Progress has continued on the mural at the retaining wall of the 3200 block of East L Street in Tacoma. The wall, once covered in moss and dirt, underwent pressure washing a few weeks back to remove the debris. Community members with the Dometop Neighborhood Alliance volunteered time to prime the wall and now the mural painting has begun. The overall design pulls inspiration from the nearby community garden, and will be studded with strawberries and garden creatures.
So far, the base of the wall has been painted blue with green grass streaming upward. Lead artists Rachael Dotson and Jeremy Gregory, and artist team Yvette Simone, Chelsea O’Sullivan, and Natalie Oswald are pushing full steam ahead and it should be completed in the next few weeks!
Here are some pictures of the in-progress work:
Artist team members meet to sketching the mural design. Photos by Jeremy Gregory.
Spraying on the blue base coat. Photos by Jeremy Gregory.
Painting grasses. Photo by Rachael Dotson.
The mural as of July 12. A field of strawberries and some garden creatures will be appearing soon. Photo by Hannah Franke.
I give it a week before some punk teenager with a can of spraypaint ruins it with some vile vulgarity.
All of the sites that were selected for the Tacoma Murals Project have been targets in the past for blight and vandalism. But, since starting the program in 2010, we’ve had really great success at almost eliminating these issues at the mural sites. Beautiful artwork, created in collaboration with the surrounding community, produces some well-respected placemarkers for our communities.
So excited!!! Keep up the awesome work- wish we could see all of Tacoma painted like this.. might actually give us something to not only brag about but improve our whole image…