Features

The Big Picture Mural Hunt Connects the Public with Evanston's Outdoor Art

Mural at the Family Focus Building in Evanston, created by Juan Carlos Perez and students from Family Focus's after-school programs in 2019

By GINNY VAN ALYEA  via PR

Art Encounter is a non-profit arts education organization devoted to help people engage with and learn about art, usually in person. As for most of us, these past few months have forced the group to adjust how they fulfill their mission of educating, empowering, and connecting people of diverse ages and backgrounds through interactive encounters with visual art. Ways they have continued to help people connect with art is through online tours and outreach programming. 

A recent program has focused on public murals outdoors. One creative, free artsy activity (with a prize!) in Evanston this summer, for all ages, is Art Encounter's The Big Picture: A Mural Treasure Hunt! Follow the group's custom Google map across 17 of Evanston Mural Arts Program murals while answering fun questions and following prompts by phone, then submit a completed form by August 30 for a chance to win gift cards and other prizes from Blick Art Materials. Learn about the murals as you visit them, and discover the many ways to see them on your journey. You can also tag @art.encounter and @evanstonmuralartsprogram on instagram and Facebook when posting your mural photos, and hashtag #TheBigPictureEvanston.

CLICK HERE TO START HUNTING

The Evanston Mural Arts Program exists to make art available to all. Now entering its fourth year, the goal of the program is to uplift and beautify neighborhoods with mural art through creative partnerships with community organizations, youth groups, schools, and business districts. Art Encounter pairs professional artists with community members and youth groups to create large scale public works of art to last for years to come. Visit AE's website for more information, including links to their Minute with a Muralist series, where they share interviews with the artists behind the murals.



Mural by Dustin Harris on the South Blvd. Metra/CTA Viaduct at South Blvd. and Chicago Ave., 2018



Artist Anthony Lewellen poses in front of his 2018 mural on Church St.