A group of six local artists are putting the finishing touches on a graffiti mural that was recently added to the local outdoor art scene thanks to a grant from the city of Eugene.
The city granted $25,000 to the Lane Arts Council to administer Art Wall, a program which funded the 10-by-75 mural. Lizzy Hughes, coordinator of the program, said she is excited young people have the chance to paint outdoors.
“It’s really exciting to see kids be involved with public art,” Hughes said.
Graffiti writers often lament that there is no open legal forum for them to express their ideas or display their work, and the mural project is designed to start solving this problem. Though the project is designed as a way to give high school-aged students a creative outlet, it has expanded to accept any interested artists who don’t fit the criterion for lead artist.
The grant goes to paying coordinators and buying supplies such as paints and special face masks. The mural is located downtown on the wall of Shoe-A-Holic near Broadway Plaza.
Don’t expect the initial mural to stay up long, however. Steve Lopez, one of the group’s leaders, said he hopes they can repaint the mural projects every month or two.
“Art is supposed to be continuously changing,” said Lopez, a University senior fine arts major. “I don’t think a mural should be permanent.”
There are currently three separate groups of young artists working on the project at sites around Eugene. One group, led by Dylan Freeman, a local artist whose wares can be found at the Saturday Market, completed a wall on 444 Lincoln Street. Lopez leads the group of five that is designated to work on the Shoe-A-Holic wall. Lopez also contributed his own talent to the wall.
The third group, led by Kari Johnson, is made up of female brush artists and is in the planning process for a mural.
Other than the background, which was painted with rollers, the Shoe-A-Holic mural is done entirely using spray cans. Each artist used purple, orange, teal and green to create continuity.
“It would be so beautiful to see walls painted everywhere,” Lopez said.
Ben Slichter, a student at Lane Community College, used a mixture of words and characters in his piece.
“Painting, for me, is sort of like meditation,” he said. “You can put your life on the wall but it’s also a great way to educate other people.”
The next mural is tentatively scheduled to go up at the old Sears building downtown and will be a collaborative effort of the groups and any newcomers who join. Organizers continue scouting new mural locations, and after the Sears project it is uncertain where murals will go up and what their content will be. The possibility of doing murals with political and social messages is open.
Lopez said the artists all have something they want to express that they have not felt the freedom to do before.
“They want to shout out somehow,” he said. It’s good, he added, “if you’re able to give them a wall where they can unleash.”
The project is long overdue, artist Levi Banner said, and he thinks the project is a good opportunity to show the community what graffiti artists are capable of doing.
“We’ve needed this for a while,” said Banner, 18. “It keeps me out of trouble.”
Shoe-A-Holic is owned by Lazar Makyadath, who enthusiastically supports the project.
Ali Emami, who owns Northwest Persian Rugs & Imports Inc., located next to Shoe-A-Holic, said he supports the mural project. He said the illegal graffiti he sees near his business and throughout Eugene bothers him, but he sees the project only helping reduce the amount of vandalism.
Though Emami, who also teaches finance for the University, admits it is difficult for him to decipher what the words say, he thinks it is a good project.
“It’s good to let the artists express themselves in a legal way,” Emami said.
Those who wish to participate in the program may pick up an application at the Lane Arts Council, 44 West Broadway, Suite 304, and on Mondays until June 12 at Amazon Village Community Center, 2700 Hilyard St. For more information contact Lizzy Hughes at 302-1810.