City Mural Walk

I love murals, I always have. The talent alone is enough to make you stand in awe of them. Not to mention the stories behind them. I participate in a great blog hop called Weekend Coffee Share and the host, Natalie, lives in Toronto and is always sharing amazing murals she finds throughout her city (not to mention other amazing things). This got me thinking about one of our nearby cities, Vancouver, Wa. I knew they had a few murals, so I did a search and found that there were over 20 just in the downtown area. 

My youngest daughter and I headed out on an adventure to find them. I was using what must've been an older list because there were a few we couldn't find. However I think we did find a few extras and as we drove, I happened to see a couple more but we didn't have time to stop. It didn't matter, it was just fun. 

Let's start out. Here was the map we used. I found it on Visit Vancouver, Wa website. We started backwards so we'll start at #26. I'll include the ones we couldn't find and a few extras.  I think this was an older map so perhaps the reason we couldn't find some of them was that they were just no longer there. 

#26...150 Years of Service/Vancouver Fire Department

This mural was created in 2017 by Guy Drennan and is located at 2515 Main Street.

#25...The Mask...we didn't get a picture of this because it was inside an outdoor eatery.

#24...Electric Amsterdam. Painted by Jeff Jacobson in 2018. It is located at 2314 Main St. 

I thought this one was so cool looking! 

#23...Occupied Illahee...We couldn't find this one. I'm not sure if we just missed it or if it was painted over. 

#22....Uptown Village Mural...1919 Main St. I think this photo is of this mural..some were a bit hard to find, but when I looked up the address, the building and the corner of this building in the photo look the same, so we'll go with it. Since I couldn't find anything about it online, I don't know who painted it. 

#21...River Traffic...1812 Washington St..again, another one that seems to have been painted over. We really did find quite a few, bear with me. 

#20...Vintage Main Street...1813 Main St...Painted by Guy Drennan, Karen Jolma and Judy Sanders in 2006. It depicts Uptown village right before the war. The mural is a copy of an original photo dating about 1946 and shows students coming home in the afternoon. 

It was hard to get a good photo of this one because of the trees, sun and shade. 

#19...At the Barre...1700 Broadway St...Painted by Guy Drennan and Kelly Hytrek in 2009. 

#18...Hope...1515 Broadway St..Painted by Jeannie Russell in 2016...Inspired by a quote from Lady Bird Johnson.

#17...Luepke History...1300 Washington St...Painted by Michael J. Feliz in 2015. No other information is listed but this is a local floral shop so I'm going to guess it depicts the businesses history. It closed in 2019 but it looks like it got it's start in 1909 by a husband and wife who moved from Texas where they originally owned another flower shop. 

#16...Fort Vancouver...1201 Main St....Painted by Michael Feliz in 2014. Designed to depict the long and rich life of Fort Vancouver. It began as a fur trade center and an international hub to a strong military base, but also a legacy of thriving farmland and community. 

#15...Beacon Rock...1118 Main St...Painted by Michael Feliz in 2014...Beacon Rock is a popular hike in the Columbia River Gorge. We actually hiked it back in 2019. There is a series of stairs that hug the side of the rock, but history is that in 1901 Frank Smith, George Purcer and Charles Church, scaled it by means of ropes, iron pins and a lot of bravery. Here is some interesting information. 

It was hard to get a good photo of this...where that big shadow is, is a canoe with men rowing down the river. We just couldn't get on the other side of the fence and there was nowhere to park. Below are photos from the hike we took. 

#14...Moving Business Forward...1101 Broadway St...another one we weren't able to find. 

#13...JOYO...1011 Main St...Painted by Cimmaron Brodie in 2018...Apparently depicting a friendship between Joyo Japan and Vancovuer Washington Rotary clubs in 1985 slating them as sister cities. There are various symbols within the painting. You can find info about those here.

#12...Brewer's History...1000 Main St...Painted by Tamara Davisson and Jason Galles in 2012...More info can be found here, but this was done as a creative interpretation of Vancouver's brewing history. 

