Public connects with Evanston’s Outdoor Art through the Big Picture Mural Hunt

Art Encounter is a non-profit arts education organization. It is devoted to helping people engage with and learn about art, usually in person. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the group to adjust the ways to fulfill their mission of educating, empowering, and connecting people of diverse ages and backgrounds through interactive encounters with visual art.

Online tours and outreach programming are the means used to help people connect with art. A recent program has focused on public murals outdoors. Art Encounter’s The Big Picture: A Mural Treasure Hunt! Is one creative, free art activity with a prize involved in Evanston this summer. The activity is for all ages.

Follow the group’s custom Google map across 17 of Evanston Mural Arts Program murals. Answer the fun questions and prompts by phone. You have to submit a completed form by August 30 for a chance to win gift cards and other prizes from Blick Art Materials. Keep on tagging @art.encounter and @evanstonmuralartsprogram on Instagram and Facebook when posting your mural photos, and hashtag #TheBigPictureEvanston.

The purpose of the Evanston Mural Arts Program is to make art available to all. The program is in its fourth year. The goal is to uplift and beautify neighborhoods with mural art through creative partnerships with community organizations, youth groups, schools, and business districts.

Professional artists are paired with community members and youth groups by the Art Encounter. They create large scale public works of art to last for years to come. For more information, visit AE’s website. Do also visit the links to their Minute with a Muralist series, where they share interviews with the artists behind the murals.