A new mural park, community arts center and gathering space that includes some heavy-hitters from the arts world will open next summer in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, organizers said Tuesday.
The nonprofit West Edge Arts is set to open at 3216 W. Ogden Ave. on the site of a former auto parts shop. The project is backed by individual donors and the suburban Vivo Foundation, founded by former Medline Industries president Andy Mills and his wife, Nancy.
The project will feature both indoor and outdoor spaces and aims to be an “anchor” for the surrounding neighborhood, said senior project lead Chelsea Dawkins. Situated on about a half acre, the site will eventually feature about 30 murals and other works by artists like Chicago painter Dorian Sylvain in a mural park curated by local installation artist Bob Faust. A 6,000-square-foot building will house a cafe, classrooms and artist studios. Outside, there will be gardens and a performance stage.
“Our decision to build here was very intentional,” Dawkins said at Tuesday’s on-site announcement. “This community and the broader West Side have a rich artistic and cultural history, with talented artists, creative organizations and a long-standing tradition of community expression.”
The West Side announcement comes less than a week after officials gathered in Bronzeville to announce that the expanded South Side Community Art Center will reopen next year, which is part of a broader cultural zone envisioned for that neighborhood and in pursuit of funding. Plus, this summer, a team of artists in Englewood unveiled a new community sculpture park on a once-vacant lot.
In total, the initiatives across the city underscore a popular idea in community development: that art can transform public spaces and drive economic opportunities. A study released this summer found the creative sector is Chicago’s third-largest industry. Plus, reports have found that the arts attract tourism and help to generate foot traffic.
On the West Side, Dawkins said the initiative “is about making art more accessible, celebrating creativity and bringing people together.”
When asked about the project’s budget, Dawkins said only that it is a “multi-million-dollar construction project” with additional costs for the curation and programming. The project is fully funded, Dawkins said.
On Tuesday morning, Sylvain and her team were at work creating a 50-foot-high cylindrical mural, the first artwork on the site. The towering pillar will be entirely wrapped in a hand-painted, colorful work, entitled “Bring It With You.”
Sylvain, whose work can also be found inside the Obama Presidential Center’s basketball court, said this new mural is inspired by generations of migrants to Chicago and the traditions of arts and crafts that they have brought with them. At the base of the work is a design inspired by the Potawatomi Nation’s tradition of beadwork.
“Then as it goes up, we visit a lot of other crafts: We visit weaving, bobbin lacing, indigo dyeing, pattern making, crocheting, knitting,” Sylvain said. “All of these arts and crafts that are celebrated as something domestic are really huge aesthetic contributions that we bring from our home of origin, and then we share with our new community.”
Faust, a prolific Chicago artist, is curating the West Side destination. For him, starting with this work by Sylvain was a no-brainer. Faust said the work is a mural “for everybody all the time: Driving by, walking by, coming into the park, I think it becomes a new icon that's going to say this space has an energy and an invitation for you to come.”
By next summer’s opening, the goal is to have at least 15 murals in place, with another 15 or so to come after that, as well as sculptural and other works. The other artists who will participate have yet to be announced, but Faust said the goal is to “place established global artists alongside emerging local ones.”
“I hope that it's a place where these artists get to meet and discuss what it takes to be an artist,” said Faust, adding that he himself doesn't plan to create a work for the space, at least not initially. But even as the wall space fills up, Faust said the plan is for the works to change over time.
“At the end of the day, it will phase in, and it will continue to be phased,” Faust said. “So murals will have an endpoint, and new murals will come on top. So there will always be something new to see.”
North Lawndale resident Sheila McNary said Tuesday that a space like this is needed for community members to be able to gather without leaving their neighborhood.
“Every time I get ready to do something, I have to drive in my car to go north or south, you know, it's not here,” said McNary, who is on the project’s community advisory council. “So I think this is going to bring the community together and for other people to come over and see the gem that we have here.”
Courtney Kueppers is an arts and culture reporter at WBEZ.
