Next up we're checking out the murals outside the Pearl District's 24 Hour Fitness at NW 12th & Johnson, in which a bunch of handlebar-mustached Victorian gentlemen show off their boxing and weightlifting skills. The artist also co-created the Roseway neighborhood's Neighborhood in Motion mural at NE 72nd, Sandy, & Fremont.
Sunday, January 03, 2016
People's History of Hawthorne
Next up on the continuing mural tour is People's History of Hawthorne, on the Eagles lodge at SE 49th & Hawthorne. Regular readers with good memories might recall the similarly-named People's Bike Library of Portland on W. Burnside; you probably can't go wrong with an obvious Howard Zinn reference here in Portland. Anyway, here's the RACC description:
“The History of Hawthorne”—or “the peoples’ history”—is a direct dedication to the surrounding neighborhood and community, showing not only the “known” history, but the personal mythos, characters (past and present, alive and dead) who have shaped SE Portland and this core region. This part of Portland is known for great neighborhoods, food, bars, churches, houses, parks, retail, and a general place to “hang out.” Hawthorne is a busy community all year round. Artist Chris Haberman wanted to show Hawthorne’s history and vibrancy, from hipster to hippy, from early farmer to brewmaster, and from homeless to home owner. During this exploration he canvassed the neighborhood, talking with dozens of citizens. Haberman sought to embody an “oral” tradition by weaving these stories and experiences into the history of the Hawthorne neighborhood.
For some reason this design makes me think "Dr. Bronner's soap label", even though the two things actually look nothing alike. Maybe it's the jumble of disordered words along the top, I'm not really sure. In any event, it was painted in 2012-13 by Chris Haberman, who also did the much smaller mural at O'Malleys, a bar at SE 66th & Foster.
Peninsula Station mural
The ongoing mural tour visits St. Johns again, for a peek at the Peninsula Station mural at N. Lombard & Charleston, outside the shipping & printing shop of the same name. The RACC description:
The Peninsula Station mural is a colorful celebration of life in the St. Johns neighborhood. It commemorates residents, both young and old, doing what makes St. Johns great—talking, playing, laughing, eating, dancing, cycling, and being with one another.
This was created in 2010 by Bruce Orr, who also did the Scrap Mural on Williams Avenue.
Friday, January 01, 2016
Women Making History in Portland
Women Making History in Portland at N. Interstate Avenue & Harding St., not far from the Widmer brewery. The RACC blurb about it:
In Other Words Women’s Books and Resources were the organizers of this mural. The mural represents a women’s history of Portland, and was made to promote the mission of empowering women through art and education. The mural portrays women from all walks of life within the Portland community.
Links:
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ShNOxn-TqY
This was created in 2007 by Robin Corbo, who also did the mural at the Community Cycling Center on NE Alberta, and the large BARK Mural on SE Powell, among other things. She posted a Facebook photoset about the mural, with brief bios for many of the women depicted here.
Albina Yard mural
Next stop on our continuing mural tour is the gigantic Albina Yard Maintenance Building Mural, on the eponymous building on Mississippi Avenue near the Interstate 5 underpass. It's another of the "history of this neighborhood" murals that Portland loves so much, and it has a rather wordy RACC description:
The west side of the Albina Maintenance Building features a mural embracing a theme of “perpetual collaboration” similar to a Rube Goldberg machine in city scale and through time. Community practices and industries that affected the local Portland-Albina neighborhood over the last several eras represent the mechanical components of the city-Goldberg-machine. The driving force behind this mural was the community engagement where the nearby communities and maintenance workers contributed their voices to develop the mural.
As the Maintenance building tapers out of the hillside, from left to right the image shows our Native American landscape migrating into historic Oregonian industries of lumber, railroad, and steel, moving into representations of the diversity of people and activities characteristic of Portland. Throughout the image are several series of local mountains, bridges, gardens, parks, icons of communities, and city workers behind the scenes to keep the city-Goldberg-machine functioning. Included are symbols of the neighborhoods’ transitions of communities from the Native American, Volga Germans, Finnish, Chinese, and African American. Out of the neighborhood flows a procession of all communities, some are playing instruments, creating a lively jazz display in the foreground. As the maintenance building’s height rises vertically the mural shows a culmination of the community united in celebration, incorporating elements of diversity throughout the image.
