URBANA — The walls of the Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center are covered with new art, created by the residents in partnership with local muralist Leslie Kimble.
Prior to beginning the project, Kimble said she sat down with the children to ask what they wanted on their walls.
“One mural we did in the dining room is a big mural of waves and sun,” she said. “That was from our interaction with one of the residents that talked about waves being like emotions — emotions come to us like waves and we can just learn to ride them.”
The project originally began in April 2024, when Patricia Allah, superintendent of the Juvenile Detention Center, suggested a mural project like those seen at other juvenile detention centers, according to Shannon Siders, Champaign County director of probation and court services.
Siders led the charge in finding an artist; she decided to reach out to muralist Leslie Kimble, whose window art is featured on various local businesses and on Instagram and who had posted about her interest in working with charitable or community organizations. She decided to fund the first mural herself.
“Leslie was trying to expand her portfolio, and we didn’t really have a lot of money to try to do something like this,” Siders said. “She had a very generous offer where she offered to do our first mural at cost.”
Additional funding from the Illinois Arts Council allowed for the expansion of the beautification project: Kimble and residents spent about 100 hours since January to complete a total of five murals, covering 1,300 square feet.
Siders and Allah “believe very passionately about adding art to the walls at the center and getting rid of all the white, sterile look,” Kimble said.
Kimble held an art class at the detention center, aimed at understanding what the children wanted their first mural to look like.
“They each got a canvas and paint. We talked about what things inspire them,” Kimble said. “What things give them hope and make them think, in a bigger picture, outside of the walls of the juvenile detention center, and help them keep going.”
The first mural was installed in JDC’s education room. It includes the quote, “Follow your dreams,” next to a hot air balloon floating across a mountain landscape and a cotton candy sky.
Siders said the words in that mural came from one of the residents, and seeing his words painted above him was very meaningful to him.
“The action of being in there and helping with the painting…” Siders said. “Leslie will tell you that it was almost meditative for them.”
Subsequent murals were added to the dining room and the gym, where the children spend a lot of their time. Kimble said they love playing basketball, so she incorporated basketball players into their gym mural design.
Kimble said she aims for this project to give the kids at the center positive messages and to empower them to know their importance.
“My hope was to bring art to the walls of the Juvenile Detention Center that inspires the residents to think outside the box, maybe the space that they’ve lived, and to think more positively of themselves,” Kimble said.
Since the art installation, Kimble said she has seen the kids feel prideful about their work and believe in their abilities.
“I feel like a lot of times, maybe kids in the Juvenile Detention Center system get overlooked and are forgotten,” Kimble said. “And I find it like it is one of my goals to make sure that people know that they matter and their lives matter, no matter where they’re at.”
Siders said she thinks this project has provided these kids with an outlet for expressing emotions and healing. She said she wants to add more installations but is waiting on additional funding.
“We hope that this gives them a dream. Something that they can work towards in their future,” she said.