‘It will bring smiles to their faces’

A bright surprise is awaiting the clients at United Cerebral Palsy Center for Disability Services in Joliet - once they are finally able to safely return to their center.

That surprise is a long mural that stretches over two 25-foot walls in the hallway of the adult community day services program.

The mural is a creative collaboration between Cassie Farley, director of adult services at UCP, and Lynda Mahalik, a Joliet artist who donated her time, talent and materials to create the mural.

Farley said ever since she started working at UCP back in September 2019, she’s wanted to brighten and beautify the hallway in the adult community day services program to help eliminate its “institutional look” and create “a positive vibe.”

She thought a mural might be a good first step to improving the look.

“I definitely wanted color and energy to be coming off the walls,” Farley said. “And especially with the texture of the walls (cement block), I thought a painting would be really, really nice for that sensory aspect.”

So Farley went online, started searching for “mural” and then perused the list of artists in her search results. Mahalik was one of those artists. Farley was immediately impressed with the global nature of Mahalik’s work and that she’s used her talents for churches and in the service of people with disabilities.

“So I reached out to her and asked if she’d be interested in doing something for us and she called back immediately and said, ‘I would love to,’” Farley said.

Mahalik said she’s held art classes for clients with Special Connections in Grundy County. She’s also taught art to residents at The Timbers of Shorewood, according to a 2014 Herald-News story.

Farley showed Mahalik an image of an autism awareness logo and asked if Mahalik could use the puzzle concept in that logo in the mural. Farley’s thought was for the mural to show how many pieces of the community together to support the adult community day services program.

“Within a day or so she came up with a wonderful idea,” Farley said.

Mahalik gave the credit of her inspiration to God, from whom she receives much of her inspiration, she said.

“Sometimes I paint a painting, or a mural and I don’t know how I did it,” Mahalik said. “It’s just God-given.”

Mahalik began work about mid-November and was done in just a few weeks, she said. Farley enjoyed watching the progress as the mural took shape and seeing the how positively it affected the other staff in the building.

Gina Wysocki, development coordinator at UCP, said the difference in the hallway due to the Mahalik’s mural is just “mind-blowing.” She can’t wait for clients to see it.

“It will bring smiles to their faces,” Wysocki said.

Mahalik, who’s used her artistic talent with Special Connects for about five years, she said, is looking forward to working with the UCP clients, too, once the pandemic has ended.

“I just love when I do these art projects with special needs groups,” Mahalik said. “I love their smiles and just their enthusiasm. It doesn’t matter how their art pieces turns out; they just love it. I just have so much fun with them.”

To donate to UCP’s beautification program, call 815-744-3500.

For more information, visit ucp-cds.org and paintingfacesandspaces.com.