Percy Julian Junior High School: Spears Mural – Oak Park IL

City:
Oak Park, IL

Site Type:
Art Works, Murals

New Deal Agencies:
Arts Programs, Work Relief Programs, Federal Arts Project (FAP), Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Completed:
1937

Artist:
Ethel Spears

Description

This oil on canvas mural “Child and Sports–Winter” measures 16’10” by 6’2.” It was painted by Ethel Spears in 1937 with WPA Federal Art Project funding. The mural was originally at the Lowell School in Oak Park. Its companion piece, ‘Child and Sports–Summer,’ is now located at the Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School.

Location Info


416 S. Ridgeland Avenue
Oak Park, IL 60302
Cook County

Location notes: Cafeteria

Coordinates: 41.881113, -87.78389

Site Details

created on last modified on

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4 comments on “Percy Julian Junior High School: Spears Mural – Oak Park IL

  1. It has been removed from school, basically too many white kids on this mural. It is scandal!!!

  2. Ernest Everett Blevins

    I see someone already commented on the news of its removal. Here’s the article I saw about it.
    “Historic WPA mural featuring only white children removed from Oak Park school,” Chicago Sun-Times, 04/15/2019, 08:12pm
    https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/wpa-mural-white-children-removed-oak-park-school-diversity/

  3. Looks like it was a beautiful mural. Stress on ‘was.’ Makes me physically ill to think it was there that long and is lost forever.

  4. So now I see it’s actually been removed to storage. I wonder where it’ll end up? Still stupid to remove it. Hopefully it’ll end up somewhere it’ll be appreciated.

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4 comments on “Percy Julian Junior High School: Spears Mural – Oak Park IL

  1. It has been removed from school, basically too many white kids on this mural. It is scandal!!!

  2. Ernest Everett Blevins

    I see someone already commented on the news of its removal. Here’s the article I saw about it.
    “Historic WPA mural featuring only white children removed from Oak Park school,” Chicago Sun-Times, 04/15/2019, 08:12pm
    https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/wpa-mural-white-children-removed-oak-park-school-diversity/

  3. Looks like it was a beautiful mural. Stress on ‘was.’ Makes me physically ill to think it was there that long and is lost forever.

  4. So now I see it’s actually been removed to storage. I wonder where it’ll end up? Still stupid to remove it. Hopefully it’ll end up somewhere it’ll be appreciated.

Join the Conversation

Please note:

  • We are not involved in the management of New Deal sites and have no information about visits, hours or rentals.
  • This page shows all the information we have for this site; if you have new information or photos to share, click the button above.

Your email address will not be published, shared, or sold.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.