Community input sought in Waukegan name-that-mural contest
BY DAN MORAN dmoran@stmedianetwork.com November 9, 2011 7:50PM
A mural painted on the north side of the La Opera at 133 N. Genesee Street in Waukegan. | Thomas Delany Jr.~Sun-Times Media
People, places, things
Here are the people, places and things shown on Waukegan’s unnamed mural on the north wall of La Opera Grill and Bar, 133 N. Genesee St.:
Chief Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk people, circa 1832.
Flame and symbol honoring the region’s ancestral Potawatomi, also known as the “keepers of the fire.”
Canoe beneath the Waukegan bluff carrying European explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet, who arrived in Waukegan in 1673.
Little Fort, the French trading post from which the city drew its Potawatomi name.
Abraham Lincoln, shown beardless as he was when he visited the city in April 1860.
Robert de LaSalle, French explorer of the Great Lakes region.
Jolliet.
Marquette.
Early Waukegan Harbor with fishing shanties.
Old Waukegan lighthouse.
Jane Addams, founder of Hull House in Chicago and Bowen Park in Waukegan.
Ramon Soto, pioneer Latino merchant.
Genesee Theatre.
Jim Harrington’s “Art Bus.”
Jack Benny, star of vaudeville, radio, television and film.
The Magniscope, inventor Edward Amet’s first practical 35mm film projector.
The Carnegie Library on Sheridan Road.
Ray Bradbury, author of “Fahrenheit 451” and “Dandelion Wine.”
Kate T. Cory, painter.
Silhouette of children looking toward the future.
Current Waukegan lighthouse.
Otto Graham, NFL Hall of Fame quarterback.
Jerry Orbach, star of Broadway, television and film.
Harrison Bankhead, musician.
Anita Padilla, television broadcaster.
Karcher Hotel.
Waukegan High School Bulldog.
Article Extras
Updated: January 9, 2012 1:17AM
WAUKEGAN — Telling the story of Waukegan from the time of the Potawatomi and Little Fort to Jack Benny and Jerry Orbach, the new mural on La Opera at Genesee and Clayton streets appears to have everything it needs to provide a community’s historical perspective.
What it doesn’t have is a name.
In fact, though the paint is long since dry and a protective clear-coat has been applied, the artists involved in the project told the City Council on Monday night they won’t declare it completed until the community helps them come up with a title, which will be applied to a now-empty illustration of the Genesee Theatre’s marquee.
“We will be hosting a dedication event in the next couple of weeks, (and) announcing a name-that-mural contest,” said city spokesman David Motley, who was among more than a dozen volunteer artists who put in untold hours on the wall before, during and after last month’s “Paint the Town” project.
“I was going down there at 11 o’clock at night,” said Mayor Robert Sabonjian, “and people were still working — sometimes later than that.”
City officials honored the artists — who also painted the “Waukegan Arts Revolution — A New Beginning” mural at Genesee and Water streets — with a resolution Monday night crediting them with providing an “artistic history lesson about Waukegan’s past, present and future.”
“(The) Waukegan Arts District Murals now serve as beacons for our downtown and have generated a great amount of traffic by onlookers and supporters, (and) are not only a source of renewed pride in our community, but are also a testament to the lasting legacy that the arts have made on our community.”
Patrick Tufo of Tufo Gallery, 116 N. Genesee St., is credited as the lead designer of the La Opera mural, while Skip Wiese led the “Arts Revolution” design.
According to Motley, artists and volunteers who participated in the projects include Joe Caprigno, Mary Clare Jakes, David Dallison, Drew Davis, Emilie Dieck-Correa, Rob George, Raul Gomez, Lisa May, Megan McHale, Michelle Miscenic-Patch, Violet Ricker and Jay Stephen.
Motley said details on the mural-naming contest will emerge in coming days.
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