Western Avenue Series

Mile 2: 114th Street-106th Street

This painting is a part of my Western Avenue Series, through which I'll be making 24 watercolor paintings, one to document each mile of Western Avenue, in Chicago.  I started this project because while it is not considered to be among the most “beautiful” of Chicago’s streets, Western Avenue is a perfect place to document the humanness of Chicago, the positive and the negative. In the words of Stuart Dybek, "Western, with apologies to State Street, is a great street,  Unlike State, it is a street that goes to the interior, the heart of the city, as it glides and glows through a United Nations of neighborhoods."  Check back next Monday to see a post about the next mile of Western.

The painting representing the second mile of Western Avenue depicts Clissold Elementary School.  Clissold is a beautiful old building and is a part of the Chicago Public School system.  It is one of several schools located along Western, including Roberto Clemente and Lane Tech High Schools.

Clissold Elementary is named for Henry Rowland Clissold (1842 - 1930). Clissold was born in England, came to Chicago in 1863 and worked as a printer for the Daily News, Tribune, Journal, and Times.  He managed publishing of publications of the Society of the American Institute of Hebrew. Clissold was the first clerk of the village of Morgan Park, as well as a member and president of the Board of Education of Morgan Park. 


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