Links:
Article: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/07/albina_yard_maintenance_buildi.html
In the interest of historical accuracy, I just have to point out that a lot of these transitions (like, say, Native American tribes to pioneers, or from an African-American neighborhood to upscale white hipster playland) were rather less happy and orderly than the mural indicates. I mean, we all know this already, yes? But I still feel like I can't let this pass unremarked-upon.
All That Is Gold
The next stop on the mural tour takes us to NE 33rd & Sandy, where All That Is Gold is hidden down a gated alley next to the Laurelhurst Studios building. The mural was created in 2014 by Gage Hamilton and Zach Yarrington, whose names you might recognize from innumerable Forest For The Trees murals over the last few years.
The title's painted up toward the top of the building and is hard to see from street level; I'm not sure where it's meant to be viewed from. The iceberg theme around the alley entrance made me think the title said "Cold" rather than "Gold". Luckily I ran across some photos and making-of videos that cleared this up before I hit Publish. That would have been sort of embarrassing. Not as bad as the New York Times spinning lurid tales of Iraqi WMDs that, um, never existed, but embarrassing by this humble blog's usual standards.
Fight for Your Dreams
Next mural up is Fight for Your Dreams, created by artist Maryanna Hoggatt for the 2014 Forest for the Trees event. It's located out at NE 59th & Sandy, on the side of BTU Brasserie, a newish brewpub/Chinese place I haven't gotten around to trying yet.
Share the Road
Next mural up is Share the Road, a mural about bikes on the side of an auto shop at SE 43rd & Hawthorne. It has a brief RACC description:
The mural graphically registers the pulse of a neighborhood in motion and integrates the auto into the grander scheme of alternative transportation, environmental sustainability, and the need for harmonious safe traffic through an urban neighborhood.
This was painted in 2006 by artist Sara Stout, and was the subject of (at least) three BikePortland posts as well as (at least) one at Portland Transport, because bikes.
Children and Youth Bill of Rights
The next mural on our ever-continuing tour Children and Youth Bill of Rights, a big and busy 2 story design on the south side of Killingsworth at Maryland Ave. The RACC description:
This mural by Jesus Kobe Garcia and Margret Harburg was inspired by The Bill of Rights for the Children and Youth of the City of Portland and Multnomah County. Adopted by both City and County in 2006, the document was created with help from more than 3,000 youth and seeks to serve as a constant reminder of the vital role children and youth play in shaping the future of their communities. Garcia and Harburg worked with students from five schools throughout North Portland to design the mural which honors the academic dreams and successes of youth as well as the history of African-Americans and Native Americans in North Portland. Extending beyond the immediate community, the mural also displays painted flags representing countries where natural disasters and conflicts have disrupted their people (Japan, Libya, El Salvador). The artists worked with youth from Blue Faith Youth, a faith based youth group from North Portland’s Holy Cross Parish, and students from Trillium’s 3rd and 4th grade art class to paint the mural.
NE 30th & Killingsworth
Ok, the next painted intersection we're visiting is a bit different from the last few; rather than placing a big design in the middle of the intersection, the one at NE 30th & Killingsworth has designs on the four streetcorners instead. A circa-2006 City Repair description of the then-new progject (via archive.org) indicates that the intersection was too busy for the traditional sort of street design, and the city wouldn't let them close it off for a day of painting:
This community project will include painting creative crosswalks and building kiosk-type structures along Killingsworth approaching the intersection from both directions to catch driver’s eyes and slow traffic, transforming a dangerous intersection into an attractive expression of community co-creation and safe space. Despite the flood warnings and evacuation routes that must be kept unperturbed, the residents are tired of it all passing by unnoticed. Can’t we just close the street for one day to paint? Many thanks to this community for braving the “higher ups” and doing something anyway. Keep the dream alive and keep the designs a’comin. Strong community prevails.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
2015 in Instagram cat photos
So there's a year-end tradition here (by which I mean the last couple of years) in which the year's final post is just a batch of Instagram cat photos from the previous 12 months. I figured I'd go ahead and do that again for 2015, since people never really get tired of cute cat photos. Incidentally, this post also brings me up to 186 posts for the year, which isn't a lot by recent standards, but it moves 2015 into an exact tie with 2012 and 2009. Apparently this is pattern that repeats every third year, for whatever reason. *shrugs* Anyway, Happy New Year!
