Local artists completed a new graffiti-style mural Monday as the opening of Evanston’s new permission wall for legal graffiti draws closer.

The mural is located at an embankment wall on Green Bay Road between Foster and Simpson streets. The front side of the wall facing the street, where the mural went up on Monday, is owned by the city, and the back side, where the permission wall will be, is owned by local real estate professional John Cleary.

In January 2025, Councilmember Bobby Burns (5th Ward) proposed a permission wall to the Evanston Arts Council, hoping to create a dedicated space where spray-paint artists could work freely.

With help from Burns, the project was organized by Lea Pinsky and Dustin Harris, the couple who leads Art Encounter’s Evanston Mural Arts Program. 

“We’ve been wanting to find an opportunity to bring graffiti art back into Evanston,” said Pinsky, executive director of Art Encounter.

The plan for the permission wall and accompanying mural was approved by the Arts Council in May. Pinsky and Harris expect the wall to be ready in the next few weeks, as they wait for landscapers to clear the area.

The back side of this embankment wall will function as a graffiti permission wall. Credit: Sydney Richardson

On the street-facing side of the wall, artists Garrett Munski, Ole Flores, Alex Mendoza and Jordan Nickel created a mural expressing each of their styles. The four artists have a decades-long history of painting graffiti and murals in Evanston.

“[We are] old friends. You kind of know everybody if you’re in graffiti, especially the longer you do it,” Nickel said. “Alex, Ole and Garrett, although they’re a little younger, they’re guys that I knew and respected and really liked.”

Allowing a place for graffiti to exist in the city, like the mural and permission wall, creates a greater sense of appreciation for the art form and discourages vandalism, especially for children, Munski said.

“This concept, I think, is really righteous,” Munski said. “Kids have a location where the police aren’t going to come and bug you, and you feel safe to try to do the thing.”

The artists said they received a lot of support from the public. Mendoza added that, as they worked, drivers honked their horns to show support, and people walking by stopped to share compliments. 

Nickel, who’s been doing graffiti in Evanston since the early ’90s, said the public has become more accepting of the art form in recent years.

“The public’s perception of putting color on the wall, even though it’s graffiti, is very different now,” Nickel said. “Evanston has a long history of being progressive and open-minded.”

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