ROGERS PARK — The latest installment of the Mile of Murals, a 10-year project aiming to drape a mile of bare concrete walls throughout the neighborhood in paint, will feature the work of Chicago artist Peter Hurley and New Orleans artist Scott Bullock.
The pair plan to begin painting the embankment wall on Glenwood Avenue between Greanleaf and Lunt avenues in early July.
A preliminary sketch of the mural features a series of dancers — from ballerinas to break dancers — spanning a portion of the 350-foot stretch.
Hurley, of Lincoln Square, said he and Bullock would also incorporate elements of tai chi, yoga and Latin dance.
"One figure will blend into another and into another and into another," Hurley said Monday. "I love to work big, so I love a large canvass, like in Rogers Park."
Hurley said he's worked for years creating commissioned works throughout the city.
When Mile of Murals organizers put out a call for artists, requiring one to be from Chicago and the other from out of state, he knew he and Bullock, a longtime friend and work partner, would be the perfect fit.
In 1999, the duo painted the Chicago Lakefront Mural for the East Bank Club.
They were selected out of 23 applicants who submitted proposals for this year's theme, "Movement and Stillness."
Hurley and Bullock will be paid $17,000 to paint the Rogers Park mural, Hurley said.
The mural would be the ninth installment of a project that began in 2007. Since then, long stretches of concrete walls along the Red Line and under train viaducts have been painted. Efforts include a portrait of President Barack Obama, a butterfly and images of Rogers Park history.
One of the more striking murals — painted in 2012 by Los Angeles artist Kalen Ockerman — is a series of neon-colored cyclops heads with whited-out eyes.
The project, funded by a special taxing district and the Rogers Park Business Alliance, should be completed by 2017. The project will result in 19 murals along 10 block-long walls, seven viaduct walls and two overpasses.
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