Eyes gaze over at one another. Mouths frown or laugh or drop open in surprise. The colorful outlines of scattered hands flash the peace sign, wave hello or grasp an ice cream cone — or multiple ice cream cones.
These are the curvy-cornered, anthropomorphized, abstract shapes, hands and personalities that make up murals by Shawn Smith of Portage Park, who goes by the artist name Shawnimals and whose work can be found around Chicago. This specific mural is on an alley corner on Bartleby’s Homemade Ice Cream, 1943 W. Byron St. in North Center.
“The basis for a lot of my pieces is one of referencing friendship and community,” Smith says. “I want to have a range of different kinds of characters and emotions and feelings.”
This mural stretches up along the door that opens into the ice cream shop. It wraps around the corner to the alley, where the bulk of the mural is.
The abstract shapes come in a variety of hues of blue, along with yellow, green, red and pink.
The mural includes a few different interpretations of ice cream cones. One has sprinkles and a mouth with fang teeth. Another appears to be held by hands belonging to the ice cream scoop on top of it. Another cone seems to be held by a jovial, mustachioed rectangle with a top hat. Still another appears to be an upside-down ice cream cone that has fallen on the ground — and is none too happy about it.
Those personalities are exactly what Smith hopes onlookers will see. Or maybe they’ll see something else. Or maybe they’ll see themselves.
“I have these vignette narratives in my mind,” Smith says, adding that they come to life as he paints his murals. Sometimes, “people will see it and identify with a character.”
For example, “I’m totally that ice cream cone.”
Rachel Kamins, who co-owns Bartleby’s, says the decision to commission a mural was one of the first that she and business partner Jeff Osborn discussed as they planned the shop, which opened in 2024.
“We both love how murals create a unique identity for the building and also give something back to the community as public art,” Kamins says.
Kamins enjoyed Smith’s assorted murals around Chicago, so she called to ask about working together.
Partnering with small, local businesses is a priority for Smith, who has worked with Chicago mainstays like Dark Matter Coffee and Revolution Brewing. He also has collaborated with big companies like Apple, Lyft and Mailchimp. His murals can be found in Couch Place alley at State Street in the Loop and in neighborhoods like Pilsen, Gage Park, Portage Park, Uptown and more around Chicago.
At Bartleby’s, “They gave me some random ideas and a color palette and said, ‘Do your thing,’” Smith says. “I had an absolute blast.”
The mural was painted with a brush and acrylic paints on brick, he says.
Kamins say she enjoys seeing the Bartleby’s mural tagged on social media, or watching customers take photos in front of it with their friends and families. But it’s the mural itself that brings her joy.
“For me personally, seeing those faces makes coming to work a joyful occasion every single time,” she says.
“I think the mural is the perfect sign for our business. It’s friendly, it’s silly, it’s fun and warm and welcoming — it tells people everything we want them to know about Bartleby’s in one look.”