In the 1960s, highway construction and “urban renewal” displaced the Italian community in the Third Ward. The neighborhood’s landmark Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Catholic Church was demolished to make way for new development. Gerrit V. Sinclair made many paintings in the Third Ward before the freeway was built. He focused on the area around Jackson, Van Buren and Cass Streets between Buffalo Street and Wisconsin Avenue. In the spirit of my Sinclair project, I have embarked on painting this area as it is now. I chose to paint the Pompeii Square monument because it’s such a quiet and poignant reminder of what was lost in the name of so-called progress.