Compass Junction
The next painted intersection we're visiting is "Compass Junction", in St. Johns at N. Edison & St. Louis. This one was first painted in 2011; a recent City Repair project guide describes it:
Compass Junction, three berry-lined blocks from Cathedral Park, was first painted in 2009. Our Mariner's Mandala is a navigational aid, directing our gaze outward from the central compass to an Escher-like outer ring from which we see the Baltimore Woods Connectivity Corridor, the sparkling river that separates us from Forest Park, the titanic vessels that ply the working waters of the Willamette's North Reach, and the iconic green gothic arches of our beloved St. Johns Bridge, from which we can glimpse downtown, Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens on a clear day. This is The Crossroads.
We are on the Edge of Everything, and the edge is where the action is. Come look through our special window on the world for the day!
That description really captures why I have a soft spot for the whole painted intersection phenomenon. I'm an inveterate cynic (in case you hadn't noticed already), but there's a sense of goofy unironic optimism about the whole business that I just can't bring myself to sneer at; it would be like sneering at a box of puppies or something.
Jarrett Grove
Next up on the painted intersection tour is "Jarrett Grove", at NE 28th & Jarrett. Like a number of the others I'm posting today, this is a recent one, first painted in summer 2015. The project description:
The Jarrett Grove intersection painting is the first of many natural building projects planned by the neighborhood. The community named the project Jarrett Grove as it is a celebration to pay homage to the amazing Douglas Fir trees, among many other evergreens, that fill the neighborhood. The trees are pointed in four different directions with faith houses at each base. The trees all stem from the same potent, lovely, and sacred geometry.
I'm no expert on "sacred geometry", but this design does look kind of familiar, as if we've seen a very similar design at some other intersection. I can't put my finger on which one, but it definitely rings a bell. In an early post in this series, I offered a few free ideas for intersection paintings, and I'd just like to toss them back out there for anyone who's got a city permit but needs a design. It's been almost 2 years and as far as I know nobody's used any of them so far, so you -- yes, you -- could be the first:
It's a shame there's nowhere to put one in my downtown neighborhood. All the streets around here are way too busy, and most of them have MAX or streetcar tracks running through them. It's a shame because I think I'd be pretty good at brainstorming designs. The moon, maybe, or a giant octopus, or a Deep Space Nine wormhole, or Pac-Man, or a crop circle, or maybe a Sarlacc pit, or a surreal Escher design to confuse passing motorists. Some of these might be a bit tough for amateur street painters to pull off in a weekend, though, and others might have trademark issues. Feel free to swipe any of these notions for your local intersection if you like though.
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Rainbow Dragon
The next painted intersection on our tour is the Rainbow Dragon at NE 32nd & Sumner. This is another new one, first painted in summer 2015. The brief project description:
Dragons symbolize strength in many cultures. Slide down the Rainbow Dragon and feel the force of neighborhood community. Rainbow Dragon honors the strength of our friend and neighbor, Brook Irwin, who lost a five-year battle to cancer. Rainbow Dragon infuses a playfulness into the intersection. Forget the crosswalk, just skip across the street on the stepping stones and admire the brook below.
The design kind of takes me back to junior high in the early 1980s, when roughly half of all school supplies were plastered with some combination of rainbows, unicorns, and dragons. I say half because anything with a rainbow was strictly a girls' item for whatever reason, and I recall a lot of my school supplies having an epic space battle theme instead. I didn't mind that at the time, but in retrospect it's weird that I missed out on a lot of dragons because of a few rainbows and the anxieties of a strange decade.
Community Blooming, NE 85th & Beech
Some time ago, I did a post about the "Community Blooming" painted intersection at NE 85th & Milton, near Rocky Butte. While putting the post together I discovered it was the southern half of a pair of intersections, so I put an item on my big todo list to visit the one at 85th & Beech the next time I was in the area. So I finally got around to it, but ended up with a couple of subpar photos. Someone was having a house party right next to the intersection, and people kept arriving, and I didn't want to be mistaken for an uninvited guest and either confronted or (maybe even worse) invited in. It sounds silly now as I try to explain it, but it felt like a reasonable concern at the time. It's an introvert thing, I guess.
