Chicago murals: Hundreds of paintings grace Oak Park’s Green Line embankment — and more arrive yearly

Colorful images of turtles, monsters, parrots, people and more cover the walls supporting the Green Line as it goes through the heart of Oak Park. About 230 are on either side of the embankment.

Since 2010, the Oak Park Area Arts Council has worked with village officials to commission 20 to 30 murals a year to be painted in the frames of concrete. They are found on aptly named North Boulevard and South Boulevard — on the north and south sides of the L tracks — from downtown Oak Park to the CTA Green Line Austin station.

“There’s still a lot more to do,” says Camille Wilson White, executive director of the Oak Park Area Arts Council. “We are proud of these murals. People love them.”

One of those people is a muralist who goes by the artist name Hink. They grew up in Oak Park looking at the murals and graduated from Oak Park River Forest High School. Hink added their own panel a few years ago. It features an abstract image of a pinkish-purple girl with flowers and creatures coming out of their head. It’s next to the Oak Park Green Line stop.

“All the things inside of you, these creatures or these flowers, everything is unique or beautiful to a person. That’s what that one’s about,” Hink says. “It was a super positive spin on loving yourself and embracing individuality and such. It was pretty cool to do that character in Oak Park.”

Wilson White says the collection contains murals by dozens of artists who come from Oak Park, the greater Chicago area and across the United States. Some local artists have added their artwork multiple times. The artists are paid $1,500 for their work, and must bring their own paint. The village and arts council ensure the mural frame is primed and, when it is finished, the new artwork is covered with an anti-graffiti coating to protect it.

The selection process is competitive, Wilson White says. She doesn’t keep a list of those who have participated, and each year’s group is chosen anew from the submissions the village receives.

Artist Delisha McKinney of East Garfield Park painted a mural along the Green Line last summer, near the intersection of Home Avenue and South Boulevard. It features two children seeking cover under a large, multi-colored goose of sorts, with two ghost-like features dropping down from above. She called her work a political piece and part of an ongoing body of work about generational trauma and seeking to protect our children — “a silent protest of how things are not safe for our kids.”

Artist Ken Reif of Berwyn has multiple murals on the walls, from a single tree to landscapes to a family dog and the blues musician John Lee Hooker.

Wilson White say she gets calls from communities around the country that want to learn how they can start their own mural walls. “It’s a cool thing about being in Oak Park. It’s the art of uncommon community.”

Wilson White says she doesn’t have a favorite among the 230 murals: “I have too many favorites,” she chuckled. “I love them all. I really do.”