East Dundee’s village hall is getting a new look.
Elgin artist Kathryn Eli has already started transforming the eastern exterior wall at village hall into a stained glass-inspired mural paying homage to a variety of native flowers. The mural eventually will serve as a backdrop to improvements along Third Street that will include turning the small parking area in front of the mural into a green space with native plantings.
“We’re excited to see how the blending and the colors turn out once it is finished,” said East Dundee Trustee Andy Sauder, who also is a member of the village’s arts council.
Eli started work on the mural Thursday and hopes to finish it within two weeks. Sauder noted that people have stopped to admire the work as it progresses.
“It seems like people are pretty excited about it,” he said, noting during one of his recent stops a motorist passing by honked the horn and yelled out “Thank you.”
Eli is no stranger to creating works of art in the Dundee area. Her artwork has been featured on the windows of local businesses, such as Payroll Vault and Motl Accounting, along Route 72 in West Dundee.
Elgin artist Kathryn Eli said she’s looking forward to painting the insect wings in her mural because they naturally lend themselves to a stained glass look.
Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
“We love Kathryn’s designs and have been very excited to have her art in a more permanent fashion in our town,” said East Dundee Trustee Tricia Saviano, who also chairs the village’s arts council.
Eli’s mural is the second commissioned by the East Dundee Arts Council. A mural at 7 N. Jackson St. offering a unique view of the Fox River was completed last summer as the village’s first mural.
Eli’s said the stained glass inspiration came from the structure of village hall with columns along the eastern wall and windows in each section. Her design features a few twists, such as a tree that will help camouflage an employee entrance door and play off a canopy over the door.
A rendering of the mural offers a glimpse of what East Dundee’s second mural will look like. The tree in the mural camouflages an employee entrance.
Courtesy of Kathryn Eli
The mural also features a skyline — a nod to East Dundee’s former logo. An “Eli bird” — one of Eli’s signature marks in her artwork — also is featured in the mural. She said she’s especially excited to paint the wings on the insects — a couple of dragonflies, a butterfly and a bumblebee — because they naturally lend themselves to a stained glass look.
She’s excited to have the mural as part of an initiative to encourage residents to incorporate native plantings into their landscaping to help with flood control, support pollinators and aid in flood control.
“I hope that the mural will invite people to come take a closer look and play a part in more awareness … while being a beautiful installment for people to enjoy,” she said.
Sauder said the village plans to host an unveiling for the mural once it is complete. A date and time will be selected as the mural’s completion date nears.
