Join us for a free 'Urban Landscape Painting' Workshop

Charles Burchfield-Street Scene, 1940

Tony and I will be facilitating a workshop on 'Urban Landscape painting' during the Little Village Arts Fest which runs Oct 2nd -3rd! This subject is a personal love of mine and recurring theme in my work so I'm especially looking forward to it. If there is no rain we will be at the Pocket Park on 26^th St and Trumbull. 
If it rains meet us at 4227 West 26th Street (at Tripp).

All supplies will be provided. Come get a little insight into the subject and how to make your own little record of the bustling streets of Villita. 

When: Saturday, Oct 2nd 

Time: 2pm - 4pm

Where: 26th and Trumbull pocket park 

More info on the Little Village Arts Fest at:

http://littlevillageartsfest.blogspot.com/

Enlace Pocket Park Harvest Fest!

Where: NE corner of 27th Street & Kildare
When: September 30th, 5pm - 8pm
ALL ARE WELCOME!!

Enlace will hold a harvest fest to celebrate all the hard work over the summer put into its Pocket Parks in Little Village, resulting in a feast of yummy vegetables, gorgeous flowers and beautiful public art. 

'Pocket parks' are an effort of Enlace to transform vacant lots into community use spaces. The pocket park on 27th St. & Kildare has been reclaimed as a community garden of veggies, greens and flowers.

Festivities include:
- Delicious BBQ feast with homemade dishes cooked with pocket park veggies (squash, tomatoes, collard greens, cucumbers, peppers and more)!
- Take home fresh produce!
- Music, art and workshops and more to enlighten all the senses!

Cobalt Studio and Enlace are proud to announce the official unveiling of its contribution to the contemporary mural movement in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Cultura Nativa (Native Culture) is a mural depicting the native animals and plants of Illinois in a traditional Mexican textile pattern.

Enlace Chicago is dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of the residents of the Little Village Community by fostering a physically safe and healthy environment in which to live and by championing opportunities for educational advancement and economic development.



More info:
Enlace Chicago
2756 South Harding Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60623
773-542-9233
Enlace@enlacechicago.org

Mural progress pics here..finally

Here is the wall the first time I saw it in May 2010.

27th and Kildare, La Villita Chicago

With the wall in such bad shape I knew we had our work cut out for us. I needed to come up with a unique design to compliment the garden and surrounding community.

 I came up with this.

A main goal was to make it stand out from other murals in the area while holding value for the community and garden. Drawing inspiration from the traditional Mexican textile art and embroidery I grew up with I thought would make a great design if put on a large scale. Once I laid out my initial design I researched and used only native Illinois wildflowers for the final composition. Some native and migratory animal life have been included to bring it all to life. What do you think?

Tony laid down our initial background.

Using the dark brown (similar to graffiti buster brown) was intentional for the purpose of covering up the spray painted doodles and to contrast with the bright flowers that we added.

Completed flowers on fabric at the studio.

They may look small here but these flowers took about a week to complete.

Some are about 4 feet wide!

Tony's up on the ladder making a giant collage while I painted the little shed.

Only the flowers are painted on a special fabric while the other elements are painted on site afterward.

We do owe a thanks to Maestro Muralist Hector Duarte, who inspired us to use the fabric technique.

Gracias Maestro!

Detail of the shed I painted.

We received many compliments on the mural from passersby. Lots of offers for work as well, which comes with the territory. "Do you do this for people's houses?" Can you paint this on my car?", was the most amusing, along with a car driving by that shouted, "Que chulada!" Though, I think they were giving a shout out to Tony up on the ladder. ;p

One of my favorite visitors! Little yellow bird.

Team work all around! I worked on the cardinal here then Tony got this butterfly going. :)

Jaime Deleon stopped in the see the progress.

We are almost done. I've been caught up in work for a few shows coming up but I will fill you in on the grand unveiling of this mural. Should be a fun BBQ!