Chicago (Mark MaMahon Mosaic)
Van Buren & Federal
The Chicago summer crowd is a central theme in Mark McMahon’s tile mural piece on the corner of Federal and Van Buren: swarms of people populate the Chicago Blues Festival, Navy Pier, Millenium Park and Federal Plaza. The mural, installed in 1989, was commissioned by the International Parking and Mobility Institute and stretches 125 feet across the General Parking Corporation building. Each tile is hand glazed and fired before they are mortared to the wall, and the piece took a year and a half to complete, according to the McMahon gallery website.
The McMahon family is a talented crowd of artists. Mark’s father, Franklin McMahon, was an established reporter and painter who covered politics and court cases. His courtroom sketch for the Emmett Till trial in 1955 was published in Life Magazine and was seen nationwide. Franklin continued covering the Civil Rights movement, painting and reporting Rosa Park’s refusal to give up her bus seat, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and the 1968 Chicago riots following King’s death. A year later, Franklin covered the Chicago 7 Conspiracy trial, depicting the 8th defendant of the group, Bobby Seale, bound, shackled and gagged during the trial.
Irene Leahy, Mark’s mother, worked with Franklin on several documentary films. Their documentary Primary Colors, An Artist on the Campaign Trail, covers the 1976 presidential primary elections, and won a Peabody Award.
Mark’s wife, Carolyn, is a bronze and ceramics artist. Their children continue their artistic heritage. Drew works in metal frames, Meryl in ceramics, Elyse in design. Mark's sister, Margot (a former CLHOF board member), works primarily in sculpture.
Ed Roberson is a CLHOF Fuller Award recipient—he’ll be honored on June 18 at the Poetry Foundation. The piece, “Nine Chicago Poems,” comes from his 2010 collection, To See the Earth Before the End of the World. Poem number 5, included here, depicts the Chicago crowd on a summer evening, one that could be seen walking down Van Buren, passing by the McMahon mural on the way to Millenium Park.
