A group of neighborhood leaders,
city officials, homeless people and business owners gathered
Saturday to celebrate the completion of a mural they say symbolizes
that Aurora Avenue North in Seattle is growing
and changing.
by Sharon Pian Chan, Seattle Times
Staff Reporter
October 16, 2010
It's a small blink
of color in a long stretch of grayscape on
Aurora Avenue North, but a new mural on a
convenience-store wall is already making a
difference.
The 10-by-50-foot
mural shows a sun with green rays rising over
one of the more notorious roadways in Seattle,
with a purple haze of the fading dawn above and
hope, in the form of sunflowers, sprouting from
below.
In the mural, a
bus, helmeted scooter rider and pedestrians all
safely share the street. The real-life street
has a high rate of collisions between speeding
cars and jaywalking pedestrians.
"It's such a
difficult time. People are losing their homes
and their jobs. Looking at the mural is just
bringing smiles to their faces," said Chaesun
Osaka, owner of North Park Grocery at North
102nd Street, where the mural, a community
project, was painted.
A group of
neighborhood leaders, city officials, homeless
people and business owners gathered Saturday to
celebrate the completion of the mural two weeks
ago. Osaka said, "It symbolizes Aurora is
growing and changing."
Artists Zach
Bohnenkamp, John Osgood and Kevin Sullivan from
Bherd Studios and Matamuros were commissioned to
paint the mural.
Several groups
donated volunteer hours to the project,
including Epic Life Church, Sustainable Green
Lake and Greenwood Aurora Involved Neighbors.
The Seattle Department of Transportation and
Washington Traffic Safety Commission also got
involved.
This empty
storefront at 7615 Aurora Avenue N. will burst
with new color this spring.
A mural by local
artists John Osgood, Zach Bohnenkamp and Kevin
"Sensei23" Sullivan will hang in the six large
windows, featuring the theme of waking up to a
new Aurora -- which means dawn in Spanish.
"It's better
than looking at empty space," said property
owner Andy Wang, who hopes the art will prevent
graffiti and break-ins and attract new tenants
Cindy Potter,
of Greenwood Aurora Involved Neighbors -- one of
the groups responsible for the project, said
Columbia City did something similar in the 1990s
and the locations were rented within a year.
Muralist Osgood
said 90 cans of spray paint were used to cover
the six 8-by-4-foot wooden panels, which will be
unveiled Tuesday.
Judging from my
sneak peak, the piece looks as promising as the
community effort.
John Osgood, one of
three artists who created a mural to put over
the safety wall where the Greenwood arsons
happened along Northwest 85th Street, stirs up
some paint while doing finishing-up work Friday
morning.
Photograph by
Ken Lambert | The Seattle Times
"Artists
create street mural in Greenwood in aftermath of
arsons"
Local artists
create street mural to brighten the streetscape
of Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood, hit by a
string of arson fires this fall.
Trying to heal
Greenwood in the aftermath of an arson spree was
not on Scott Nolte's to-do list. As producing
artistic director of the Taproot Theatre
Company, he had enough to worry about.
The theater was
damaged in the Oct. 23 blaze that gutted four
adjacent businesses on Northwest 85th Street.
But as the
arson continued to plague his North Seattle
neighborhood, it became Nolte's No. 1 priority.
Through
creation of an edgy, urban-meets-contemporary-
art mural, the Greenwood native wanted to put a
little hope into those rattled by the fires.
Friends, neighbors and nearby business owners
should be made to feel safe once more, Nolte
said.
And perhaps
most important, he said, he wanted to see people
on his street smile again.
Nolte and
members of Seattle Mural Art and Bherd Studio
set out to create a large street mural splashed
with reds, oranges and blues. At its center? A
phoenix.
On Friday, John
Osgood, one of three artists leading the mural
project, applied a few quick bursts of color
from a green can of spray paint, as he touched
up a section screaming the word "Greenwood."
The gold and
red phoenix in the center steals the show, as it
rises from fierce orange and red flames. The
symbolism is clear: Just as the bird refuses to
succumb to the fire licking at its feathers, so
do the people of Greenwood refuse to be torn
down.
