57th Drive Underpass Mini-Murals

hydeparkprogress.blogspot.com - 4 weeks ago - 194 views

Hyde Park resident, Mirtes Zwierzynski, has been creating a series of mini-murals in tile at the 57th Drive underpass. The images shown are before they are grouted. Some are amazingly detailed.

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by BradFlora 4 weeks 1 day ago

Gosh those look nice. The piece mentions that the murals will be well protected from the elements by the overpass. I'm facepalming here at home as I realize this is why murals are put in these underpasses so often. I'd always assumed it was because walking through them can be a scary experience, and if you had some colorful art, you might not feel like you're about to get jumped.

The theme of the mosaics is supposed to be Midwestern flora and fauna, but the kids seem to have interpreted the theme pretty liberally, which is fine with me given how cute this little guy is (above).

So I take it these murals are adapted from designs and drawings created by students the artist worked with?

This underpass is better protected from the elements than any of the Metra viaducts that are currently getting mural makeovers by the Chicago Public Art Group. So, barring graffiti artists and taggers, they should have a long life with little maintenance.

Any pics of these other makeovers on the web?

by Tamale Chica 4 weeks 1 day ago

That analogy about putting murals on walls where there are underpasses is interesting. Putting something of beauty and art there puts a little culture where none existed before, and would make walking through those underpasses considerably more pleasurable.

I did find this (via clicking through the original Hyde Park post on these murals:

http://cpag.net/guide/

There's some fabulous stuff under the PORTFOLIO menu options.