Winnetka mothers and daughters want to beautify underpass

Local members of a charitable organization powered by mothers and daughters are just a bit closer to being able to create a flora- and fauna-themed mural on a local railway underpass, after the group painted a picture of their proposal to Winnetka Village Board members Tuesday night. 

Student members of the Winnetka chapter of Texas-based National Charity League, told the board they want to partner with the village and hope to work with an Evanston artist to create their mural on either the Oak Street or Elm Street underpass.

They said the project will celebrate the Green Bay Trail and its native plant and animal life while helping beautify the village, and draw local and tourists into walking on the trail. 

Although the Jan. 21 presentation was conceptual — the group must return with the project after taking board concerns into consideration, then head to the village’s Design Review Board before coming to the board a third time for final approval — nearly every elected official liked what they saw and heard.

Trustees did want to explore how to regulate murals in order to prevent projects with specific messages, or murals proliferating across other village locations. 

“My concern is that we need to put some guardrails around this from standpoint that we want to protect against others who might come in and say, ‘We want to put certain messages’,” Trustee Rob Apatoff said, even as he told students that their proposal was “cool” and non-precedent setting.

Trustees Bridget Orsic and Tina Dalman both praised the idea of painting the trail’s native fauna and flora, and they liked the philanthropic message of National Charity League, as well as the way the group allows mothers and daughters to work together on charitable projects.

“I think this is fabulous. I like the renderings focusing on flora and fauna, and the focus on restoration,” Dalman said, adding that it was “a great way to memorialize all the volunteer hours that people are putting into the beautification of the trail.”

She also said, “The hope is, if it needs to be maintained over the years, there will be generations of girls coming in behind you to help maintain it and keep it beautiful.”

The Winnetka chapter will maintain the mural, presenters said. 

Dalman hoped the group would get quick approval from Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the tracks and underpasses. That’s necessary before students can begin painting the mural, which they would like to do in late summer this year.  

Trustee Scott Myers liked the project as well, but noted the potential mural locations are highly trafficked areas; although Winnetka doesn’t have a problem with graffiti, a mural could be tempting to would-be taggers, he said, so using a sealant of some kind on the finished art could make it easier to clean should tagging happen. 

Molly Agnew, a junior at New Trier High School, assured board members that the chapter will raise all the funds necessary to create the mural and told them project organizers had checked with Union Pacific about its regulations. Railroad officials prohibit political messages in art and murals, she said. 

Trustee Kim Handler was the only trustee opposed to the project, saying that she would prefer a project that used the village’s existing natural resources, such as the lakefront or Winnetka’s tree canopy rather than painting an underpass. Such murals are used by communities “that don’t have what we have,” she said before warning that art projects can generate strong feelings. 

“We’ve had art installations in town that were quite polarizing and ended up being removed,” she said.
“The reality is art is sort of personal. There will be people that love this and hate this. I’d hate to have you girls be subject to anything like that because you girls have put a lot of work in it.”

In 2018, the then-trustees approved an ordinance with regulations for art in public spaces, like parkways and public parks, following controversy over art placed by a real estate company along Lincoln Avenue. One of the most controversial, nicknamed “The Big Guy,” was sent to the company’s property in Florida, along with another of the pieces.  

As currently planned, the project would proceed with a four-phase mural approval involving the village and Union Pacific, followed by four steps: raise money from local families and businesses to cover costs, work with the artist to create a stencil on which to base the painting, organize painting volunteers, and complete the work. Volunteers will come from 215 mothers and daughters in seventh through 12th grades, according to project presenters.

Information about the proposed mural project is available in the Village Board’s Jan. 20 agenda packet. 

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