The freshly painted mural that welcomes visitors to the public library in Oak Park represents a fresh chapter for the city, where murals were once historically unwanted and viewed as controversial. Today, however, the library’s newly colourful exterior wall is the second mural commissioned by Oak Park and the latest addition to the city’s expanding installation of public art.
“Twelve years ago, we did not allow murals in the city of Oak Park,” says city manager Erik Tungate.
“Now, I’m proud to say that this kind of artwork is a testament to how the city of Oak Park starts with an idea and moves that idea all the way to fruition. When we have a vision, we take it from point A to point B relentlessly. We never give up, and this mural is a testament to that. I’m very excited about what the future holds, and I hope that more artists will see us as an opportunity to do these kinds of things going forward.”
Designed and painted by noted local artist Désirée Kelly, the mural’s playful concept was chosen from over 30 submissions to highlight Oak Park’s culture and individuality.
Kelly indicated that her approach to the mural pays homage to both the history and innovation of her hometown, featuring the life-sized train in nearby David H. Shepherd Park, sculptures from the city’s newly completed
Nine Mile Redesign project and a nod to Oak Park high school football.
The library mural began as a collaborative effort between the Oak Park library board, city leadership and the community’s Art and Cultural Diversity Commission, who designed a rubric that was used to compare artist submissions for the piece.
Proposals were collected in April of 2024 and extensively reviewed, with Kelly’s design scoring the highest. The artist began her work several months later, completing the project in late September.
“Libraries by nature are a collaborative community effort,” says Library Director Kimberly Schaaf.
“Residents and city leadership volunteered to come together in order to choose an artist and design that were most fitting for our goals in the project. Most of our goals centered around celebrating the diversity of our city, creating a welcoming environment for the library and adding vibrancy to the city," says Schaaf.
"Désirée is an Oak Park native and clearly has an eye for capturing what makes Oak Park such a special place.”
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At 29, Kelly was named as a
Crain’s Detroit Business “20 in Their 20s” honoree following collaborations with brands like FootLocker, Pepsi and the Detroit Pistons. As an artist, she has contributed to many community spaces throughout Metro Detroit, including the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Eastern Market and what is now the Corewell Health Hospital in Trenton, Michigan.
The Oak Park Public Library mural is Kelly’s latest addition to a growing portfolio of works that draw viewers into immersive storytelling through public art.
“We’ve had people come in and comment on how beautiful it is,” Schaaf says.
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“While Désirée was painting it, people were making special trips out to the library to see how much work had been done over the course of a week or two weeks. The mural shows all of the positive things that are happening in Oak Park and all the points of pride in Oak Park. The library really is a culmination of all of that. I think it’s going to make for a really wonderful experience.”
The mural was commemorated at a community ribbon cutting on Oct. 15 and is one of the city’s latest efforts to build upon a trajectory of development that aims to attract visitors, businesses, and new residents to Oak Park. These measures have included modifying a segment of the Nine Mile Road Corridor by restructuring part of the roadway, updating parking and incorporating new public spaces.
Next, the city has plans to construct both a community center and an event hub, the latter of which will include an amphitheater and farmers’ market space.
As Oak Park continues to invest in projects that inspire engagement from across the Detroit metropolitan area, the city will continue to focus on public art as a connector between cultures, backgrounds and lifestyles in hopes of intentionally cultivating a widely integrative community experience.
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“Any time you read the news, it screams about how we’ve become divided,” says Oak Park Mayor Marian McClellan.
“The solution is to bring us together as a community so that we can talk, chat, and be together."
"Murals [help achieve this by] making buildings more attractive and inviting while inspiring community engagement. Murals express the culture and value of community — they preserve history and traditions and connect us to the place we live in together. Murals with bold colors, like this one, put energy into the space. This mural captures the essence of Oak Park in a lively way.”