CALAC Mural

 CALIC is the Community Alliance of Lane County and it stated purpose is: “Educating and mobilizing for peace, human dignity and social, racial and economic justice.”  Located in the heart of the Whitaker neighborhood at 485 Blair Boulevard. 

The mural pictured above was painted by the Youth Mural Project in 2006.  The theme of the mural is “Shoulders to Stand On; proclaiming the need for past, present and future activist to come together to advocate effectively for social change”. Their intent was to show that “diversity as integral to Eugene’s vitality, encourage people to accept one another, and strengthen support for an inclusive community.”  A beautiful goal. 

Right across the street from the CALC office is the New World Café & New Day Bakery (one of my favorite breakfast spots) that features a mural by Kari Johnston.

Actors Cabaret of Eugene Annex Mural

The Actors Cabaret of Eugene have a wonderfully creative and whimsically appropriate mural on the Annex building located on the north side of 10th Avenue (between Willamette & Olive streets).

This looks like something that was as much fun to make as it is to see.  

Track Town Mural

The Track Town mural pictured above greets visitors to Eugene arriving from Springfield on Coburg Road and is located at the corner of 3rd Avenue & Coburg Rd.  Eugene is quite proud of its history of track & field athletes and innovators.  This town also has the most extensive system of running trails in the country. 

A new mural is going up right around the corner from the Track Town mural on the same building.  It’s wonderful to see new murals going up in town and fascinating to watch the artist at work.  

Delphina Clothing Store Murals

The mural on the front of Delphina Clothing has been done in a graffiti style (see previous post).

The above video shows artist Jerry Wagner creating the Delphina Clothing mural. Delphida Clothing Store is located at 941 West 3rd Aveue in the Whiteaker neighborhood.  

On the back of the Delphina Clothing building are a couple of striking murals done in more traditional style.

The mural pictured above is loaded with powerful elements: an evergreen forest; blue skies; puffy clouds;, a woman holding a rainbow sphere, in front of a blazing sky that is set inside a sliver of a blue crescent moon, which itself is located inside a golden compass rose.  

This beautiful mural transports me to a magical forest full of enchanted mushrooms….

The Boundary Between Murals & Graffiti

Graffiti usually thrives in back alleys and on the outside of urban buildings, places where the law of the jungle is more prevalent than civil law.  

It’s a rough-and-tumble, in your face art form, that often shows little regard for the property it’s painted on, or the artist who painted it.  

All of the above photos were taken at the Citizen’s Corner Art Park located north of the train tracks, behind the county jail, just off Sheldon-McMurphy Street. 

Several installations in town explore the charged border between murals and graffiti.  The mural  above is located on the side of Delphina Clothing, 941 3rd Avenue in the Whiteaker neighborhood. 

I see murals as a form of art that are willing to risk walking on the wild side of life.  They are paintings prepared to go out on the street and meet the world on its own terms.  They don’t cower behind safety glass, inside of air-conditioned museums or in art galleries.  They risk accidents, vandalism, continuous attack by the elements and the harsh ravages of sunlight.   They also encounter and sometimes interact with graffiti, which is an art in its own right, just with a different set of rules.

Photo by B. Souza

Above is another example of a painting that rolls along the delicate edge between murals and graffiti.  This one is tucked into the back of Newman’s Fish Company, a great fish market located near the corner of 15th Avenue and Willamette Street.  It’s diagonally across from the Tibet mural.  As to the question of whether it’s a mural or graffiti, that’s best left up to the viewer.  

Reality Kitchen Murals

Reality Kitchen building located at 245 Van Buren St. in the Whitaker neighborhood, just across the street from Ninkasi Brewery.  The mural artist Jim Evangelista established the nonprofit student learning and development center that is a community center and part autism support program.

In their own words Reality Kitchen “is committed daily to reach out to the Whiteaker neighborhood and greater Lane County offering academically based services and programs designed to nourish all learners, with and without disabilities, to grow personally, professionally, and imaginatively. The ongoing work of Reality Kitchen is to join individuals and families together with a community of resources, skills and experiences they need to successfully transition from school to work; homelessness to residency; burdening dependency to self guided success, personal actualization and independence.”

 A work in progress at the Reality Kitchen. 

Tattoo By Design and the Hunky Dory Pipe & Tobacco Co.

This mural would be easy to walk by without paying it a lot of attention because it’s partially hidden by shrubbery, but it’s well worth pausing for a good look.  The mural is painted on the front of Tattoo by Design, which is located on the corner of Lincoln Street and 7th Avenue.  

Right next to Tattoo By Design on 7th Avenue is Hunky Dory Pipe & Tobacco Co. with a mural featuring Bob Marley and Jerry Garcia in the clouds.  

Eugene Whiteaker Hostel Murals

The Whiteaker Hostel has murals, yes it does.  Located at 970 W. 3rd Avenue in the Whiteaker neighborhood, its vivid exterior complements the community’s artistic and eclectic spirit.

This neighborhood is filled with colorful folks and is alive with art, music, great food, an awesome micro-brewery (Ninkasi) plus the best veggie burger I’ve ever tasted is served up at the Garbanzo Grill nearby.  It also faces the challenges of drug and alcohol-driven crime.  Powerful art energy such as this helps brighten the atmosphere and outlook of this high potential neighborhood.

This commanding portrait is signed by Dan Donovan

Emerald City Mural

 This colorful mural is located behind the WOW Hall and spices up an otherwise drab parking lot.  The mural faces Lincoln Street between 7th & 8th Avenues.  

The artists’ names are listed under the banner of “Youth Mural Collective”.  Sweet!

Mural at the CAT

It’s been called the most noble of all human inventions. No, not the mural; it is the bicycle.   Bikes are at the center of all the activities at the Center for Appropriate Transport (CAT) and it’s there that you can see the mural pictured below.

This mural is another work by the talented artist Kari Johnson that’s located on the side of the CAT building at the corner of 1st Avenue and Washington Street.  

The CAT is an amazing organization that houses Eugene Bicycle Works, Peddlers Express, Human Powered Machines, Eugene Rack Works and also Education & Youth Programs. The CAT describes itself as:


“… a non-profit organization committed to community involvement in manufacturing, using, and advocating sustainable modes of transportation. The first organization of its kind, the Center was founded in Eugene, Oregon in the fall of 1992. Since that time, we have established a number of projects under one roof designed to further this mission.”

The CAT is also one of my favorite places in Eugene.