This week I prepared and gave a presentation to the students about the history of murals in Chicago. I focused on the Wall of Respect, William Walker, Calvin Jones and Mitchell Caton, and Marcus Akinlana, as well as the continued efforts of the Chicago Public Art Group. At the end of the presentation, the students and I discussed ways that the murals we viewed and the processes behind making them might be able to inform the mural at Dyett. The students were interested in the collaboration involved in the Wall of Respect and the works by Calvin Jones and Mitchell Caton, especially the way that, in each collaboration, the artists played off of their own and each others' strengths to create a cohesive piece. One student was excited to recognize two of the pieces discussed ("The Great Migration" by Marcus Akinlana and "Another Time's Voice Remember's My Passion's Humanity" by Jones and Caton) as murals he had seen before at Elliot Donnelley Youth Center in Bronzeville.
Hours: 6