New Rogers Park mural shows a “Community in Bloom”

The wall at 1441 W. Morse Ave. used to be one of the city’s decrepit, nondescript facades of crumbling brick and peeling brown paint. With the help of Chicago-based artist Ryan Tova Katz, the building took on a new life, adorned with an expansive mural depicting a cherished local tradition — the Glenwood Sunday Market.

Katz titled the mural “Community in Bloom,” which features a large “#LoveRogersPark” above vibrant flowers lining a brick street, upon which many colorful figures stroll a market. Painted patrons include a man smiling up to the sky, holding a bouquet and a vendor surrounded by a rainbow of goods. 

In the middle is Katz herself, smiling wide and holding flowers in her right hand and her son Milo’s hand in her left.

“It was just really about showing the diverse neighborhood of Rogers Park,” Katz said. “So I tried to show as many ages and skin tones and clothing choices as I possibly could in this one, and just the joy that Rogers Park is.”

The mural was originally commissioned in April 2023 by Barrington Hills resident Peter Lazzari, a retired emergency room doctor and Loyola alumnus. Lazzari and his wife Leah Collister, who run Sweet Home Properties, owned the property at 1414 W. Pratt Blvd., where the mural was originally intended for.

“We wanted a way of capturing the pulse of life of Rogers Park,” Lazzari said. “The Sunday market struck me because it’s a great place where the community gathers together. It’s colorful and interesting and fun, and we wanted to put that on a wall and show it to everybody else who’s visiting or who lives in the community.”

Lazzari chose Katz after an extensive search of Chicago artists, for her distinguishing vibrant style. 

“Ryan’s work was colorful — it was sometimes whimsical,” Lazzari said. “ It would tell a story, you know, just by looking at it.”

To get inspiration for the mural, Katz, who currently resides in Roscoe Village, visited the market for several weeks to meet locals and take pictures for potential use.

“I completely fell in love with Rogers Park at that market,” Katz said. “Everybody was just so unbelievably kind and excited, and it was just such a diverse community that it was very easy to take a picture of every kind of human that exists.”

Katz, 41, said she’s been enjoying more creative freedom with her murals recently. Beginning as an artist who would paint murals as payment for places to stay, Katz said she’s found her niche in painting whimsical scenarios full of diversity.

After visiting the market, Katz sent the images to Lazzari and Collister. The pair selected the picture of Katz and her son, which was taken by her daughter, Aveline.

“It was a nice sense of two people sharing a moment,” Lazzari said. “I thought, ‘What an opportunity for her to capture something for herself, and for her son, and still reflect two people enjoying a moment between themselves, in the context of the market and of the community.’”

The mural was scheduled to be completed in spring 2024, but the original building was sold during that time, putting the mural in limbo.

The Rogers Park Business Alliance, who had been facilitating the project, got in contact with Katz, and relocated the mural to its final home as the area was easier to fund. 

“We think that it showcases the diverse community that we have in Rogers Park,” Sandi Price, Executive Director of Rogers Park Business Alliance said. “Coming together at the Glenwood Sunday Market has become a gathering place in Rogers Park every Sunday in the summertime.”

While painting, Katz said she felt an immense sense of support and gratitude from the community.

“People would drop off Gatorades for us, the buses would honk when they drove by and wave at us.” Katz said. “I mean, literally, everybody reached out. There were so many good memories with this mural.”

Production of the mural began Sept. 23, near the end of Katz’s spring-fall mural season, and was finished ten days later.

“It was a wonderful way to end the year,” Katz said.