Three Murals for College of Lake County Community Center in Waukegan, IL

Jason Messinger completes three mural commission for the College of Lake County Community Center in Waukegan, located at 34 N Sheridan Road, Waukegan, Illinois. The $100,000 commission was awarded by the Illinois Capital Development Board Art-in-Architecture Program. The project consists of 102 12" square hand made ceramic tiles with hand painted ceramic glazes, mounted on white maple frame supports, spread across three floors. 

 

The first mural, titled “Onomatopoeia / Onomatopeya”, depicts thirty-nine exclamatory words or phrases that are associated with sounds, and interjections that are similarly voiced.

 

Half the words are presented in Spanish and half in English, with a few words carrying the same meaning in each language, speaking directly speaking to the diverse student body. It is mounted in the lobby to the floor containing the school’s library, and the tutoring center. 

The mural, while primarily a visual experience, also attempts to activate the viewers' sense of hearing, by evoking the memory of sounds. 

 

“Sun Kissed” consists of thirty concentric circles, a symbol in global crafts, and in ancient, modern, and contemporary art. In many traditions, circles communicate unity, community, knowledge, healing, growth, wholeness, harmony and connection. 

The diagonal shape also obliquely references ‘Ojos de Dios’ or ‘God’s Eye’, a colorful symbol of protection, commonly found in Mexican, Peruvian, and Latin American communities among both Indigenous and Catholic peoples. 

The mural, while primarily a visual experience, also reminds the viewer of the physical sense of heat, by triggering memories of the sun’s warmth. 

 

“Blossoms” consists of a series of 33 stylized and abstracted flowers, located on the floor where nursing and medical administration courses are taught.

Flowers are part of humanity’s collective medical heritage, as botanicals were the original primary components of medicine. Bouquets of flowers are also a traditional gift for people in need of healing. Meant to present a joyful symbolic representation of the natural world, which is fundamental to our health and shared well-being.

This mural, while primarily a visual experience, also references the sense of smell, by tickling the mind with a memory of floral scents.  

 

Click for Jason Messinger interview with the College of Lake County.

 

This is the third major public art project for the artist, who also has five murals at the three station houses for the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line Illinois Medical District stop, and two murals at the Chicago Public Library Austin Irving Branch. The artist's work is also in numerous hotel, hospital and corporate settings in the United States, Europe and China, as well as in private collections across the globe. 

 

Dedication and Reception: On Wednesday March 20th, from 5 - 7pm, the College of Lake County Community Center First Year Anniversary event includes dedication of Jason Messinger's Art-in-Architecture commission tile murals with Q&A with the artist, as well as the announcement of the second phase of Art-in-Architecture Illinois artist acquisition grants. College of Lake County Community Center, Second Floor Library, 34 E Sheridan Road, Waukegan. IL.

 

Open Studios Event: On Friday March 22, from 6 - 10pm, and Saturday March 23, from 11am - 3pm, the artist's studio will be open to the public as part of a building wide Open House event at the Cornelia Arts Building, 1800 W Cornelia, Chicago IL. Free and open to the public.

https://www.corneliaartsbuilding.com/events/open-studios-march-2024/