Delisha McKinney long sought to paint more murals in her neighborhood of East Garfield Park. So, when the opportunity came, she jumped at it — even if it was across the street from her old rival high school.
“I’ve been wanting to work more in that space where I’m from. It was a to-do for me, a bucket list. I had to put something in my neighborhood,” she says.
Her recurring themes celebrating childhood and education made her mural the perfect fit for a 16-by-16-foot spot on a new apartment complex across the street from John Marshall Metropolitan High School. McKinney attended Austin High School, which closed in 2007 and was Marshall’s one-time rival.
McKinney’s mural is on a south-facing wall of Fifth City Commons, which consists of 43 affordable apartments at 3155 W. Fifth Ave., at the corner of South Kedzie Avenue.
“Education has always been an important part of my work,” McKinney says. This mural was no exception.
It portrays five children in brightly colored clothing who appear exuberant to be learning at school, dancing on their desks and floating through the air. Books appear to fly and fall open with titles like “Math” and “Science.” Lightbulbs burn brightly over the children’s heads. Lined notebook paper flutters down, one with a drawing of a monster (titled “Monster”). A colorful map of the world hangs on a back wall. Green vines grow up from the ground and burst through the top of the classroom, which has no ceiling but is open to the sky.
“The piece is about children finding fun in education, and there’s no ceiling,” McKinney says. The artwork focuses on science, math and imagination.
McKinney draws inspiration for most of her artwork from her childhood, she says. She credits her own art teachers for fostering her love of creating. Her pieces range from murals and paintings to plush toys, crocheted works, clothing, puppets and sculptures.
“I’m inspired by the idea that as adults we should never lose that childlike inspiration. Once we get older, we become numb and dull and forget about the adventure that life brings us,” she says. “My inspiration comes from talking to both the child and the adult and saying there’s a connection between the two.”
While it was originally planned as a painting, the building’s siding contains an anti-graffiti coating that made painting it impossible. So, McKinney created the image in Photoshop and printed it on vinyl, she says. She created a frame for the mural, and it was hung using wood reclaimed from the Salt Shed when that was repurposed as a concert venue.
Her next mural should be painted this weekend, as she joins other artists at the Englewood Arts Festival. She also recently started a three-year residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Her work can be found at the Elephant Room Gallery in Printer’s Row.
