Tag Archives: murals

How a giant new Kraken hockey mural ended up along Capitol Hill’s 10th Ave E

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(Image: @jdco.design)

(Image: @jdco.design)

With Seattle in the midst of a new crackdown on vandalism, a retaining wall behind a North Capitol Hill mansion that has long been a prominent canvas for taggers and graffiti artists now hosts a 156-foot long by 8-foot tall mural celebrating the homeowner’s pride for a hometown sports team

Artist Craig Johnson tell CHS he is wrapping up the few-week project to create the new Seattle Kraken mural that now rises in the busy 1500 block of 10th Ave E across from the St. Mark’s greenbelt.

“Today wasn’t great for production,” Johnson said Friday. “I have to work between the rain.”

The new work depicting Kraken imagery, players, and branding including the second-year team’s “scrimshaw” pattern is a collaboration, Johnson said, between the artist, the Kraken, and big fan Brian Flynn, the investor and a co-founder behind Mexican airline Volaris and a casino and travel analytics firm. Flynn is reportedly a supporter of the team and close with ownership. Johnson said the Kraken were part of planning the work and making sure it was up to the team’s brand standards. Continue reading →

New mural of Stonewall queen Marsha P. Johnson rises off Broadway

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(Image: Broadway Business Improvement Association)

A new mural of Marsha P. Johnson, the drag queen of Stonewall, now stretches down a block of Capitol Hill at Broadway and Harrison.

The Broadway Business Improvement Association project on the side of the street’s Crossroads Trading building is part of new LGBTQIA+ art and banners coming to Broadway over the next couple of months, the organization says.

ArtistĀ JiĆ©yƬ Zhou created the work with support from PrideFest in the project funded by the BIA and retailer Crossroads which has included the 1940s era building in its real estate portfolio since 2008. Continue reading →

Chewy’s giant ‘Ultimate Pet Portrait’ joins Capitol Hill’s mural pack

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(Image: Chewy)

(Image: Chewy)

Maybe Capitol Hill is getting soft. Or, maybe, the giant fuzzy buddies featured in the big “Ultimate Pet Portrait” mural at Broadway and PineĀ are just too sweet.

But the huge yellow commercial work by Seattle artist Ariel Parrow that went up a few weeks back on the side of the old South Annex building on E Pine will be officially unveiled this week having remained mostly unmarred by tagging and vandalism — even if the represented critters include a very un-Capitol Hill mix of apparent purebreds, no mutts, and no pit bulls. The pet rabbit? On brand.

Tuesday, Chewy, the $17 billion online retailer of pet food and “other pet-related products,” will celebrate the mural and hosting “a fun gathering for pets and pet parents” with a tent in Cal Anderson Park with treats and giveaways starting at 11 AM just across from the E Pine artwork. Continue reading →

Super green Pike/Pine development unveils giant ‘Amaterasu’ mural, change from condo plans

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The work, titled Amaterasu, peers over 13th Ave (Image: CHS)

It’s too early — and not enough is known — to call Capitol Hill’s spurt of condominium development over but a high profile project appears to be a sign that rent is still king in Pike/Pine.

If its quest for sustainability wasn’t enough, the giant, colorful, north-facing mural from “urban artist” Fin DAC has drawn plenty of attention to the nearly complete Solis development at 13th and Pike. But the project on a quest to be Capitol Hill’s — and Seattle’s –firstĀ Passive House-certified mixed-use project won’t come to market as condos as had been planned.

In an announcement, the developer announced the 45-unit building “will be retained by SolTerraā€™s investment group as an apartment community.” Continue reading →

Here’s how Kurt Cobain’s big face ended up back on a Capitol Hill wall

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Last summer, the replacement of a Nagle Place mural of Kurt Cobain sparked a wave of nostalgia for a Capitol Hill that never was. First, the work had only been in place for half a year. Second, the muralist was a famed London street artist promoting a show at a Pioneer Square gallery. And third, the work was replaced with another by local artist and prolific Capitol Hill muralistĀ Weirdo.

Nevermind all that.

Now the London artist, that Pioneer Square gallery, again, credit union BECU, and Capitol Hill’s Everyday MusicĀ have teamed up for a nostalgic flipside to the removed original. Continue reading →

With Capitol Hill a nirvana of murals, here’s why Kurt Cobain got painted over for Pride on Nagle Place

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Kurt Cobain could give a shit about Nagle Place. And walls? Walls change.

