owl

There is a new (to me?) mural in the nearly mile-long section of murals of Hubbard St. in Chicago's River West neighborhood.  I need to review my photos (as I've been documenting the murals for years now) but this may be where a previous one was sadly (but necessary) removed due to construction work the UP did to reinforce their tracks above.  Usually, however, the artist signs their work toward the bottom of the mural, but I did not see one here.  It may be related (a tribute?) to a recently deceased street artist, Brooks Golden, who used owls quite frequently in his work.

There is a new (to me?) mural in the nearly mile-long section of murals of Hubbard St. in Chicago’s River West neighborhood. I need to review my photos (as I’ve been documenting the murals for years now) but this may be where a previous one was sadly (but necessary) removed due to construction work the UP did to reinforce their tracks above. Usually, however, the artist signs their work toward the bottom of the mural, but I did not see one here. It may be related (a tribute?) to a recently deceased street artist, Brooks Golden, who used owls quite frequently in his work.

5 Comments

  1. I am one of the artists whose mural was completed in the Hubbard Street Murals. In April of 2005 City at Work invited artist to submit artwork for the Murals to be completed that year. My submission was accepted and in June 2005 I started painting a Mural. My mural depicts a group of Sea Lions on a Rock.

    Since then I follow the updates for this project. The Owl in the picture is endangered Arizona Pygmy Owl painted by Artist Ricardo Alonzo of Arizona, and Doyle Sutton of Missouri.

    Alonzo who lived in Chicago was in charge of the mural project on Hubbard starting in 1971 and returns occasionally to paint. Please refer to this link for more info and a picture of the artists working on this great mural: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-trb-mural-20140420,0,5285...

    • Carolina, Thank you so much for posting this. I am continually fascinated by the murals along Hubbard St. and greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the art and the artists.

  2. Our Public Art Chicago office is just 2 blocks away from the HSMP. I’ve been slowly documenting it as I’ve had time. I got a wonderful and thorough tour of most of the murals by Anne Marie Harm and Chris Thiel some months ago. My plan is to follow up on that with a thorough accounting of the murals.

    You will see some of the mural panels showing up on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/PublicArtCHI) and on Instagram (publicartchi) every now and again.

    Our project – a very long-term one – is in the business of identifying, describing, and mapping all of Chicago’s 5,000 public art objects – sculpture, paintings, murals, mosaics, facade reliefs, etc. – in detail. We plan to publish very powerful and sophisticated free apps (iOS and Android) guiding people through the art, as well as a dynamic and interactive web site. The data we gather (there is already a lot) will ultimately be available for information and study by the general public via our web site, which will have a complete map. The apps and the web site will allow fine-tuned filtering by such things as date range, style, medium, neighborhood or geo-location, artist, and other such criteria.

    So please be on the lookout for our work. It’s taking far more time than I had hoped because funding is slow and difficult to come by. Shameless plug: note the “Donate” button on our Facebook page and on our web site. Even if you can’t donate (or donate a lot), please tell your friends!

  3. The Pygmy Owl now on the endangered list in Arizona, was painted on “Earth Day” April 17-12
    on Hubbard Street in Chicago. Ricardo S. Alonzo and his family came to Chicago to paint and
    help save the Pygmy Owl. Please Read (Genesis 1:28) This is the story about Hubbard Street Murals.

  4. The Pygmy Owl now on the endangered list in Arizona, was painted on “Earth Day” April 17-12 2015 on Hubbard Street in Chicago. Ricardo S. Alonzo and his family came to Chicago to paint and help save the Pygmy Owl. Please Read (Genesis 1:28) This is the story about Hubbard Street Murals.

Comments are closed.