Liz Flores
Chicago, Illinois
I have been an artist/muralist in Chicago for 9 years. In my time creating art around the city I’ve been fortunate to work on a few projects that had community involvement. I collaborated with the Chicago Bulls and a non profit called The Miracle Center to create a basketball court design for the center which is located in a primarily Latinx neighborhood in Chicago. The design process involved working with members of the non profit to ensure it celebrated the center and the people in the community they serve.
In October of 2023 I also worked with the Michael Jordan brand, specifically the Jordan Women’s Collective. We worked with Westcott Elementary, a school on the Southside of Chicago, and their 8th grade class to create a school mural located in a prominent position of the school - the entrance of the gym. The theme of the mural was “Dream Big” and myself and the women's collective met with the 8th grade classes to discuss the mural theme. We had them write their hopes and dreams as they enter high school which would serve as the inspiration for the art. On the second to last day of painting at the school the 8th graders were invited to paint with me and help me finish the mural. It was a wonderful way to showcase students’ dreams and have the 8th grade class leave behind a legacy piece of art.
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I would begin the workshop with a very brief overview of my past mural work and talk about my approach to murals to get creative wheels turning. I find it’s helpful if folks can see past artwork so they can get a feel of what to expect which helps with Brainstorming.
Then going into a roundtable discussion to ask community members questions such as:
Briefly describe what makes you feel connected to the Berwyn community
What are some things that you feel make the Latinx community unique?
Are there specific local elements that should be incorporated?
Can you share 3 words you would use to describe your experience living in Berwyn?
Are there any traditions of the Latinx/o/e community that should be represented?
Are there any other ideas or concepts would you like to see incorporated in the mural?
If some of the questions above are stalled, or people are unsure of what to say, I would have some example answers to help. The main point of the questions would be to encourage community members to share important themes, cultural symbols, or stories they may want depicted in the mural.
Workshops would occur at accessible locations like a local library, community center, or school.
Once workshops are complete, I would use input from the community to create a mural design for review and approval. Once the mural painting begins we could designate certain days as community paint days where folks can come help. I definitely recommend making sure we have a few days after community paint days to clean up the mural before a final unveiling.
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I have led a few workshops mainly involving children and teens creating murals together. Specifically, in 2023 I worked with the Jordan Women’s Collective and Westcott Elementary. The theme of the mural was “Dream Big” and myself and the women's collective met with the 8th grade classes to discuss the mural theme. We had them write their hopes and dreams as they entered high school which would serve as the inspiration for the art. On the second to last day of painting at the school the 8th
graders were invited to paint with me and help me finish the mural. It was a wonderful way to showcase students’ dreams and have the 8th grade class leave behind a legacy piece of art. The result was a completed mural at the end of the week that students helped me complete and parents could come see what students had been working on.
The year before I worked with art students at Acero Victoria Soto, a high school on the Southside of Chicago. I led an art class with students where I presented my work, talked about abstraction and contemporary art and then students created abstract artwork of important things in their lives. For example, someone created a paletta design. I took these drawings and compiled them with my work to create a cohesive mural. Students helped me paint throughout the week and the end result was a completed mural at the end of the school week and a few students that felt inspired to keep pursuing creative pursuits after high school.