As Joe Kraft assembled the 12 figures he put in his Albany Park mural, he says he was trying to represent the neighborhood’s diversity and also positioning the characters “in conversation with one other.”
It was the perfect assemblage of individuals for his 2024 mural, “We All Belong,” which is at 3403 W. Lawrence Ave., on a building that houses the North River Commission and Albany Park Chamber of Commerce.
“We wanted to represent traditional clothing and people who live in the neighborhood. That worked well with my style. I tend to work well with a lot of bold shapes.” Kraft says. “I wanted to offer a playful and joyful experience.”
The mural portrays Albany Park residents in a variety of traditional Middle Eastern, Latin American and African dress among other garb. The characters seem to be gazing down, up or over at what each other is doing. Almost all of them appear to be in motion, whether it’s strumming an instrument, shaking a fan or pouring from a watering can.
The space around the neighbors is filled with flowers, music notes and big bluestem native grasses.
“Albany Park is a neighborhood that has gone through significant cultural shifts, and we really wanted to represent the wide range of people who have called our neighborhood home while also having fun with the design,” says Eve Miller of the North River Commission, which commissioned the mural, and the Albany Park Chamber of Commerce. “To us, the mural represents all of the generations and cultures who have spent time in Albany Park and welcomes those who are making their way here.”
Kraft, who earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in ceramics from Alfred University in New York, lives in Logan Square and works as a designer, artist, print maker, illustrator and muralist.
His whimsical portraits and illustrations can be found on tiles, mugs, figurines and other works. His murals can be found inside Blaine Elementary in Lake View and at the Lillstreet Art Center in Ravenswood, The Understudy in Andersonville and the restaurants The Publican in Fulton Market and Violet Hour in Wicker Park. His designs also have graced tote bags, hats and beer bottle labels. Occasionally, he also draws commissioned customer caricatures at Is/Was Brewing, which has a taproom in Uptown, for events like Valentine’s Day.
The Albany Park mural made such an impression, Miller says, that the organizations’ staffs hope that Kraft will continue it going up the entire wall.
Kraft created the mural by priming the wall and painting the base color during the day, then projecting his design onto it at night. He and a friend then used crayons to trace the image before returning during the day the following week to fill in the shapes with color. He used exterior latex paint for the artwork. The whole process took about 10 days in July 2024.
“You don’t expect how large it’s going to be until you start painting it and seeing the designs come to life at that scale,” Kraft says.
His favorite character is the bearded gentleman with a green watering can, who seems to float across the top left.
“That outfit is so great, and I love how his legs are kind of flipped-up.”
