A Proposal for a Fine Art Mural for the Wilson Avenue CTA @ Truman CCC

 

 Update:

This particular project is going to be tabled for the time being. While that may not sound like good news the results from this post have been completely positive.

 

I recieved an email from Alderman James Cappleman yesterday (Monday), no less then the very next business day after posting this. He informed me that there is a substantial renovation planned for this property although the details have yet to be finalized by the CTA. So this particular wall is going to have to wait until the dust settles so to speak..

 

I am very happy that James got back so promptly a very good sign indeed. And the comments left on this post as well as several sent directly have been positive and have given me ideas. I feel confident our Uptown is ready for the arts.
 

There are plenty of other walls, public property is most appropriate for this. I would not feel right volunteering to improve private property, and private property tends to change hands, owners can be fickle, only under special circumstances. They can always pay me though just like the plumber and the tuckpointer.
 

I believe this is the way to propose a public artwork...publicly. The community can have a say, social media can be the catalyst to produce a genuine piece of art we can all believe in, no easy feat actually. 

 

I have another wall nearby in mind, please forward any location suggestions you may have. I will be posting up another proposal sooner then later. 

 

A mural just may be painted in this location eventually, thank you everybody and Alderman James.
 

Our Art is our Culture, and Uptown is our Home!

Cheers,

Jeffrey Littleton

 This is the wall facing east on Wilson Ave, from the Truman College campus, it is CTA property. The size of the painted area is 16" x 131/2", So the mural itself would have a dimensions of 16" x 12" by starting 1 1/2" off the ground. It is primed and good to go, the suface is course and rough but appears to be in pretty good shape, I can work with the texture.

In a meeting with the Red line supervisor Ron Ekers and Mercy Housing TL I asked at the very end about doing a public art project such as this, he referred me to our Alderman.

And it was not a couple weeks later after a community meeting at Margate Park while chatting with Alderman James Cappleman he, completely unprompted, said what a great idea it would be to have artists do some work on the large CTA property at Wilson Station. He believes it would be great to paint the many pillars crossing Broadway artistically, which differs from my mural proposal here but in the same spirit,

I share Alderman James enthusiasm for painting the now ugly pillars, that would be a larger in scope project, including traffic barricades and surface preparation. This mural is a very actionable project that is good-to-go right now! I own a scaffold and any other equipment necessary to complete the job. Below is the materials I would need because the wall is white...seriously this is it:

-  1 Gallon of White paint
-  2 Quarts of Black paint
-  1 Quart of Penetrol   (as a medium)
-  1 Quart of Paint Thinner

No artist fee....I live here......

This would be a public artwork so I am proposing this to the public as well as to our Alderman James to benefit from your feedback. I believe with social media and the like we have a new tool for public art, more participation is possible before the brush gets wet, avoid unwelcome surprises after the paint dries. The public can actually be a part of the creative process, in creating this composition.

I would like to publish the final composition for feedback from the community before painting,

The proposal is a mono-tone/ black and white image as you see in the two drawings above, perhaps with the landscape in the top half and the El below, a combination. Or a purely Chinese literati style landscape, or an urban street-scape? All suggestions and comments are welcome.

Cheers,

Jeffrey Littleton

jefflittleton21@yahoo.com

The Next Step: 

When it can be determined there is support for this from the community in general, and the expressed support (non-committal for now)from Alderman Cappleman, I will prepare a drawn-to-scale finished drawing of the proposed mural. Then I will put it up for critiques/critisms, make revisions where and if necessary, or start all over again.

This is intended to be a FINE ART mural, by...of....and for the community.