Mozart Park Fitness Center Mural

After 4 1/2 years of petitioning the Chicago Park Enhancement Committee, we at the Mozart Park Mural Program have finally received approval to paint the wall of the Mozart Park Fitness Center. While we were biding our time, beginning in 2017 we created a free weekly mural painting program for community youth at our park. The time has finally come to do that thing that we set out to do nearly half a decade ago. Please consider making a donation today. We are so grateful for whatever amount you can spare.

"Named for world-acclaimed Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Mozart Park was the first of the Northwest Park District's thirteen parks. The Northwest Park District aimed to provide one park for each of the ten square miles within its middle-class jurisdiction. After consulting with various community organizations, the park district chose a site for its first park and purchased the property in early 1914. In 1915, the park district board officially designated the site Mozart Park, based on a popular vote of local school children." -Chicago Park District

The Mozart Park Advisory Council was founded in 2016 with a collection of enthusiastic community members. In early 2017, we created a sub-committee called the Mozart Park Mural Committee, which operates a free weekly based painting program for our community's youth. Our program has been successful and well attended on a regular basis.

Now approaching our fifth year, the Mozart Park Advisory Council is curating a mural to replace the existing dilapidated one that currently exists at the park. With permission of the previous muralist granted and approval from the Chicago Park's District, a new mural will be painted at the park bringing a fresh breath of life and color into the community. The mural program's participating youth will assist lead artist Justin Howard along with Serena Lander and Kimberly Oliva in the application of the work in a paint by #’s format.

The new mural will illustrate a colorful Midwestern landscape with active children playing sports, musical instruments and passive recreation. Mozart Park serves a very lively and diverse community and the mural will depict this diversity of its people and activities that happen now and what the park has historically been known for.

The Mozart Park Mural Committee consists of volunteers who are passionate about the arts and sharing that passion with the youth from our community. It is our belief that by nurturing creativity in our youth it will empower each of them to express themselves in ways that are both healthy and fun. Ultimately bettering themselves and the community in which they live.

All of the funding for our program comes from our own pockets or from donations we receive from kind people like you. The funds for this new mural we plan to paint on the fitness center at Mozart Park is no exception. With that being said, a project of this magnitude will require a significant amount of material, volunteer and skilled labor.

The materials that will be used to create this mural will be exterior latex paint over the brick wall which will be prepared with trisodim phosphate and a coat of primer. The finishing process will involve a durable clear coat on top of the mural for longevity. The wall space on the exterior of the building is 60'x 10'. Paint colors will be approximately the same as depicted in the mockups below.

We've set the goal to cover our costs and time for this project at $3,500. We currently have some funds in our program's savings to go towards this project, but our current financial status is minimal. Due to the seasons changing and the time frame in which we've been granted to start and finish this project, our team will begin purchasing material now and start working as to finish before November arrives. The money we raise will reimburse the Mozart Park Mural Committee's out of pocket expenses and the remaining donations will be put back into our regular scheduled program. So ANY donation received will help us tremendously.

Thank you so much for taking the time the time to read about our project. None of what we do at the Mozart Park Mural Program would be possible if it weren't for the fine people like you.

Now a little about the artists for this project!

Kimberly Oliva

is a Chicago-based social activist and artist. She is also a founding member of the Mozart Park Advisory Council. She energetically promotes community building through her West Side gallery (Oliva Gallery) and is also a key instructor and founder of the Mozart Park Mural Program. She is gifted in the realms of social inclusion and activating those around her.

Serena Lander is a Chicago-based artist and a founding member of the Mozart Park Advisory Council and the Mozart Park Mural program. Serena's artistic focus over the years has included illustration, mosaic, woodblock print, tattoos, and sculpture. Serena loves experimentation with design, form and color, experimenting with different mediums, often inspired by the natural world, botanicals and textile print.

Justin Howard is a Chicago Based Artist. A prolific painter, liquid light artist and muralist, he has worked on numerous public art pieces around the city and throughout the Midwest while assisting muralist Nick Fischer and is a key instructor with the weekly Mozart Park Mural Program. Justin is lover of life who enjoys teaching and expressing himself in a myriad of ways, especially through his daily visual art practices. Drawing inspiration from his love of nature, human beings and the mysteries of the unexplainable, painting has become a spiritual practice for Justin and a means of personal balance.

The Mozart Park Mural Program is a not-for-profit 501 C3 organization operating through our fiscal sponsor which is the Chicago Parks foundation.