by Mindy Kyle
PUBLIC MURALS LOCATED AROUND THE SUBURBS AND LOVE BY MANY
Large scale, public mosaic and painted murals are St. Charles artist Danielle Casali’s specialty. “When I am working in mosaic, I love choosing the specific stained glass and tiles and admiring the different striations and colors,” says Danielle. Some of her public murals can be seen on 3rd Street in Geneva opposite the Courthouse, HC Storm and JB Nelson Elementary Schools in Batavia, NIU Reavis and Winston Halls, and Elmhurst University Memorial Hall. Her most recent mural at Hollywood Elementary in Brookfield, in collaboration with the school’s art teacher and her elementary students, was a 30-foot-tall mural depicting butterflies and moths with 6-foot wingspans and prairie plants.
“Most of my mosaic murals are collaborative,” says Danielle. “I teach volunteers the entire process and they are heavily involved. I love teaching them how to cut glass and lay tile.” While earning her BFA in drawing, painting and sculpture from Elmhurst University, Danielle learned the collaborative mural approach by assisting on a campus large-scale project directed by John Pitman Weber, co-founder of the Chicago Public Art Group. She went on to NIU to receive her MFA in sculpture. Along with her mosaic murals, Danielle is an adjunct instructor at Waubonsee Community College and runs a side-business in mosaic portraiture called Mamas Mosaic Menagerie.
You can view more of Danielle’s artworks at www.daniellecasali.wixsite.com/portfolio and on Instagram @mamasmosaicmenagerie
