In a new Lake View mural, Laura Junge uses a “skywriting Chicago rat” to help spread word of the need to do better by our climate and environment.
Piloting a single-propeller plane bearing the stars of Chicago’s flag, the rodent, wearing goggles in an open cockpit, is spelling out “Save Our Planet” in the sky.
Below, a hand holds a globe, two dogs and a rabbit staring at a thermometer with mercury about to burst from the heat.
The hand is that of the Chicago artist’s version of Mother Nature, who emerges from the sea, surrounded by an octopus, seahorses and a hummingbird.
Junge says she was taking “a lighthearted approach that will hopefully appeal to both the young and the not so young.”
She says “the animals of the Earth are there to alert us and to remind us that it is time to take action.”
Even the rat?
“I put rats in a lot of my stuff,” she says. “The Chicago rat, to me, is iconic. They’re so incredibly cute, I think.”
She titled the mural “Faith in Humanity — We are the Cure.”
Junge, who lives in the South Loop and runs an art gallery in Wicker Park with her husband, says she’s taken part for years in the Lakeview East Festival of the Arts, put on by the North Side neighborhood’s chamber of commerce.
She says the group’s executive director, Maureen Martino, asked “would I be interested in painting” a mural on a wall on a building at Melrose Street and Broadway that has retail space and apartments.
“That wall was just begging for some artwork,” Martino says, and Junge’s creation “shows a nice message, especially with a lot of kids going to school right there” at nearby Nettelhorst Elementary School.
“It speaks to them,” Martino says. “It’s just beautiful. She’s got a lot of stuff in there to look at.”
Diane Tanios, one of the owners of the building, which dates to the late 1800s, says, “I’ve always wanted to do a mural on that elevation of the building,” and “everything kind of fell into place.
“I think the concept is really beautiful, the way she brings land, sea and sky together,” Tanios says. “I think there’s a whimsy to it” but also “social commentary.”
The mural also “immortalized” Tanios’ two rescue dogs. One, named Violet, is seen in goggles, holding a sign with the letters “SOS.” Lucy, the other, is wearing a bow and bears a flower.
”Honestly, I haven’t really done a lot of murals,” Junge says. “But I really wanted to do something large scale and meaningful. I have also painted large paintings and have painted for over 25 years. So I bulldozed forward with that as my confidence-booster — along with my husband Chris encouraging me that I could do it.”
