Location: Lakeview-1025 W Belmont Ave, Chicago,IL 60657
Year(s): 2017
Participants: 15 [9th-12th graders]
Partner(s): Ward 44
Description: Inspired by the resplendent beauty of nature, this larger-than-life mural provides a splash of color and light alongside a sidewalk in Lakeview.
Location: Multiple
Year(s): 2017
Partner(s): iGrow, Earthheart Foundation, Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Peace Warriors of North Lawndale College Prep
Description: In 2016, Green Star Movement conceived of the Peace Panda Project, which would highlight the ways individuals and communities across Chicago promote tolerance, inclusivity, and non-violence, and then those efforts would be memorialized with permanent mini murals that installed in highly-visible areas in the city.
At the end of 2016, we fundraised for the Peace Panda Project and our generous supporters helped us surpass our goal.
Over the course of 2017, we solicited ideas from people and groups to develop themes for 8 Peace Pandas that were designed, created and then installed* in neighborhoods across the city.
Almost all 8 pandas now have homes around Chicago and represent the ideals of family, cooperation, sanctuary, contemplation, perseverance, hope, community, and compassion.
*Due to weather constraints, we will be installing the final two pandas in the spring of 2018.
Location: Woodlawn - 6154 S. Cottage Grove, Chicago IL 60637
Year(s): 2017
Partner(s): Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH)
Description: Our team completed a mirror-mosaic sculpture and tile-mosaic benches for the courtyard of an affordable housing complex in Woodlawn run by the Preservation of Affordable Housing Chicago. The designs for both the sculpture and the bench were inspired by traditional African imagery and patterns.
Location: South Chicago- 8050 S Chappel, Chicago IL 60617
Year(s): 2014-2017
Participants: 550 [4th-8th grade students]
Description: From 2014 to 2016, with the help of 4th-8th grade students from Mann Elementary, Green Star Movement completed murals that wrap around the school's exterior and brighten up the playground and cafeteria. In 2017, we completed the final phase of a 4-year project to wrap Mann Elementary with mosaic. The coup de grace was this 150 ft smoke stack that is covered in hot air balloons. The balloons' designs range from prominent African Americans such as Katherine Johnson of NASA and Thurgood Marshall of the Supreme Court to symbols of our community such as the Chicago flag and a cardinal, the state bird of Illinois.
Location: Andersonville - 1423 W Bryn Mawr Ave, Chicago IL 60660
Year(s): 2015-2019
Participants: 265 [4th-8th grade students]
Description: In 2015, Green Star Movement (GSM) and 15 students completed a mural of a world map and flags representing the US, Chicago, and Sweden, the country of origin for many of the neighborhood's settlers, bring flair to the entrance of this school for international studies.
In 2017, with the help of 250 wonderful Helen C. Peirce students, our team completed two garden-themed murals for the entrance and side areas of the school. The bees featured in the entry area were hand-sculpted by the students!
Location: North Lawndale - 1616 S Avers, Chicago IL 60623
Year(s): 2016
Participants: 150 [4th-8th grade students]
Partner(s): Openlands
Description: With the support and inspiration of our partner Openlands, one of the oldest metropolitan conservation organizations in the nation, our team worked with the students of Penn to create a mural that emphasizes the beauty and wonder of the natural world. One of the highlights of the mural is a diagram of the process of photosynthesis.
Location: Little Village - 2356 S Sawyer, Chicago IL 60623
Year(s): 2016, 2019
Participants: 30 [9th-12th grade students]
Partner(s): After School Matters
Description: Through a contest opened to nonprofits in the community in the fall of 2015, our After School Matters students selected Amor de Dios Church for their summer beautification project. The church is central to the community and serves its constituents not only as a place of worship but also as a community center and food pantry. So, the students designed the mural to reflect the culture and contributions of the church to the neighborhood residents by depicting a woman offering fresh food flanked by a mayan calendar-inspired sun, fruit tree, and flowers.
Location: Edgebrook - W Devon Ave and N Central Ave, Chicago IL 60646
Year(s): 2016
Participants: 15 [9th-12th grade students]
Partner(s): After School Matters
Description: Continuing our beautification of the Edgebrook neighborhood, we worked with students through After School Matters to enhance the community's main intersection with a mural that highlights Edgebrook's motto, "Gateway to the Forest."
Location: Back of the Yards - 4747 S Winchetser Ave, Chicago IL 60609
Year(s): 2014-2018
Participants: 120 [8th grade students]
Partner(s): After School Matters
Description: From 2014 to 2017, Green Star Movement (GSM) completed several murals on the north and west sides of the Hedges Elementary building as well as the interior hallways which honor the Mexican heritage of the neighborhood's residents.
In 2017, for the entrance of Hedges Elementary, our team installed two murals dedicated to the country of Mexico. On the right is a depiction of Mexico's national coat of arms and on the left, a Maya Jaguar Mask which represents nobility and power.
In 2018, we created a mural with a mix of Chicagoan symbols, and a feathered serpent, complete with a Chicano theme, this piece adorns the hallways of James Hedge's School. It celebrates the Chicano culture that is at the core of the school. That same year, we created an outdoor mural that pays tribute to four influential Latina women. They are trailblazers who have each used their voices to fight for under-represented groups of people; Rigoberta Menchu, Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz, Dolores Huerta, and Sonia Sotomayor
Location: Parkway Garden - 6311 S Calumet, Chicago IL 60637
Year(s): 2015-2016
Participants: 150 [4th-8th grade students]
Description: The first project at Dulles included two murals, one which promotes peace, innovation, and unity through a rainbow and flying doves. The second mural spices up the school's entrance with a cool geometric design. In our second year, the students worked on a mural which faces 63rd St and features images of two children set in a block pattern and the uplifting phrase, "We are the future!"
Location: Little Village - 2345 S Christiana Ave, Chicago IL 60623
Year(s): 2014-2016, 2019
Participants: 120 [9th-12th grade students]
Partner(s): After School Matters
Description: Over several years, GSM completed many murals at Farragut, including the front entrance, interior courtyard, and school library with themes ranging from city life to the solar system.
Location: 828 Main St, Evanston IL 60202
Year(s): 2016
Participants: 60 [4th-8th grade students]
Description: Green Star Movement worked with the students and staff of Park School, a self-contained special education school in Evanston, to create a mural that not only beautifies the school but also celebrates the memory of Lisa Weiland O'Brien, a well-loved social worked from the District who tragically passed away in 2013.
Green Star artists worked with Park teachers and the mural committee, comprised of staff, parents, district administrators, and a member of Lisa's family to conceive the design. It was decided that the theme for the mural would be based on Lisa's favorite quote from a story titled, "The Crayon Box that Talked," and will read. "We are like a box of crayons, each one of us unique. But when we come together, the picture is complete!"
Location: West Englewood - 1700 W 63rd St, Chicago, IL 60636
Year(s): 2016
Description: The building of Kiddie Steps 4 You Learning Center in Englewood, which provides childcare starting at 6 weeks, is now emblazoned with energizing images and inspirational messages for the students and community members in the surrounding neighborhood.
Location: Edgewater Beach - 5900 N Winthrop, Chicago IL 60660
Year(s): 2016
Participants: 30 [teens]
Partner(s): After School Matters
Description: GSM completed two projects at this school. The first faces the school's outdoor performance space on the east side of the building and blends Chicago imagery with representations of fine arts disciplines. The second mural, which is on the north side of the building and faces the school's playground, includes a shining sun, flowers, and silhouettes of children playing.
