The Artists of the Wall in Loyola Park, Rogers Park, Chicago

Up in the North East corner of Chicago, on the South West coast of Lake Michigan, lies a very special neighborhood park and beach I want to tell you about. Loyola Park is in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, so named because of the proximity of Loyola University.

There is a wide expanse of beach which includes a fenced off area that is a small nature preserve, where native plants are coming back and little birds can be seen skittering about.

Past the beach is a wide sidewalk and then there is a concrete bench facing the water a city block or more long, that curves to follow the curve of the sidewalk. The bench has a high back and years ago someone realized this was a perfect place to paint a mural.

Rogers Park is a unique neighborhood, and even though elsewhere along the lakefront private development has swallowed up the beaches, the liberal neighbors in Rogers Park fought long and hard to preserve the lakefront beach for everyone. So it is this unique public park where the most ethnically diverse neighborhood in the city comes to swim and stroll and picnic and play.

Some years ago the neighborhood activists started a festival called the Artists of the Wall. What they do is divide this mural space into eight foot sections and for a small fee allow anyone and everyone to express their visual dreams in paint.

The murals stay for a year, then the walls are white washed and every June are repainted by a fresh group of artists, although of course there are quite a few repeat customers.

Every year there is a theme, often with liberal overtones, and prizes are awarded for most original interpretation of the theme. Some themes from past years have been, "Our Sister Cities", "Preserving the Lake Shore", etc.

The murals vary wildly in quality from the smears and splotches of kids to some very finished and professional looking artwork. There seems to be a fondness for quotes; every year Meher Baba, the Budda, and other classic folk are represented. You really have to see it.

For several years me and a group of friends have painted a section and had great fun doing it. It is mighty cool to stroll down the beach and see your own mural there among the others.

I read somewhere that due to the vagaries of the local winds, air quality in this area is some of the cleanest in all of Illinois. This combined with the endless horizons provided by the lake view, the general relaxed ambiance of the beach, the cool and varied artwork, makes for a very special experience.

When I still lived in the city, coming down to this park and beach was always like taking a mini vacation. It was healing and refreshing and wonderful. I still come back to the neighborhood just to walk the mile or so from Touhy to Pratt. It is one of the best walks in a city full of hidden treasures.