“Walls rotate. And if you’ve been in the game long enough, you’ve seen it happen to your own walls,” muralist and street artist Weirdo tells CHS.

You’ve seen his “hyper-real”Ā Weirdocult works all over the Hill, most prominently on the side of Neumos where a regular rotation of new works hype the latest big music release or, recently, new kits for the Seattle Sounders.

The murals are his business and this kind of street work is a growing industry for influencers and marketing. They’re not strictly advertising. To stay clear of the city’s rules about off premise advertising — remember this legendary 12th and Pine ad space? — the depictions don’t include overt commercial messaging and involve imagery and subjects related to the building and the community. The paintings, in the end, become statements and part of the colorful background of Pike/Pine and Broadway.

Mostly, Weirdo’s murals are celebrated for their mix of intense, beyond real colors, and photorealistic depictions of his subjects. Weirdo’s latest work is being wrapped up on one of the newer canvases in the Capitol Hill wall space on the backside of the Hunters Capital-developed Broadway Building, along Nagle Place, facing the popular and usually bustling Cal Anderson skate and sport courts. Continue reading →

Metier-Homegrown combo brings new ‘FoodArt’ to E Union

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Thanks to the FoodArt Collection, Capitol Hill can lay claim to a homegrown pop art movement. Now the work of artistĀ Genevieve St. Charles has busted out onto the streets of Pike/Pine.

Earlier this year, CHS reported on the link up between E Union’s cycling culture-centered Metier and the food+drink folks at Homegrown.Ā That tandem is now riding smoothly and the combination has added a new mural to the neighborhood’s collection of giant sized art. Continue reading →

The Honda finches of Boren need a new home

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(Image: Will Schlough)

It depends on what kind of person you are, but a batch of three giant plywood goldfinches might just be an offer you cannot refuse. The bright yellow birds, who once graced the exterior of the former Honda of Seattle dealership on Boren, need a new home. And according to artist Will Schlough and Urban ArtWorks, a local nonprofit that works with adjudicated youth and co-produced the work, that could be anyone with enough exterior wall space.

The Goldfinches were retrieved last year from the building before it was razed to make way for Washington State Convention Centerā€™sĀ more than $1.6 billion expansion. Local artist Will Schlough made the work in 2016. He covered the electric-blue building with images of three American Goldfinches pulling bright red ribbon that snaked around the building. Continue reading →

CHS Pics | Amid a jelly’s tentacles, The Reef’s colorful new mural

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(Image: CHS)

The Seattle and statewide marijuana retail and edible industries are pushing back on an out of the blue move by theĀ Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board that could bring the end of candy-like pot edibles in the state in 2019 because, officials say, the colorful sweets are too appealing to children.

The Stranger reports thatĀ the Washington CannaBusiness Association, the Cannabis Alliance, and the Cannabis Organization of Retail Establishments have come out against the planned change in policy that would end the legal production of “hard candy (of any style, shape or size), tarts, fruit chews, colorful chocolates, jellies and any gummy type products.”

Hopefully ocean blues and jellyfish purples don’t appeal too much to children. Continue reading →

Vote opens for new giant mural planned for 7-story Pike Flats development

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Urban Artworks has decorated some of Capitol Hill’s biggest blank slates with artwork and messages that have become part of the neighborhood’s fabric. Here’s the color the brought to 12th and Pine with the “Read Up, Hands Down” project on the Richmark Label building.

The nonprofit made a splash this summer with its “Keep Cap Hill Queered” mural on the eastern face of the former 95 SlideĀ at Harvard and Pike before its demolition to make way for a new 7-story mixed-use project.

Urban Artworks is now collecting votes for a new, enormous mural design planned to cover the western wall of the Pike Flats building currently under construction at the corner:

Itā€™s an exciting time for Urban ArtWorks and Carr & Johnson! After an international call for artists four finalists have been chosen for a new mural to be completed summer 2018. The finalists were asked to conceptualize a site specific work for the corner of Pike and Harvard on Capitol Hill. Below are the artistsā€™ submission renderings along with examples of previous work. We will be featuring more information on the artists in the next few weeks, but for now we just want to know which concept appeals to you the most.

You can check out the designs and vote here.

Voting got off to an in-person start earlier this month at the Redhook Brewlab. Redhook should be interested in the outcome. The resulting work will tower over the small-batch brewery’s E Pike patio.