On View | School of the Art Institute of Chicago

by Sophie Lucido Johnson (MFA 2017)
Photos by Greg Stephen Reigh (BFA 2013)

There isn’t a neighborhood in Chicago that’s untouched by murals.

They vibrantly uncurl beneath overpasses and along the walls of abandoned buildings, telling stories and commemorating lives, and more than anything else making great art accessible to every citizen. Since 1971, the Chicago Public Art Group has brought intentionality to the city’s rich history of murals, focusing on transforming some of the most neglected spaces in the city. Now, there are hundreds of murals officially registered with the City of Chicago. School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) students, faculty, and alums have made their marks in dozens of public spaces. Here are just a few examples.

The Declaration of Immigration

Assistant Professor Salvador Jiménez-Flores created this Pilsen-based mural, which brings attention to and encourages a national conversation around immigration that is grounded in humanity and open-mindedness. While most murals in Chicago feature images of people, this one focuses on words and typography, putting forward the urgency of the message it conveys. The text comes from a 2008 exhibition at the National Museum of Mexican American Art of the mural’s same title and it was painted with students from Yollocalli Arts Reach, an initiative of the museum.

Another Time’s Voice Remembers My Passion’s Humanity

Originally painted in 1979 by Mitchell Caton and Calvin Jones (BFA 1957), this African-inspired piece is a mainstay of Chicago’s rich mural history. Through vivid colors and emotive lines, the piece weaves African heritage with the contemporary community. Female figures depicted across the piece are a nod to the importance of Black matriarchy in African and African American communities. The mural, which is on the wall of the Donnelley Center Community Art Garden in Bronzeville, was restored in 1993.

Where We Come From, Where We’re Going

This enormous mural by Professor Olivia Gude stretches out under an overpass in Hyde Park, inviting its viewers to consider their lineage and those who came before them. The figures depicted in the mural are neighborhood residents who Gude interviewed on the mural site, asking them the work’s titular questions: Where are you coming from? Where are you going? She incorporated text in conjunction with each portrait, telling a story of Hyde Park at that moment in time. The figures are conveyed in haunting shades of blue, gray, and brown, but their smiling faces make the work feel friendly and thought-provoking, bringing together storytelling, heritage, and diversity.

Urban Oasis

Fiery hues and block shapes make this 2010 mural by Leah Tumerman (MFA 2008) come to life under a Rogers Park train underpass. The piece celebrates Chicago’s multifaceted architecture and urban wildlife, as local fauna plays against the windowpanes and door frames of an array of houses. The piece is set apart by its insistent vibrancy: a bluebird playfully passes through the orange-and-red sky and trees gush out from behind buildings, showing the beauty of the lives of the people who might be riding the train above.

A yellow and orange mural under a train overpass depicting homes, flowers, and a subway car

Leah Tumerman (MFA 2008), Urban Oasis, 2012

The Artist’s Window

In Oak Park, some of the world’s greatest artists—Jean-Michel Basquiat, Frida Kahlo, and Andy Warhol—seem to peer out through windows, gazing at the sky or at passersby below. That’s the effect of a four-panel mural by Tia Etu (BFA 1986), which includes a wider bottom “window” where the back of Etu’s own head can be seen, just to the right of Leonardo Da Vinci. The murals serve to anchor viewers in the history and possibilities of the city’s art district, drawing on the visions of artists who came before and on artists whose work is still coming into being. ■

A yellow brick building studded with paintings of famous artists' faces like Andy Warhol

Tia Etu (BFA 1986), The Artist’s Window, 2015