Estacada Public Art

We recently read about a series of murals in Estacada.

The mural project itself, conceived of by a group of local artists, goes back to 1992. 

As we needed to get to Estacada for the library and for another stop on the Heritage Trail, we made an effort to seek out the art as well.

In some ways it was very easy. Once you show up in approximately the right part of town you will begin spotting murals.

As you walk to explore, more will appear. Spotting most of them becomes very easy.

There are a few exceptions.

First of all, there are two that are not in downtown Estacada: Bird Party (lead artist Kolieha Bush) at Wade Creek Park and An Evening on the Barlow Road (lead artist Am Griswold) at the Philip Foster Farm.

The farm is also a stop on the Heritage Trail, and will be featured next week. Once there, the mural is clearly visible. It is easy to go the wrong way at the park.

Wade Creek Park is kind of divided by the library and water. The mural is on the playground side. If you are facing the front of the library, go right. Going left gives you a picnic shelter and performance area.

If you are in the right place, those are still relatively easy to find. There are some in the main area that become a little more complicated.

One is Celebration '98 (lead artist Kolieha Bush) at the Harmony Baking Company, which was fenced off. It could be seen from the right part of the sidewalk.

Otherwise, I think I had not realized exactly how small the mini-murals would be. That may be why I could not find them. Some of the regular murals are so large -- like The Cycle of Wood (lead artist Joe Cotter) -- that "mini" could still be good-sized.

Farm Scene (lead artist Eileen Belanger) was not designated a mini-mural, but when we found it, it clearly was. Since it was listed as outside the Estacada Food Bank, instead of just a street address, that helped in finding it.

If you are looking at the Artback map, you will see that some of them have been decommissioned, and there are no traces now. I wondered about this, but seeing some of the older ones -- where there is not just fading but pieces missing -- it may be best to think of this as something that is temporary; enjoy it while you can.

There is a lot of variety in the art, with most of it depicting local traditions and history.

Often there is a nice synchronicity between the location and the subject, like Fishing the Clackamas (lead artist Jenny Joyce) at Clackamas River Outfitters, or Tales of the Trails (lead artist Joe Cotter) at The Trails Inn and Timber Room.

While the murals themselves are eye-catching, there is an additional pleasure in taking a closer look at the details.

It's worth wandering around.

COVID: This is completely outside, and distancing is easy.

Accessibility: While there are no stairs or anything in the way like that, some of the art can be harder to get to, as noted throughout. Viewing the whole and the details will often require crossing the street, so use caution.  

https://www.artbackmurals.com/