Kickstarter

Support community art in Portland’s Historic Mississippi District. Help bring color and character to the Boise neighborhood. The Albina Yard Mural Project portrays the neighborhood through time and brings cheer to its future.

The western facing wall of the Albina Yard Maintenance Building on N. Mississippi Ave. is over 30 ft. at is tallest point, is visible from I-5 and the Fremont bridge, and is constantly collecting graffiti and tags. Since this wall is very visible and will likely become a N. Portland landmark, the imagery was chosen with great care. To kick-off the community brainstorm, posters of the tagged up wall with the phrase “what do YOU want to SEE on this wall” were hung throughout the Albina and Boise-Eliot neighborhoods advertising weekly meetings. Over months, people of the community met to develop the theme and neighborhood impact of the mural’s imagery.

While composing the mural design of these gathered ideas, the focus became the commerce, economy, and peoples that settled the Albina and Boise-Eliot Neighborhoods, from farmland to present. Our artists researched the history of the area and compiled old pictures, highlighting changes in industry that brought in new populations of people. A pedestrian walking South down the N. Mississippi hill will travel through scenes of peoples and celebration, forest and farmland, large ships and steam engines. The imagery is tied together by the Willamette itself, winding through time with many of Portland’s famous bridges punctuating its path. Jazz!

Help us paint this mighty mural! There will be weekly painting hours held onsite, at the wall. Check out our schedule https://www.facebook.com/#!/spacecraft.missiontoarts on facebook. The hours are weather permitting, so please wish for solid sunny days! Help us raise the funds to support the completion of this mural! We are trying to raise an additional $3500 to cover costs to facilitate what will be a landmark of NoPo. These funds will go to Man-Lift rental, extra paint, brushes, and to increase our artists’ modest stipend. Come lend a hand at the wall, and donate to the mural’s completion. Support community art!

The Albina Yard Mural was developed by the Boise Neighborhood, Albina Youth Opportunity School, and Portland Bureau of Transportation in partnership with the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods and SpaceCraft: Mission to Arts. This project is funded in part by a public art grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council and a City of Portland Graffiti Abatement Grant.