DeKalb, Illinois Community Mural

Located on the northeast corner of Lincoln Hwy. and 1st Street

Restored in 1983 to its original brilliance, the Egyptian Theatre, a world-famous 1929 movie palace, is among DeKalb's architectural crown jewels. The 1,483-seat theatre is open to the public about 150 days a year for live stage events, movies and tours.

The painted image is among the most complicated in the entire mural and also is representative of the collaborative nature of the project. The image is based on a photograph taken by Dan Grych, an NIU photographic lab technician. He took the photo while he was an art student at NIU in 1973, prior to the Egyptian's renovation. Peter Olson of the NIU Art Museum translated the photograph into a detailed line drawing and then into a perspective view of the drawing seen at an angle. The finished drawing was projected onto the wall at night.

Artist Olivia Gude and assistant Caswell James, an NIU art major, spent two days establishing the perspective lines for the theatre. So detailed is the image that even the stars are based on the evening sky's appearance on Aug. 6, 1999, the day the mural was completed. Grych did the final painting. Look closely at the display posters and you'll see an advertisement for the opening of the award-winning NIU-produced documentary, "Barbed Wire Pioneers: Inventing a Community."