KidsMatter Way-finding Murals by Timm Etters, Chris Hodge, and Students from Naperville High Schools

A group of "way-finding" murals, located in the parking garage at the corner of Main and Van Buren St., features the artwork of high school students from all five Naperville schools.

Art Detail

  • Title: KidsMatter Way-finding Murals
  • Artist: Timm Etters, Chris Hodge, and Students from Naperville High Schools
  • Location: Van Buren Parking Deck, 43 W. Van Buren Avenue
  • Medium: Mural
  • Description: A group of "way-finding" murals, located in the parking garage at the corner of Main and Van Buren St., features the artwork of high school students from all five Naperville schools.
  • History Behind Art: Local muralist, Timm Etters, who is overseeing the KidsMatter-sponsored project, is helping these young artists learn what it takes to become an artist in this program than will span several years. KidsMatter, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to educate and encourage people in our community to build Developmental Assets in youth, created the program that earns each participating student artist a summer art credit for spending at least 70 hours working on their murals. The first group of murals, which can be found on the fifth floor of the garage, was completed by nine students from Naperville Central High School who (along their art teacher, Chris Hodge) all had their own portion of the mural which was embedded in a larger, school-spirited design painted by Etters. The names of the artist are “chiseled in stone” along the top portion of the mural. The fifth floor mural was completed and dedicated on November 21, 2010. Waubansie Valley and Naperville North plan to complete their murals in the summer of 2011, with Nequa Valley and Metea Valley High Schools the following summer. Each school will work alongside Etters to complete their murals on different levels of the parking garage.

Audio Tour

Download mp3 file.

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