The best is yet to come: East Dundee enlists community help for third mural
Local artists and East Dundee residents are turning a wooden fence in the downtown district into a reminder of the transformation to come.
The village’s third mural, located along Railroad Street, will include a panel painted by residents. When complete, the 140-foot-long mural will feature seven panels — six painted by area artists and a seventh outlined by artists and painted by residents.
On Saturday, residents will paint a vintage comic strip-style panel that pays tribute to East Dundee’s past and future. Elgin Artist Kathryn Eli outlined the design.
“It’s going to be a really excellent event for community engagement,” said Eli, who is heading the project and painting one of the panels. “We all feel extremely grateful to be able to be part of this project and to share art with a community that has shown that they really appreciate it.”
For several weeks, the wooden fence stood with the phrase “the best is yet to come” as a hint of the mural and a reminder to residents about the anticipated transformation of the former lumberyard adjacent to the fence. Though the phrase is covered as artists finish their painting, it will be included in the finished project, Eli said.
Work on the mural started last week, and it should be complete after the community paint day on Saturday, said East Dundee Trustee Andy Sauder, who co-chairs the East Dundee Arts Council.
In addition to Eli, the latest mural features the work of Elgin artists Javi Azuna and Cristina Colunga, Alisa Duda of Rolling Meadows, Karl Jahnke of Crystal Lake, and South Elgin High School graduate Kamiya Cole.
“I’m very excited about this one because it introduces six different artists at once,” Sauder said.
“There’s been so much positive feedback,” said East Dundee Trustee Tricia Saviano, who also co-chairs the arts council.
Eli’s work is not new to East Dundee. Last year, she painted the village’s second mural, transforming an exterior wall at village hall into a stained glass-inspired design that pays tribute to a variety of native flowers.
In 2023, the East Dundee Arts Council started commissioning murals for the downtown district. The first was a mural at 7 N. Jackson St. that offers a unique view of the Fox River.
The latest mural is being painted on panels that can be removed when the fence eventually is demolished to make way for new development, Sauder said.
Future homes for each panel are yet to be determined. But Sauder suggested potential locations could include the village’s new downtown parking deck or a possible satellite location for the Raue Performing Arts Center.