In a race against time and redevelopment, the United Electrical Workers Union and the Chicago Public Art Group have rolled up their sleeves for a hefty mission: to rescue the “Solidarity” mural from a building that's destined to morph into apartments. The mural in question isn't your run-of-the-mill street art—it’s a labor of love by artists John Pitman Weber and the late Jose Guerrero, drawn up in 1973 and still reeking of historic significance within the walls of the Near West Side’s UE Hall at 37 S. Ashland Ave.
Depicting scenes stitched from the fabric of labor movements past, the sprawling 500 square-foot artwork wraps around the union hall, telling tales of the UE’s might and fight. But this mural doesn't want to budge without a fight, as some parts are plastered over support beams and hiding in tricky spots like above doorways and beneath stairwells, Block Club Chicago reports.
With the clock ticking and the redevelopment beast knocking, over $200,000 has been crowdfunded, driven by art supporters and the solidarity of the public. The cash will be dedicated to the painstaking process of detaching and moving the mural. "To be surrounded by the mural is just tremendously inspiring and empowering," Carl Rosen, the UE’s general president, told the Chicago Tribune. But as the United Electrical Workers union wraps up business and waves goodbye to their old haunt, plans to display the preserved chunks of the mural in their new home at the Chicago Teachers Union office have been unfurled. Rosen went on to say that the raised money would only cover about 75% of the mural’s removal.
Both the Chicago Public Art Group and UE are going great guns on an online crowdfunding campaign for the rest, looking to hit at least $10,000 to document the historical mural through photos, video, and lidar tech for 3D modeling shenanigans. "We will be able to use all of the funds raised through a crowd-sharing fund, and we’re going to need more," Rosen stated in an interview with Block Club Chicago.
Meanwhile, the artistic masterminds behind the mural spent a good year juggling stippling and brushing duties alongside their day jobs to capture the essence of union resilience. Though initially contracted for a mere $2,000 to meet supplies expenses, Weber finds the current budget to preserve a section of their work "mind-blowing." The clock's ticking, and the conservators have their work cut out for them, as they meticulously slice away at history to be hoisted and cherished anew at UE's future domicile.