The mural not
only tells the story of the arsons, which
includes a firefighter rescuing cats from Cat
City, an animal shelter, it also will remind the
passer-by of neighborhood icons, such as the
Greenwood Car Show and Greenwood-Phinney art
walk. The swirls of scenery and narratives
represent "everything uniquely Greenwood,"
Osgood said.
The 89-foot-by-8-foot mural will
soon be installed on a temporary
wall near the intersection of
Northwest 85th Street and
Greenwood Avenue North, where
the Eleanor Roosevelt Building
stood until the Oct. 23 blaze.
The building, which Taproot
Theatre rented to four
businesses, including Green Bean
Coffee House, Szechuan Bistro,
C.C. Teriyaki and Pho Tic Tac,
was destroyed.
"You don't really know loss
until you're standing in front
of your building, watching it
burn down," Nolte said,
remembering firefighters'
bravery and perseverance to save
the theater.
Nolte said the gaping hole in
the heart of Greenwood's
business district where the
historic building had been since
the 1910s was a grim reminder of
the devastation — nearly $3
million in losses — and the
sudden vulnerability inflicted
on the neighborhood by arson
suspect Kevin Swalwell.
Swalwell was charged with 11
counts of arson and one count of
burglary after his arrest on
Nov. 13 near a smoldering
furniture store in Shoreline.
The homeless man pleaded not
guilty to all 12 counts on Dec.
1 in King County Superior Court.
"There's so much that Greenwood
has been through," said Daytona
Strong, Taproot communications
manager. "This is our new phase
we're forced to embrace, but
it's empowering to move toward
something good."
Instead of
getting angry
their
neighborhood was
targeted by an
arsonist,
residents and
business owners,
want to be
creative, said
Osgood.
"It stinks that
the arsons
happened,"
Osgood said
matter-of-factly.
"But this isn't
going to slow us
down. We're
turning it into
an opportunity
to showcase the
artistry of
Greenwood."
What could have
been a
temporary,
graffiti-prone
plywood wall
covering a
demolition site
— another ugly
eyesore — turned
into an
emotionally
charged
memorial, the
brainstorm of
Osgood and
Nolte, and
fellow artist
Marty Gordon.
Once the plan
took shape,
Seattle Mural
Arts members
Zach Bohnenkamp
and Kevin
"Sensei23"
Sullivan grabbed
their paint cans
and brushes.
Nolte said he
gave the three
men complete
artistic
freedom.
Osgood said the
mural should be
completed before
Christmas and
hopes to have it
installed before
New Year's. It
will remain at
the site of the
demolished
building for as
long as it takes
Taproot to
decide what to
do with the
empty lot they
originally
purchased for
expansion.
The main goal of
creating
something of
beauty for
Greenwood,
however, has
already been
accomplished.
"We had 10
Greenwood
businesses
attacked, but
we're not down
for the count,"
Nolte said.
"We're back.
We're stronger
and we're
supporting one
another."
Kevin "Sensei23" Sullivan of Seattle
Mural Art works on a mural commissioned by Taproot Theatre Company
to be installed at the site of the Oct. 23 Greenwood arson attack.
"Mural
created as memorial for Greenwood arson
damage"
Artists from Seattle Mural Art, an
affiliate of Greenwood’s Bherd
Studios, are creating an 89-foot by
8-foot mural to commemorate the
businesses damaged and destroyed by
the string of arsons this past
summer and fall.
The
mural will be installed on the
temporary wall along North 85th
Street where the Eleanor Roosevelt
Building once stood.
The
Eleanor Roosevelt Building, which
Taproot Theatre rented out to four
businesses, was destroyed in the
Oct. 23 arson.
Concerned about leaving a hole in
the core of the Greenwood business
district, and seeing an opportunity
to facilitate more art in Greenwood,
Taproot Theatre Company commissioned
the mural.
“Downtown Greenwood is full of
entrepreneurs who have put their all
into making this such a thriving
business district, full of
creativity and artistry,” Scott
Nolte, Taproot Theatre’s producing
artistic director, said in a press
release. “While we’re working on a
long-term plan for the property, we
want to give back to our community
by creating something of beauty for
them, something to remind them that
this is a special place to live and
work.”
In
the weeks after the fire, Nolte
asked Taproot Theatre’s facilities
manager, Marty Gordon, who is also
an artist, to look into the
possibility of installing a mural.
