Fifteen friends integrated in Spokane’s art scene grew together in July and August, creating the city’s largest mural.
The intersection of Mallon Avenue and Hogan Street holds a small gravel parking lot. From the lot, the 700-foot-long mural capturing playfulness and whimsy is visible.
Organizer Karli Fairbanks, commissioned by the Iron Bridge Condos and Apartments to paint the mural, recruited her closest friends.
The artists say it’s the longest mural in the city.
“The property owner was getting fined by the city because there are laws about maintaining graffiti-free walls and buildings in Spokane,” Fairbanks said.
Fairbanks used her years of connection in the art community to form the mural.
“It’s almost like a savings account,” Fairbanks said. “Like, you build up this history of connections with people.”
The art resides on a wall originally created as a sound barrier separating the condos from the train tracks, hence the title, Sound Wall Mural. The paintings cannot be observed from the buildings, only the neighborhood on the east side of the train tracks.
“The neighborhood has so much appreciation for Karli and the vision to bring something beautiful to another side of the building, cultivating that hard-to-share joint happiness,” artist Toby Keough said.
Local artist Ellen Picken is also doing a mural on the front side of the buildings.
“The neighborhood is really happy about the Sound Wall Mural,” Fairbanks said. “They’re constantly checking on us and bringing us water.”
Developer Spectrum Development Solutions Seattle put some money toward the art, Fairbanks said.
“They’ve invested a lot of their money into this project,” Fairbanks said. “It benefits them, but it’s also like, you can do really amazing things, and the community has a lot of skill and talent to contribute, so I think that part is cool.”
In an effort to create a cohesive mural, organizers picked from limited color palettes with the theme of “growing together,” Fairbanks said.
“I believe in connection to space, with murals especially,” Fairbanks said.
“You can plan all you want, but when you show up, there’s things bigger than you, like where you are, the history of the space, the umbrella of growing together just felt like a nice space to start that from.”
Each 20- to 30-foot section brings together hues like Malibu Peach, Big Country Blue, Pumpkin Pie and Eve Green.
“It’s organic, lots of plants and animals, and just stuff that feels vibrant,” Fairbanks said. “Color is a big part of it for me, just adding color to the world, especially in Spokane, a place that is seasonally colorful.”
Some artists tackled specific ideas in their sections of the mural, such as the birth of Spokane, native plants and significant city monuments.
Early on in this project, each artist sent Fairbanks their design for approval.
“I’m not creative-directing anyone, they’re all doing whatever they want,” Fairbanks said. “Any creative direction has been in selecting people I thought would fit well together.”
The artists include Joey Bareither, Jack Beil, Hannah Bottino, Matt Clinard, Lejit Creative, Fairbanks, Rose Honey, Toby Keough, Erin Lang, Morgan Lynch, Lyric Maas, Caleb Mannan, Hazel Miller, Tiffany Patterson and Mary Tevlin.
“It was a big collaboration with a bunch of artists, and my main thing is wanting to work with other artists and learn from other artists, so I was like, this just seems like an insane opportunity and plus I’ve always wanted to work with Karli,” said Erin Lang, one of the artists. “I’m really thankful; Karli has been such an amazing leader, art is such a solitary practice, and it can be pretty isolating, so doing this with so many people and having this kind of community together has been really great.”
Lang and Fairbanks said creativity is a regenerative resource, especially in such a large group.
“This is a reflection of a lot of work I’ve done in trying to honor other artists, and their work and my own work,” Fairbanks said, “and seeing people just super willing to invest and come out in the heat, it’s cool for them and their individual work.”
Lang said one of her sections aims to signify pain, growth and how to overcome hardship, which she said made her better in the end.
“Art transforms any sort of hardships or any sort of emotions; art helps me do that in a way that can also benefit people,” Lang said.
“Art is amazing and cool,” Fairbanks said, “but it is so much more gratifying when experiencing it in a community.”
