“Splash of Color Brings Life to Grim Spot”
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.
