The Old Town Portrait Project

above: Old Town Portrait Project night shot through AOS’ new gallery space. •99 portraits for the project (unless you count the dogs, then it’s 103) •310+ blank boxes ready for painting, • Tim Egan, • Summer Sabo and her dog,

Here to submit a photo to the Old Town Portrait Project?

  • headshots (not full length images)

  • 2 people max

  • Send “actual size” photos (not thumbnail shots or facebook pictures)

  • Tips

    • Light from the side is better

    • If you have a full length shot that you really like and the size is 2mb-5mb I can crop it.

  • Send to OldTownPortraits@ArtOnSedgwick.org


This is the very beginning, the first two of what will eventually be more than 400 portraits of your friends and neighbors in Old Town painted on the end of each box that you see above when the project is complete. Think of it as a movable mural 20 feet wide and 7 feet high.

500 years ago only kings had their portraits painted. It was an assertion of their worth. A hand painted portrait would be an assertion of your worth, too.

Why so many? We get our identity from the networks we inhabit. Veteran Chicago artist wants to present the networks that you identify in Old Town: schools, churches, businesses, block clubs, retirement homes.

Bakker needs your collaboration to make this project happen. Take out your phone right now and send your favorite picture of yourself, your significant other, your kids, your parents, your grandparents. Bakker needs 300 more photos.

What kind of photos? Head shots of one or two people: graduations, baptisms, birthdays, backyard BBQs, Tell me a little bit about yourself in the email and I’ll put that on the side of the panel so that in 100 years people will still be able to tell who you were.

What does it cost to participate? It’s free. Sponsored by Art on Sedgwick, This project is yet another good thing that Art on Sedgwick is doing to make Old Town a more cohesive, vibrant neighborhood. Why is Art on Sedgwick sponsoring this? Because this art draws us all together, literally in this case.

So take out your phone right ow while you are reading this, scroll to your favorite photos and send your pictures to oldtownportraits@ArtOnSedgwick.org

Do you get to keep your portrait? No, the project needs to stay together.  But, it will be in Old Town forever. And you could be a part of Old Town history forever.

 Send your photos to oldtownportraits@ArtOnSedgwick.org