The conservation of vibrant room-size murals symbolizing the struggle of Latina/Latino students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will begin Wednesday, June 22.
The murals, located at 510 East Chalmers Street, will be removed from the facility by art handling company Terry Dowd, Inc. and transported to Parma Conservation in Chicago. The conservation project is expected to take six to eight months.
A mock wall removal was successfully performed in May to test methods and materials ahead of the removal process.
Initial Conservation Dates:
Wednesday, June 22 - Friday, June 24:
Removal of exterior walls, back of interior walls, trim, and molding
Monday, June 27 - Friday, July 1:
Removal of mural walls, crating, and transportation to Parma Conservation
Murals History:
The original mural inside the former home of the Department of Latina/Latino Studies and La Casa Cultural Latina was painted in 1974 by artist Oscar Martinez, with the help of students, as a measure to prevent the new Latino Cultural Center from being closed. Efforts and petitions to save the murals date back three decades on campus. A feasibility study was performed in November 2013 by Johnson Lasky Architects which outlined recommendations for extraction, transport, and storage. More information about the murals and initial project scope is available at: http://go.fs.illinois.edu/mural.
Available Images:
Images of the murals are available for download at: http://uofi.box.com/murals. A 3D scan of the room can be viewed at: http://go.fs.illinois.edu/mural3D. A panoramic image is at: http://go.fs.illinois.edu/muralpanoramic.
News Release PDF
Mural Fact Sheet PDF