Things are getting a bit more colorful in East Dundee as Elgin artist Kathryn Eli tranforms an east side wall of village hall into the town’s second public mural.
“We like that what Kathryn came up with looks historic, with a modern twist,” said village board Trustee Tricia Saviano, who heads the East Dundee Arts Council. “That’s our town, too.”
The image she’s painting features flowers, trees, dragonflies, butterflies and bees in a style inspired by stained glass, Eli said.
“It has playful panes of color,” she said. “I also was inspired by details in the building’s existing architecture. Its structures and what I incorporate in my work speak of each other.”
Eli, who has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, said her first foray into mural and window painting was in 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was asked by a Chicago business owner to liven up her establishment by painting images on its windows, she said.
Since then, Eli has done the same to the windows of dozens of businesses, including some in Elgin, East and West Dundee, and Cary, she said. She’s also created about a dozen murals.
In fact, her temporary mural — an abstract image of a face — adorned the plywood covering an East Dundee storefront at 315 4th St. two years ago as it was being converted into Spartan Axe Throwing.
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That caught the eye of Andy Sauder, an East Dundee trustee and arts council member, as did images Eli painted on windows for local businesses, he said. He kept it in the back of his mind as the council worked to find a wall for the town’s second mural, he said.
The first was done in July 2023 by Maddie Deiters from downstate Marion, who painted a Fox River-inspired mural on the side of Great Spirit Hardwoods at Jackson and North River streets in the downtown district.
“We wanted to use a local artist,” Sauder said. “Our first was from Illinois, but this time she’s very local, even closer.”
The new mural is being going up on the side of village hall at Third Street and Barrington Avenue rather than on the facade of another business is because the village’s original choice for a location fell through at the last minute, he said.
Not wanting to wait until next year, the board switched gears and used one of the village’s own buildings, Sauder said. The budget for the project is $8,900.
Eli’s nature-themed work would complement the board’s tentative plan to install a small native plant garden on land currently occupied by six parking spaces at the village hall/police station building, Sauder said.
Under the proposal, Third Street would be converted into a one-way thoroughfare where more parking spaces would be available, he said. There’s been no vote on the concept yet, and it’s not likely to be reviewed and voted on until sometime in 2025, he said.
The garden also would provide an example of what residents can do with their own landscaping if they want to use native plants, Sauder said.
“The garden will be the front lawn of village hall. … It will be a pleasant, sanctuary spot, pleasant and inviting,” he said.
To take a look at Eli’s work, go to www.instagram.com/kateraaade/?igsh=eGVjYzJncTl3bXIx.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.