RANCH TRIANGLE — The explosion of murals in the neighborhood continues with another project slated for under the CTA station at Armitage Avenue.
Artist Steven Carrelli is making a detailed Armitage streetscape of the area's Victorian roofline on the south side of the street under the "L" stop on the wall of a building owned by Tim and Kyle Glascott, according to Ald. Michele Smith (43rd).
In a recent newsletter to constituents, Smith thanked the Glasscotts, "who donated the use of their building wall to beautify the area." Smith also credited the committee for the Armitage-Halsted Historic District for its assistance.
It's part of the 50x50 Neighborhood Art Project announced earlier this year as part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's declared Year of Public Art and part of what could be called an explosion of murals in the neighborhood. The mural will join Renee Robbins' new "A Kaleidoscope of Hidden Worlds" murals under Lake Shore Drive at Fullerton Parkway and the Chicago Bears' recent mural project.
Smith touted the Armitage mural last week at the formal dedication of the latest DePaul University murals under the CTA Fullerton station.
"Public art informs and celebrates as well as shares artistic value on its own" in praising "the important role that art plays in our civic life," she said.
A comparison of Carrelli's submitted design for the mural shows it nearing completion.
A date for the formal dedication hasn't been set yet, but Smith said Tuesday that she expected it to take place next month.
In her newsletter and at the DePaul event, Smith also mentioned another, more ephemeral, but perhaps equally impressive project coming at the Lincoln Common construction site. According to Smith, Annette Elliot of the School of the Art Institute will be mounting a light-projection art project on the wall of the old Children's Memorial Hospital boiler house, the only building left standing from the hospital complex as part of the Lincoln Common.
No date has yet been set for that art display.
