Chicago Public Art Group

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Chicago Public Art Group

The CPAG mission is to unite artists and communities in partnership to produce high quality public a

05/05/2026

Chicago’s history lives through what we choose to preserve.

The historic UE Solidarity Mural, a landmark 1973–74 work by John Pitman Weber and José Guerrero, stands as a powerful record of labor, collective action, and the enduring fight for worker dignity.

Restoring this mural is about more than conservation. It’s about protecting cultural memory, honoring the movements that shaped this city, and ensuring that vital public history remains visible for future generations.

In a moment when so much history risks being forgotten or erased, returning this work to public view is an act of preservation, remembrance, and continued solidarity.

Help restore the UE Solidarity Mural and bring this vital piece of Chicago’s cultural legacy back into public view at Chicago Teachers Union.

Link in bio.

Support partially made possible by Mellon Foundation, Illinois Arts Council, and Alphawood Foundation.

MuralRestoration CTU ChicagoTeachersUnion

04/22/2026

At North Avenue Beach, L*D, Lasalle Drive underpass, with Lincoln Park Conservancy.

Day Into Night by Cheri Lee Charlton, rooted in the local flora and fauna of this region.

A space people move through constantly, now asking for a second of pause.

Grateful to everyone who brought it to life.

Support ongoing care of the mural, link in bio.

04/16/2026

Join us for the unveiling of Day Into Night
April 21 · 4:30–5:30pm
North Ave & LaSalle

A new mural by Cheri Lee Charlton, created with Lincoln Park Conservancy and Chicago Public Art Group.

Open to all. Come see it revealed, meet the people behind it, and be part of the moment.

Please RSVP if you plan to attend. Space is limited and we’ll follow up with details for parking and arrival.

Link in bio.

03/17/2026

GLORY! GLORY! In celebration of Women's History Month, PIGMENT International is gathering artists, curators, and cultural advocates to reclaim history.

Join us at the Zhou B Art Center this Friday, March 20th from 7-9pm CST. Register via Evenbrite.

This Pigment Salon Talk, titled "Women of the Wall," is a public conversation reflecting on the women connected to the historic Chicago mural movement sparked by the Wall of Respect. The program coincides with the approaching 60th anniversary of the mural widely recognized as the catalyst for the community mural movement in the United States.

Speakers include our very own CPAG ADirector Janice Bond and artist & board member Dorian Sylvain. See you there!

02/28/2026

Honoring Amanda Williams (b. 1970)

Amanda Williams changed the way people look at the city.

She started with South Side houses marked for demolition and painted them in colors pulled straight from everyday life. Newport packs. Luster’s pink. Ultra Sheen. Flaming red Hots. Harold’s Chicken Shack. People knew exactly where those colors came from.

The work showed that neighborhoods already have their own visual language if you pay attention.

For Black History Month, we’re honoring artists like Williams whose work grows directly out of the places people live.

02/27/2026

We are spotlighting EAC cofounder and artist JoVonna Jackson. JoVonna is a mosaicist, ceramic muralist, and knitter from Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. Her works include indoor and outdoor mosaic creations to medium-sized ceramic sculptures and handmade ceramic jewelry. The content of her pieces varies from abstract to nature to love and relationships and increasing self-love and peace.
JoVonna recently completed a residency with the Shedd Aquarium. Her goal is to continue this practice and allow the community to continue to have these outlets.

Part of EAC’s Ten Toes Down Exhibition here at Gallery CPAG.

02/26/2026

Honoring Eugene Eda Wade (1939–2021)

Eugene Eda Wade helped shape the early history of public mural art in Chicago.

He worked on the Wall of Respect and went on to create murals across the city, including the painted doors at Malcolm X College that thousands of students walked past every day.

He believed art should belong to everyday people, and he spent decades making work in public and teaching others to do the same.

For Black History Month, we’re honoring artists like Wade whose work helped define what community-based public art looks like in Chicago.

02/25/2026

Honoring Hebru Brantley (b. 1981)

People recognize the characters before they even know his name.

Goggles. Flight helmets. Kids who look like they stepped out of a story but show up on real walls. Hebru Brantley built a whole visual world around them, and it’s spread far beyond Chicago.

The work moves between murals, paintings, sculpture, and public space. The feeling stays the same. Familiar, a little mythical.

Chicago has a few artists whose work becomes part of the landscape. Hebru is one of them.

For Black History Month, we’re honoring artists like Brantley whose work has become part of how Chicago looks and feels.

02/24/2026

Honoring Simone Leigh

Simone Leigh has changed what contemporary sculpture looks like.

Her work brings Black women fully into the center, at the kind of scale usually reserved for monuments and history. Ceramic and bronze figures that feel grounded and permanent, work that holds its own in public space.

In 2022 she became the first Black woman to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale. That moment marked how far the work has reached.

For Black History Month, we’re honoring artists like Leigh whose work expands who is represented in public space and what that presence looks like.

02/23/2026

Honoring Vanessa German

Vanessa German’s sculptures feel like they’ve been through something. They’re layered with beads, fabric, found objects, pieces of language. Nothing is minimal. Nothing is smoothed over.

The figures stand upright. Dense. Present. She doesn’t separate art from community work. Or poetry. Or care. It’s all the same practice.

For Black History Month, we’re honoring artists whose work carries weight and lets it stay visible.

Address

3314 S. Morgan Street
Chicago, IL
60608

Telephone

+13124272724

Website

http://www.chicagopublicartgroup.org/

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