists.
Donkey Kong, Mario, Spawn make South Side stretch of murals a retro video game, comic book celebration
By Sun-Times staff
 
Langston Allston painted this mural in September 2021 at 20 S. Campbell Ave.
Fleeing Hurricane Ida, Langston Allston came to Chicago and created this mural
By Austin Hojdar
 
Sergio Maciel’s “Ice Cream Break” mural at 2100 W. Cermak Rd. in Pilsen, which he painted in August.
In Pilsen mural, Sergio Maciel uses masks to celebrate the neighborhood’s diversity
By Austin Hojdar
 
“The Radiance of Being,” a 180-foot-long mural artist Kate Lewis painted in 2020 along the Chicago River downtown.
For Riverwalk mural, artist Kate Lewis drew inspiration from classic Chicago architecture
By Austin Hojdar
 
Orlando artist Christian Stanley painted this mural, which he titled “Chance,” in August on Hubbard Street just east of Ashland Avenue.
For West Loop foundry, artist painted a mural of a fiery gator
By Sun-Times staff
 
Laura Catherwood painted this mural, titled “Birdfrog,” in September 2021 at 1704 N. Damen Ave. in Wicker Park.
In Wicker Park mural, Laura Catherwood’s ‘Birdfrog’ mural marries nature with whimsy
By Austin Hojdar
 
“Take Flight,” the first mural in Rensselaer, Indiana, was painted in 2016 by San Francisco artist Cameron Moberg. Dozens more have followed.
Rensselaer, Indiana, has become a mural hot spot, drawing people from the Chicago area, elsewhere
By Sun-Times staff
 
Anthony Lewellen’s “Resting Waters Rising Light,” completed in October 2020 at 844 W. Montrose Ave. in Uptown.
In Uptown mural, artist Anthony Lewellen combines a love of nature and ‘concrete and light poles’
By Austin Hojdar
 
“Flower Power,” a Ukrainian-themed mural in Ukrainian Village painted by Chicago artist Sean Archer in August.
In Ukrainian Village, Sean Archer’s ‘Flower Power’ mural fueled by ‘a desire to fight despair’
By Sun-Times staff
 
Cheri Lee Carlton’s “Hummingbird Dream” mural, which she painted in July 2021 on a building at 1538 N. Clybourn Ave. in Lincoln Park.
With her hummingbird mural in Lincoln Park, Cheri Lee Charlton aims to draw you in to linger
By Austin Hojdar
 
Artists work on different pieces of work Sunday at the “Meeting of Styles,” an international street art festival near Commercial and South Chicago avenues on the Southeast Side.
Art
Street artists compare styles at mural painting under Skyway: ‘It’s beautiful’
The artists were taking part in the international “Meeting of Styles” festival, which returned to Chicago this weekend for its fourth year. Some of the artists came from Mexico and Germany to paint viaduct walls near Commercial and South Chicago avenues.
By David Struett
 
Joe Miller painted his brother and niece on a Wicker Park wall last September.
For fatherhood mural in Wicker Park, Joe Miller used models he knows well: his brother and niece
By Nicky Andrews
 
The murals beneath the Chicago Skyway near Commercial Avenue and South Chicago Avenue are plentiful and diverse.
South Chicago
International street art festival ‘Meeting of Styles’ returns
Over the course of the three-day event, street artists will be decorating viaducts under the Chicago Skyway.
By Michael Loria
 
Avondale artist Jeff Pak painted this pink tiger in July on a viaduct in Andersonville.
Jeff Pak’s mural of a pink tiger in Andersonville speaks to his Korean heritage (and creating cool art)
By Nicky Andrews
 
Mexican artist Rodrigo Oñate — who works under the name Rocodrilo and often works in Chicago — completed this mural at 21st Street and Ashland Avenue in Pilsen in 2020. The theme, he says, is “paying attention to nature . . . our natural surroundings.”
Artist says this mashup in a Pilsen mural of birds and feathers and a beam of light is about ‘paying attention to nature’
By Sun-Times staff
 
A mural on an outdoor wall at the Une Année Hubbard’s Cave brewery in Niles that ws painted this summer by Dutch artist Collin van der Sluijs and Chicago artist Joseph Renda Jr.
Bird in Niles mural is helping flowers ‘break free,’ artist says
By Sun-Times staff
 
This brick building near Grand and Chicago avenues, awash with murals, is the headquarters of the aircraft parts company Setna iO.
A Chicago businessman saw some artists painting boarded-up buildings. Here’s what came next.
By Sun-Times staff
 
The artist who goes by “My Name is Ebo” painted this mural in April on a two-flat in Ukrainian Village to help promote a Chicago show by the electronic dance duo Ganja White Night.
In Ukrainian Village, two-flat's owner was glad to have out-of-this-world mural decorate 'ugliest building'
By Nicky Andrews
 
The “Education for the People” mural was painted on a wall near Cermak Road and California Avenue in the 1970s by artist Aurelio Diaz.
Little Village mural mystery solved; now Aurelio Diaz work is in line for a restoration
By Sun-Times staff
 
Melrose Park artist Yekseny Guerrero’s first public mural, done on an outside wall of a business in Maywood in 2020, features images of a butterfly, artist Frida Kahlo and flowers.
Frida Kahlo, a monarch butterfly and flowers brighten a Maywood alley in artist Yekseny Guerrero’s first public mural
By Sun-Times staff
 
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