Gordon immediately thought of John
Osgood, owner of Bherd Studios and a
co-founder of the Art Up Greenwood-Phinney
Second Friday Art Walk.
Capturing Greenwood’s resilience and
the assurance that the community
will rebound, the mural’s
centerpiece is a phoenix rising from
the flames.
The
mural also depicts firefighters’
rescue of the cats at the nearby Cat
City the morning of the fire,
Taproot Theatre Company, icons of
the neighborhood, such as the
Greenwood Car Show and the art walk,
and more.
The
mural, being created offsite by John
Osgood, Zachary Bohnenkamp and Kevin
"Sensei23" Sullivan, will be
installed soon.
"Artists add 'spice' to Aurora with
mural"
November 18, 2009
by Jessica Van Gilder, Staff Writer
■ John Osgood (from left), Zachary Bohnenkamp and Kevin
Sullivan teamed up for a first-time collaboration to paint
this mural for Pro Ski Services, 8954 Aurora Ave. N. photo
courtesy of Bherd Studios
Though it
was their first artistic collaboration, once the tops of the spray
cans were popped off, the visions of Bherd Studios Gallery artist
John Osgood and Matamuros mural artists Kevin Sullivan and Zachary
Bohnenkamp just clicked.
In under 15 hours, the three artists spray-painted a 20-by-40-foot
mural for Seattle Pro Ski Service, 8954 Aurora Ave. N. - an urban
mural complete with an abominable snowman, snowy mountains and the
Seattle skyline.
"Actually, one of the best working experiences I had with somebody
was this job," said Osgood of the collaboration. "We all have
similar interests and style - where the light's coming from, color,
compositions, lines. Everything sort of flowed together."
ADDING OWN
'SPICES'
After seeing Sullivan and Bohnenkamp's work at an art show at the
Naked City Brewery & Taphouse in Greenwood, Osgood said he knew he
wanted to collaborate with the Matamuros artists. Sullivan, who
sketched out the mural, said the key to murals that size boils down
to can control and making sure proportions come out correctly.
But apart from establishing can-control technique the most fun
aspect of mural painting, according to Bohnenkamp, is the freehand
work. Though the artists painted with the guidance of Sullivan's
sketch, the mural was not gridded or projected onto the wall.
"Everyone added their own spice to the mural," Sullivan said.
The open nature of mural art keeps the pieces from being static or
restricted by definitive guidelines.
"[With our murals] we all communicate as we're doing it," Bohnenkamp
said, "and we come up with different ideas than we had in the start.
Sometimes we don't have a plan, and sometimes we do.... But it
really happens when you're at the wall and lots of new ideas come
in."
A COMMUNITY VIBE
Since murals by nature are on display to the public, Sullivan said
he tried to tie the community into the painting. Apart from
cityscape with the Space Needle drifting into the mountains, Aurora
Grocery at North 90th Street and Aurora was also incorporated into
the piece.
While an abominable snowman on a business' wall might seem unique
enough, Sullivan said the wealth of neighborhood interaction and
community vibe with the project made this mural distinctive. "They
were definitely into it," Sullivan said. "We got a lot of community
feedback and a lot of good feedback."
As for public art, Bohnenkamp hopes that's the direction mural art
will continue to go. "There are plenty of places up in that
neighborhood that could use some public art," he said. "In general,
that's really the way I see the future of what I'm doing headed. I'm
down to help local businesses, and I'd really like to see more
people allowing art in public. It's good to put something up there
that everyone can benefit from and enjoy."
THE NEXT MURAL PROJECT
With a successful collaboration, the artists said they look forward
to working together for future projects. For Sullivan, "working with
two buddies" couldn't get better.
"We really just started working together, but I like the way
[Sullivan] inks and draws stuff," Osgood added. "I'm like a little
kid. The sky's the limit."
The trio will have the opportunity to collaborate again in the
upcoming weeks to design and paint a 140-foot wall that will be up
during the reconstruction of the four businesses burned in the
recent fire at North 85th Street and Greenwood Avenue North. Taproot
Theatre Company contacted Osgood about the wall, but the details of
what the piece will look like haven't been discussed yet.
Sullivan and Bohnenkamp are showing their work at Bherd Studios
Gallery, 8537 Greenwood Ave. N., Suite 1, as part of the "Urban
Presence" exhibit through Dec. 23.