Jade's Jewel
The next painted intersection on our tour is "Jade's Jewel", at NE 61st & Tillamook. The project description has a weirdly downbeat tone:
Jade's Jewel reinvigorated the vibrant community around NE Tillamook and 61st Ave. The neighborhood used to have block parties, Christmas parties, Easter egg hunts, and a plethora of gatherings annually. However, the community has dwindled in the past few years and there have been illnesses and deaths impeding upon community building. So, the community was brought back together by painting the streets rockin' colors! The drawing is Sponge Bob Squarepants inspired!
Identifying the SpongeBob Squarepants connection is left as an exercise for the reader. Mostly because I don't see it. I've watched an embarrassingly large number of SpongeBob episodes thanks to the magic of Netflix, and I don't recall seeing this in any of them.
North Tabor Mandala
Ok, it's been a while since we've visited any of Portland's ever-increasing number of artsy painted intersections. I have a few more in Drafts, though, so I think I'll run through those and post them as a change of pace from all the murals. I suppose it's not a huge change of pace, but at least we'll be looking at horizontal painted surfaces instead of vertical ones for the next few posts.
Anyway, the next stop on the ongoing "intersection repair" tour is the North Tabor Mandala at NE 53rd & Everett. This is one of the newest ones, first painted in summer 2015. The City Repair page about it describes it:
North Tabor Neighborhood Association in conjunction with South East Uplift was overjoyed to bring an intersection mandala into the heart of the neighborhood. In the spirit of their long term goals to bring life, culture, and vibrancy to the community, they worked with the local Portland Montessori School, whose upper elementary school children produced a design of geometric shapes, angles, and patterns. With the help of a generous grant from South East Uplift, partnerships with neighborhood icons Folktime and Community of Christ Church, and - most importantly - the help of volunteers who call North Tabor home, something unique and beautiful was created to be enjoyed and celebrated by all for years to come.
For what it's worth, I tend to quote from City Repair pages instead of just linking because these pages have a nasty habit of vanishing when the next year's crop of projects rolls around.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
X
Just a quick note that today is this humble blog's tenth birthday. I don't really have any remarks prepared; for various reasons it's been kind of an off year, blogwise, and I honestly hadn't given the big anniversary a lot of thought. As it turns out, this is also the 25th anniversary of the very first web page going online, so this blog's been around for 40% of the modern interwebs.
At this point I'm probably supposed to have nuggets of wisdom to share or something, but I can't think of anything off the top of my head. It certainly doesn't feel like it's been a decade, although when I first started this thing I still had dialup, had just bought my very first digital camera, and had just moved into downtown Portland from the wilds of westside suburbia. So I'm forced to admit this has been going on for a while now.
I'm not going to venture any predictions about a possible twentieth birthday. It would surprise me if Blogger and Flickr both exist in their current form a decade from now, since one's an increasingly neglected backwater of the vast Google empire, and the other currently belongs to Yahoo. It's also possible (even probable) that I might lose interest at some point without my hand being forced, or I might just get hit by a bus or something. So no promises on that point.
If I have time and get around to it, I may put together a list of personal favorite posts from the last decade. Seems like the least I can do, in lieu of having any pearls of wit or wisdom to pass along. It's just that there are close to 3000 posts to sort through, so this is going to take a bit of thought. I'll try to have something put together before New Years, unless work intervenes again.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Blinded by Science
Next up is a small mural near SE 6th & Oak, painted on an industrial building's rolling steel door. A Flickr photo caption by wiredforsound23 (who's the source for a lot of my mural posts) says this is called Blinded by Science, and says it's by local artist Klutch, who also did the big mural next to Buckman Field. I keep thinking this looks like a hop cone, wearing awesome 80s shades like it's beer's answer to the old California Raisin commercials. But that's just me.
Riggins Remodeling mural
The mural tour continues with another stop on NE Alberta; the next mural is at the Riggins Remodeling shop, facing the alley between 27th & 28th. I wasn't able to find out anything about this one, which happens a lot with art on Alberta for some reason. The local booster association has a murals page, but they only list a handful of RACC and Forest for the Trees ones, which is no help since I've already covered all of those. Oh, well.
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