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Musicians save riffs until their minds form a song around them. Chefs hold back new flavor combinations until the ingredients are in season. And muralists, like Max Gonzales, wait for walls.

For years, he’s eyed a more than 50-foot-long exterior wall on South Winebiddle Street in Garfield. More than just empty wall space, it faces a mural across the street memorializing deceased Pittsburgh graffiti artist Danny Montano, a meaningful sentiment to Mr. Gonzales who hails from a Mexican-American community on the south side of Chicago known for its rich graffiti culture. But it’s also right around the corner from VaultArt Studio, whose working artists live with disabilities.

He knows the organization well because of their mutual participation in First Fridays, the monthly artist exhibitions along Penn Avenue in Garfield and Bloomfield, but the connection goes deeper because its creative arts manager, Steph Neary, is also a personal friend.