Activists call Aurora 'Blues Mural' a 'slap in the face'
Two "concerned community activists" are unhappy with plans to mount a mural on the side of a historic building in downtown Aurora, saying it wasn't painted by local artists and doesn't represent the city or its blues music history.
Jim Schweizer and David Lewis both dislike the "Blues Mural," with Lewis calling it a "slap in the face" to local artists. Both men attended Tuesday's city council meeting, but neither addressed the council.
Council members, meanwhile, approved a plan to mount the painting on the Silverplate Building at 6 E. Downer Place. Placing the painting on the building could cost between $3,000 and $5,000, Director of Community Relations Clayton Muhammad said, and the city is seeking quotes.
The city bought the mural for $2,000 in 2008 and it has been in storage ever since.
The patchwork-like painting was created by a group of international artists as part of the 2008 Salon Forever event in Aurora. The event has since taken place in cities in Denmark, Italy, France and Russia.
Schweizer, a photographer and member of the city's Preservation Commission who administers a Facebook page called "Aurora, IL - Then and Now," questioned why the painting features a stingray, a five-layer cake, a hamburger, and a macaroni and cheese box.
A news release from the city Tuesday noted that the mural contains several images linked to Aurora: the city's logo, the Paramount Theatre, the New York Street Bridge, City Father Samuel McCarty, the Hobbs Building, Wayne and Garth from the movie "Wayne's World," Walter Payton (who ran a restaurant in Aurora), a Caterpillar tractor and a Blues Alley street sign. Capital letters across the top read "Aurora Blues Festival."
The Salon Forever event was headed by Patrick Kirwin of Alexandria, Virginia. Kirwin is a former instructor at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and a specialist in murals.
"The Salon Forever event was very cool. I was there," said Lewis, who helped bring a downtown ArtWalk to the city. "People from all over the world were there. They were random people doing random things, and it was fun. None of them had been to Aurora before and they were all given a square to paint (that became part of the mural).
"I'm glad we did it, but I don't want to spend money to put it on the front wall of the city's living room. It's like your child's artwork. They bring it home from grade school and you put it up on your refrigerator for a few days, but you don't hang it up in your living room."
Schweizer questioned whether "The Blues Mural" really is a mural at all. "When you look at what a mural is, it is a painting applied directly to the masonry of a wall," Schweizer said, adding that he also believes a mural is "something local artists produce and create that engages the community on issues of the day.
"The issue with this is that there was no community engagement. Collaborative painting was not done by local artists."
Lewis and Schweizer also have a problem with the way a recent amendment that allows murals in a portion of the city's downtown was crafted and approved.
The men say they decided not to speak Tuesday because it was a "done deal" by the time the public comments portion of the meeting came up.
"Some people talked to their aldermen, but nobody at the city council meeting said, 'Let's take this off the consent agenda and have a discussion on it,'" Schweizer said.
"It's too late to change this," Lewis said. "But I'm hopeful we can change the process and the system so there can be communication, collaboration and coordination between the city and the arts communities."