05/02/2022
Today's 'Mural Monday' features the first mural ever commissioned by the Skokie Public Arts Advisory Committee, the Lauren Asta mural located at 4517 Oakton St.
Lauren Asta is a San Francisco artist specializing in illustration, oddity art, doodle art, street art and murals. Her murals are all hand painted without any aid of a sketch, projector, or traced outlined. She works completely free hand.
The goal of the mural project was to promote artistic talent and engage the community by turning empty walls into public canvases thus having a lasting effect on local neighborhoods. The Miishkooki mural took about two weeks to create during October and November of 2016. The fact that the Miishkooki Art Space is located on a busy street of both foot traffic and car traffic, meant a lot of people seeing the growth of the mural from start to finish. By the third day, much of the neighborhood had approached Asta and asked what she was doing? Many returned on a daily basis to ask more curious questions about art, Asta's process, why she was doing this and to take pictures.
For Asta, it is an opportunity to educate and expose the public to something they maybe aren't too familiar with, or have ever even had a chance to be in proximity of. Asta said it was exciting to see people get excited and become alive from something new and different. A finished mural for Asta is always a beautiful thing, but the conversations it creates and the community it builds through connections and relationships is always her desired result. Humans can experience art by letting it move them from the everyday into the world of endless possibilities.
