In Evanston/Skokie School District 65’s new mural, five children wander down a forest path, hand-in-hand. With their backs to the viewer, they leave behind the deep mossy greens of the mural’s foreground and enter a golden glow of light.
D65 officials dedicated the new mural, “Into Their Own Light,” at Monday night’s school board meeting. Evanston resident Paul Barker painted the piece and Communications Director Pat Markham and her husband Ken funded it. The mural adds color to the once blank space above the foyer at the Joseph E. Hill Education Center, 1500 McDaniel Ave., welcoming anyone who enters the building. The blurry borders surrounding the five children, one of whom was modeled after Markham’s 9-year-old granddaughter Eden, add a sense of fantasy to the scene.
“I’ve always enjoyed walking through that door in the morning,” Markham said. “Now when I come in I also get to stop and look up and smile at the children who are walking in their own light, and I smile because one of those children is someone very near and dear to me.”
The JEH Education Center houses several early childhood education programs, but also serves as its administrative office. Haven Middle School art teacher Denise Taylor said she’s happy the administrators will pass the mural regularly.
“What I like about it is that when they walk in the building, they are faced with what it’s all about,” she said. “It’s a good reminder for the administrators who aren’t in a classroom every day.”
Barker donated a mural, Evanston 2020, to Haven in February. Evanston 2020 showcased what the intersection at Custer Avenue and Main Street would look like in 10 years in a truly eco-friendly world. Barker, who has painted for twenty years, said Into their Own Light expressed more “raw emotion” in comparison to the intellectual content highlighted in his last D65 mural.
Superintendent Hardy Murphy said he wants Barker to expand the mural to cover the walls of the entire entryway, but needs donations to make that a reality. He will be sending letters to community and art leaders to encourage them to donate.
“If we have enough people who are willing to help us, we can turn this entire foyer here into a story about the children of Evanston,” Murphy said. “I can’t think of a grander vision to have.”[email protected]
