Whimsy is flying high at the DuPage Children’s Museum.
This fall, the Naperville institution is welcoming a lofty complement to its colorful logo: a mural of hand-painted kites floating as if the breeze is hitting them just right against their sky blue backdrop.
In the works since mid-September, the art installation is going up on the museum’s wall facing Washington Junior High School. Naperville artist Richard Lo is behind the design, a piece conceived to inspire a smile and leave passersby walking away a little brighter, he says.
“My mission is to inspire the viewer to be creative and imaginative,” Lo said. “Public art is about giving. So as a giver, my voice is happiness.”
When finished, the mural will stretch 26 feet wide and 12 feet tall. It was made possible by money provided by the city.
Earlier this year, Lo was awarded a $30,000 grant from Naperville’s Special Events & Community Arts Commission for a future mural project. SECA doles out annual funding — sourced from the city’s food and beverage tax revenue — to support art initiatives and events around the community.
Lo’s grant was one of more than 60 projects, events and initiatives to receive SECA funding through its 2024 program.
The award, Lo said, was “huge.”
“To do this for my hometown, to have people that I know recognize the mural…” he said. “I never thought of Naperville as a place for my art.”
Lo, 67, has lived in the city for 31 years. He was raised in Chicago’s Chinatown community after his family immigrated from Hong Kong when he was 6.
Before his family came to the United States, his dad was an opera composer and would take him to operatic performances, he recalled. As a family, they’d “play music and do art together,” he said.
Lo went on to study art at Eastern Illinois University and has been working as a professional artist for 42 years. In that time, he has produced thousands of commissioned art pieces, he said.
The past few years, however, have been especially defining for his art career. Two years ago, Lo was commissioned to paint a mural on the west wall of the Chinese American Museum of Chicago. It depicts three famous characters from traditional Cantonese opera in a piece he titled “Chinese Opera,” as an ode to his family.
That mural changed his life, Lo said. It gave him a voice in a way his art hadn’t really before. Until then, the bulk of his work was commercial.
“For 40 years, I exchanged artwork for money,” he said. “I never had my name attached.”
But with his Chinese museum piece, the art turned personal. To an extent, he’d long been building towards the change.
While his commissioned work primarily stayed commercial, over the past decade or so Lo has started to lend his artistry to a new space: publishing.
In 2014, Lo published his first children’s book, “Father’s Chinese Opera.” He’s since written and illustrated six more children’s books and is working on an eighth and ninth. Despite the growing catalog, Lo wouldn’t call himself an author. He’s more so a “bookmaker,” he said. Whatever the title, it’s allowed him more expression and its made him realize there’s more he wants to do with his art.
“I found my voice in public art and children’s books,” he said.
Now, with his DuPage Children’s Museum mural, he’s blending both. The piece is inspired by one of his most popular books, “Chinese Kite Festival,” he said.
Lo played with a few ideas and inspirations but ultimately he and the museum together landed on his present design, which struck a chord with both the museum’s brand and work, staff said.
On the other side of the wall of Lo’s mural is the museum’s “AWEsome Air” exhibit, a hands-on look at how air works as a power source. Lo’s kite design dovetailed right in, according to Julie Lakner, chief of creativity and communications.
“It’s a fun connection from the inside of the museum and the outside of the museum, bringing those two playful pieces together,” Lakner said.
Beyond that, mural-making itself has a tie-in to the their mission.
“The museum has always been about the intersection of art, math and science,” Lakner said. Lo’s work is a testament to that, she said.
For instance, Lo’s first step in creating the mural last month was laying down a grid so he’d have a dimensional scale to work off of once he got to painting. Then there’s the science to priming and sealing the mural so it can withstand weather and last over time.
“There’s all sorts of hidden learning behind everything that we do,” Lakner said. “Everything is intentionally designed to help children make those joyful discoveries about how things work, how they can create art, how they can make things and how they can combine art and making together.”
The mural is expected to be finished by the end of this month.
“We’re just thrilled,” Lakner said. “We’re thrilled to be able to highlight an artist. We’re thrilled to be able to have an artist of Rich’s caliber contributing to the beauty of our community and particularly our building.”
