
mural “Enjoy the Ride,” on the west end of Art Alley downtown. Behind her is a mural painted in 2017 by Andy Phillips. Photo by David Bates
Artist Natalie Fletcher used to work in a tattoo shop in downtown McMinnville where the rear opened into a concrete canyon of an alley between Davis and Evans streets. She and her co-workers used to remark how the walls back there “should be covered in art.”
Now, they are.
Local efforts to make blank slabs of brick and concrete around town pop with color have ramped up in recent years following the city’s 2016 creation of a public art committee. The group has worked closely with the tourist advocacy group Visit McMinnville and the McMinnville Downtown Association to pay local artists to create murals.
This summer, the downtown group landed a $50,000 T-Mobile grant that Visit McMinnville matched with cash and staff support for the biggest project to date: seven murals — one more than 80 feet long — by nine local and regional artists in that alley.
A few — including Colt Bowden’s Greetings from McMinnville, in which each letter in the city’s name is filled with recognizable local imagery, and Joel Holmes’ MAC-dala — were completed with help from volunteers, including students.
Hundreds turned out on an uncomfortably warm afternoon earlier this month for a reception and to see all the finished pieces and congratulate the artists.
“I could talk all day about this project, because it was so cool,” said Fletcher, whose Enjoy the Ride greets passersby from the Davis Street end of the alley. “This is really exciting.”
Other pieces were done by Atma Roshni, Murphy Phalen, Katie Daisy and Karen Eland, and the Portland- and Eugene-based sibling duo Jessilyn and Lucas Brinkerhoff. Their work brings the total number of murals in Art Alley to eight, joining one done by Andy Phillips in 2017.
Art Alley is part of a long game for downtown, which is going to get a massive makeover in the coming years, a project that will no doubt make access to the businesses along Third Street challenging.
“The big picture is we’re wanting to create more safe public space downtown that people can enjoy,” said Visit McMinnville’s James Howe, who worked closely on the Art Alley project in addition to serving on the public art committee. “Years down the road, when the Third Street Improvement Project is happening, those businesses are going to be using their back entrances for people to enter. Our alley is going to be a way to pull people in and encourage them to support the businesses there. That’s part of the strategy.”
Another part of that strategy has been to complete an inventory of the city’s murals, both indoors and outdoors. More than 150 have been tallied so far. What follows are snapshots of some of the more prominent ones. Several were financed by Visit McMinnville: the McMinnville Crest, The Heist, and Rounding the Bend.
NATALIE FLETCHER

COLT BOWDEN

ELIDE SANCHEZ RIVERA AND ALLISON McCLAY

LINFIELD UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

BRYAN NICHOLS

ANGELINA MARINO-HEIDEL AND JOEL HEIDEL

EMILY LUX AND FRIENDS

ANDY PHILLIPS

LINFIELD UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND FRIENDS

WILL SCHLOUGH
!["The Heist" by Will Schlough[https://www.willschlough.com/] appears on the west end of the Village Quarter building in downtown McMinnville, along the train tracks on Third Street between Galloway and Irvine. (Photo Courtesy Visit McMinnville)](https://i0.wp.com/www.orartswatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/TheHeist.11.jpg?resize=846%2C1024&ssl=1)
M. CHARLES
![The "McMinnville Crest" was actually done off-site: Commissioned by Visit McMinnville for the Granery Ampitheater, it was done by M. Charles[https://mcharlesart.com/] in Brooklyn, NY in October 2019 as part of a promotional tourism event. It's located between 5th and 8th at Alpine Ave. (Photo courtesy Visit McMinnville)](https://i0.wp.com/www.orartswatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/MacCrest.12.jpg?resize=846%2C1024&ssl=1)
ATMA ROSHNI

JESSILYN AND LUCAS BRINKERHOFF

MURPHY PHALEN

KATIE DAISY AND KAREN ELAND

JOEL HOLMES

courtesy: Visit McMinnville
Thank you, David, for this wonderful article showcasing art in our beloved town.