The Chicago Mural

This post is an installment from a trip to Chicago in June with Katrina

While walking around Chicago with Katrina I saw a poster advertising some art exhibits at the Chicago Cultural Center, which I had visited in the past and was eager to share with her.

photograph from display

Artist Keith Haring came to Chicago in 1989 to create a 488 foot long mural with 500 Chicago public high school students.

They painted 122 panels each one 4 feet by 8 feet over the course of 5 days.  The 36 panels on display at the Cultural Center seemed immense laid side by side, I can't even imagine 122 of them!

These panels were on display at Midway Airport for years, and now that the exhibition at the Cultural Center has concluded they will be given to the Chicago Public Schools for conservation.  Apparently the other panels have already been distributed to various schools and other locations throughout the city.

Chicago residents are probably sick of seeing them over the last 29 years, but they were a new sight to me.  Haring produced more than 50 works of public art between 1982 and 1989 including the Chicago Mural.

He also created a 6 story mural banner commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty with 1,000 children in New York City and a mural painted on the western side of the Berlin Wall before its fall.

Sadly, 9 months after completing the Chicago Mural the artist died of AIDS related complications at the age of 31.

The colorful and gritty imagery in the mural was a jarring contrast to the classic architectural style of the room where it was displayed.

This building was the first Chicago Public Library, hence the CPL etched within the design above.

Gorgeous ceiling ornamentation

The large galleries that are now used for exhibits were designed to let in lots of light for folks to read.  Speaking of reading, there is a lot of bickering going on in Wisconsin between Governor Walker and his challenger Evers over who is better for education.  Walker would like to claim he has increased funding for education...but that was only after drastically slashing it years ago.  And for at least a decade the state ranks among the worst in the nation in racial equality not only in education but also for income and rate of incarceration.  Just as bad, only 40% of 8th grade students are proficient at math in Wisconsin! Yikes!  Wisconsin has the worst record in that category for the disparity between white and black students in the NATION with white students 5 times more likely to be proficient than black students.

There was another art exhibit on display that day, I'll share that tomorrow. Be patient with my sporadic postings, I've been very busy with work and plans for our relocation to Canada next year!