Title:  Our Neighborhood


Site:  1026 W. Buena Avenue, Chicago


Artists:  Kathryn Kozan


Assistant: Eduardo Maravilla, Lou Prete, and Ed Trenn


Community Participants: Neighborhood youths


Sponsors:  Chicago Mural Group


Year:  1984


Scale:  30 x 25 feet


Materials:  Keim silicate-based paint on masonry


Information:  Combining trompe l’oeil technique with figurative painting, the style of architecture pictured in this mural is borrowed from the surrounding St. Mary of the Lake church and school buildings. A massive tree framed in an open archway represents the neighborhood as a living thing that can grow and change, yet must also be nurtured and cared for in order to blossom and bear fruit. Nestled in the branches are a view of the neighborhood, a Cheshire cat, and other symbolic elements. At the base of the tree, neighborhood children frolic as a lion and a lamb lie down together.