We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Doug And Eileen Leunig a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Doug and Eileen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

In early 2018, Big Picture Initiative (BPI) embarked on a journey that would leave an indelible mark on Peoria, Illinois’s landscape and spirit. This journey began with a visionary concept: “Abraham Blue,” a 50-foot portrait of Abraham Lincoln, to be displayed on the Peoria County Courthouse. This project would become our most meaningful endeavor, encapsulating the essence of our mission and the transformative power of art.

“Abraham Blue” was created by Doug Leunig after a 19-year-old street artist from Amsterdam, Ard Doko, painted 14′ x 48′ mural on vinyl that he titled “BLue.” “BLue” spoke of Doko’s personal struggles with depression. Doug also had struggled with depression and was inspired by Ard to find his own self- expression of this debilitating mental health condition that affects many. Using his photography and Photoshop knowledge, Doug scanned a $5 bill, severely cropped it to show only the face, and texturized the original engraving with Studio Artist software. He gave the image a blue bias that symbolized Lincoln’s struggles with depression and his triumph over adversity through the support of his community. This powerful message of resilience and communal support resonated deeply with Peoria, which was then grappling with an economic downturn following the departure it’s major employer.

When we posted a mockup of the mural on social media, our friend Mark Misselhorn, who would soon become BPI’s vice president, saw it and declared, “We’re going to make this happen.” With his encouragement, we presented the concept to the chairman of the county board, who enthusiastically supported the project, promising it would happen during his tenure.

With that go-ahead, we set out to raise the funds to make the dream a reality. Within 3 months, we had raised the $25,000 needed to pay for the frame, print, and installation. Note: The City of Peoria does not allow painted murals in all parts of town, so we found a way to install large-scale art by utilizing billboard printing technology.

The portrait became iconic to Peoria and in the fall of 2023 we created a new version thanks to state funding secured for Big Picture Initiative by Representative Jean Gordon Booth. The portrait is one of the most photographed spots in Peoria and Peoria is now experiencing a renaissance or arts and innovation with a growing population of entrepreneurs and innovative technology start ups.

Doug and Eileen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Doug: My interest in art began as a child watching my father work as a commercial artist. One of my earliest memories of his talent came from watching the eyes of a large black panther painting he created follow me as I crossed the room from side to side. At 5 years old I knew that its eyes were not actually moving, but it fascinated me that it appeared to happen. It was my first experience of wonder. How could a picture feel like it was alive? It made me curious to understand how that works.

Doug kept up that interest in art and was a corporate photographer for a Fortune 100 company for 30 years.

Eileen: My first exposure to art was taking art classes through the park district and I loved it. Over the years, though, art fell by the wayside until Doug and I married 26 years ago. Doug put a digital camera in my hands and taught me how to see light and to bring to life what was in my mind’s eye. Doug is a fantastic teacher.

Through that process we discovered that we enjoyed working together and we started collaborating on art for exhibits—first doing light painting photography and then moving into videos.

When we retired from corporate life in the early 2000s, we turned our talents to helping the community. We volunteered to be photographers for local publications and learned more about the value of public art. We curated the first exhibition of local artists when the Peoria Riverfront Museum opened and we joined other artists in beginning the First Friday open studio experience in Peoria.

All those early successes in community work led us to believe that we could be effective in starting a nonprofit for public art and we did so in 2018. Along with Mark and Maggie Misselhorn we created Big Picture Initiative, a 501(c) 3 with the goal of “Changing the Face of Peoria” through public art. Since our inception, we have been instrumental in working with other artists to create more than 30 murals in Peoria.

We continue to practice our own art including landscapes that capture movement and stillness, digital photo collages, and multimedia photochoreography.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Pay them. Artists can’t live on exposure. Plumbers don’t fix the toilet on the promise that it will be good exposure for them so we need to educate the public that artists are valued members of a community.

Big Picture Initiative pays artists for their talent, their time, their creativity. We also spread the message of the value—economic and social—that artists add to a community. We need to stop taking art for granted. Professional artists need the respect of being valued with financial reimbursement.

Even in the early days of Big Picture Initiative when we had only a few supporters, we paid artists. Over the years as we have been awarded grants and secured more sponsors, we have passed those gains onto the artists. We value the work they do in creating a more vibrant community whether it’s through public art, selling their art at local fairs, or performing on stage, art makes a difference in our lives and in the prosperity of our community.

In addition to our mural work, we have held the only interactive street festivals in our region. Our street festivals showcase visual and performing arts. We have mural painters, a performance stage, a community mural open to all, an iron pour, a paint fling with supersoakers filled with paint, an original acoustic showdown, and a kids’ zone with a myriad of activities. We are proud that over 100 volunteers join us in this effort and a core team of 30 dedicate months to making the festival a success. Artists are paid for their talent and are not asked to donate their time and creativity.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When we started our journey, street art was not allowed in Peoria. We discovered that when we went to city hall to get a permit for our Dutch artist friend, Ard Doko, who was visiting and offered to paint a mural in our warehouse district. When we were denied a permit for a painted mural, we set out to change the ruling. We met with a city councilperson and explained the value of public art in increasing pride in our community and the economic value in revitalizing the warehouse district, which was just starting to be redeveloped.

The conversation lead to getting a city ordinance that would allow murals. Due to the restrictions of the National Historic Registry, painted murals are not allowed in all parts of our city so we created the concept of installing frames and printed art showcasing the work of local artists. Our slogan is Changing the Face of Peoria and in the past 6 years we have created and installed more than 30 mounted murals and two large-scale painted murals. Before the efforts of the Big Picture Initiative volunteer team, Peoria had fewer than 10 murals. There are now over 60 murals in town. We are experiencing an art renaissance.

Contact Info:

• Website: bigpicturepeoria.org and our own site is purposedrivenart.org
• Instagram: bigpicturepeoria
• Facebook: Big Picture Peoria

Image Credits

“Abraham Blue” 2018 by Doug Leunig
“Her Roots Are Showing” By Eileen and Doug Leunig
“Dream Waltz” by Doug and Eileen Leunig
Doug and Eileen Leunig by Keith Cotton