#11...Chkalov's Landing...911 Main St....I thought I found this one, but apparently not. 

#10...Turtle Place...107 W. 7th st...Painted by Guy Drennan, Lindia Stanton and Brian Helfrich in 2010...There wasn't much explanation for this one except that they turned an abandoned downtown bus terminal into a city park as a way to show how to re-use space for public benefit. I did find some more information here and it seems the name came from a name the native people used for Vancouver, Wa area...

#9...River Recreation...115 W. 7th St....Painted by Jan Strommel in 2014. No other information on it but since Vancouver sits on the Columbia river, it shows the many ways people enjoy this large body of water. 

#8...Lewis and Clark...115 S. 7th St...Painted by David Van Overeem in 2014...Again no info on it, but simply depicting the journey of Lewis and Clark. 

#7...Columbia River...115 w. 7th St...Painted by Travis Czekalski and Matt Erland in 2014...illustrating the various river vessels traveling down the river. Both current boats and historical vessels. 

#6...Farmers Market...600 Main St....Painted by Travis Czekalski in 2013...The farmers markets in Vancouver and surrounding areas are filled with so much rich foods, arts, crafts and other handmade goods. The main market is located just a few blocks away from this mural in the Esther Short Park neighborhood. 

#5...Welcome to Vancouver...253 E. 6th St..we did not get a photo of this one since the location is a little hard to access, and there were some sketchy people where we would have had to go, but it is located just as you exit the freeway and into the city from I-5 northbound to city center.

#4...Chinook Nation...514 Washington St...painted by Travis Czekalski in 2012. This is meant to depict Clark County's cultural history with the Chinook Nation. The Chinook settled on the banks of the Columbia river hundreds of years before western explorers arrived. The center photo is representation of a Power Pole-honoring a head of household, tribal leader or important elder. They didn't create totems but power poles. More details can be found here. 

#3...Grape Quartet...506 Washington St...Painted by David Van Overeem in 2013...I couldn't find any info on this one...but doesn't it just make you think of summer and outdoor entertainment.

#2 Remembrance Wall...358 Phil Arnold Way....This wall was painted over the course of several years by many different artists. I couldn't find information on who painted which part, but it was created to honor veterans who served from WW!! through the Vietnam wars. 

Above is the Liberty Ship at Kaiser Shipyards and "Rosie the Riverter".

This is a photo of my youngest in front of one of them for her senior photos. 

#1 Railway Bridge...195 Columbia St...apparently there were two sides of this bridge that were painted but I only got the north side, this side was painted by Girl Scout Troop 45765 in 2015. The other side was painted by High school students. It was an effort to discourage taggers and create some public art.

Others we found:

The above mural is more recent and painted by Ana the artist photo in 2022..she actually did a paint and sip I went to in February. I LOVE this mural. 

The above mural is called "unity oasis" and was done by Colin and Mia Behr in 2020. 

This mural is titled "More than Meets the eye" and painted by Jane Degenhardt in 2021. The story behind it is all that takes place under the cover of the forest..mosses, mushrooms, etc. It just takes us being attentive to notice it all.

The above photo was designed and painted by Heysus and his family. The word "Nch'i-wana" was the word for the Columbia "the Great River". The woman with the red hand on her face is to bring attention to missing and murdered indigenous women.

These trees were also part of the Unity Oasis painting but got out of order. These are titled "Calm Trees" and done by the same artists. I thought they were pretty neat.

This photo which I originally thought might be Chaklov's Landing is called 3 Sailors/Ranald McDonald. It was painted by Guy Drennan in 2018. It talks about three Japanese sailors who wrecked on the Olympic Peninsula in 1834. They were captured by indians and used as slaves. They were later ransomed by Dr. McGloughlin...anyways, there's quite a story here about the whole thing..It might just be easier to read there. It's a PDF and this photo is on pg. 10

With Joy Unquenchable,