Cafeteria Art Nearing Completion
EAST PEORIA — Although the outdoors appear cold and covered by the drab tones of winter, Illinois Central College’s interior is being given an additional splash of warm color as the mural in the cafeteria at the East Peoria Campus receives some of its final layers of paint.
The mural, which depicts a scene from within a restaurant, was started back in September in the deli portion of the food court, and now it is being expanded to also encompass the entree counter.
After taking a break from the project for a few months, Alecia McClain, an ICC Alumna and the artist responsible for designing and painting the mural, returned to ICC three weeks ago to pick her paint brush back up and work on the second stage of her artwork.
McClain said that she has most of the background for the extended cafe scene painted, and now she has to apply all of the fine details to everything from the utensils hanging in the illustrated kitchen to the bricks on the wall. McClain didn’t initially realize how long it would take her to get all those details to look just right.
“There was a day when I thought ‘hey, I’m just about done,’ and then the next day I realized ‘I have got so much left to do,’” said McClain. “I almost had a panic attack… I’d never taken on a project this large before, but it’s been a great time for me to learn and grow.”
This finishing work will keep McClain busy up until the scheduled unveiling of the completed mural three weeks from today on Feb. 21.