McMinnville’s Art Alley turns blank walls into colorful murals

A summer project adds seven works of art to a downtown alley between Davis and Evans streets.

September 22, 2024

David Bates

Culture, Oregon / NW, Visual Art, Yamhill

McMinnville artist Natalie Fletcher works earlier this summer on her mural "Enjoy the Ride," on the west end Art Alley downtown. Behind her is a mural painted in 2017 by Andy Phillips. Photo by David Bates — McMinnville artist Natalie Fletcher works earlier this summer on her
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.”

Sponsor

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

This mural at the east end of McMinnville Public Library on Adams Street was painted in the summer of 2022 by artists Elide Sanchez Rivera and Allison McClay. Photo by: David Bates — *This mural at the east end of the McMinnville Public Library on Adams Street was painted in the summer of 2022 by artists Elide Sanchez Rivera and Allison McClay. Photo by: David Bates*

LINFIELD UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

This slab of concrete on the west end of the Miller Fine Arts Center on the Linfield University campus gets a new mural every few years. The current work was done in 2022 by students in one of instructor Totem Shriver's classes. It faces north, easily visible from SW Keck Drive, which winds along the south side of the campus. Photo by: David Bates — This slab of concrete on the west end of Linfield’s Miller Fine Arts Center gets a new mural every few years; this one was done in 2022 by students in one of instructor Totem Shriver‘s classes. It faces north, easily visible from Southwest Keck Drive, which winds along the south side of the campus. Photo by: David Bates

BRYAN NICHOLS

ANGELINA MARINO-HEIDEL AND JOEL HEIDEL

EMILY LUX AND FRIENDS

*Emily Lux collaborated with the McMinnville High School Art Club and McMinnville Sunshine Rotary to create this piece in Joe Dancer Park. Photo by: David Bates*

ANDY PHILLIPS

McMinnville's Rose Marie Caughran, who died in January 2021, will forever be remembered as the former McMinnville librarian who spent countless hours tending to the trees that line Third Street downtown, earning her the moniker The Tree Lady. Andy Phillips painted the mural on Cowls Street between Third and Fourth streets. Photo by: David Bates — McMinnville’s Rose Marie Caughran, who died in January 2021, will forever be remembered as the former McMinnville librarian who spent countless hours tending to the trees that line Third Street downtown, earning her the moniker The Tree Lady. Andy Phillips painted the mural on Cowls Street between Third and Fourth streets. Photo by: David Bates

LINFIELD UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND FRIENDS

Across Cowls from the mural tribute to Rose Marie Caughran is this piece on the Masonic Lodge building downtown, where the first floor today is occupied by the Harvest Fresh grocery store. It was done under the mentorship of Linfield University instructor Totem Shriver. Photo by David Bates — Across Cowls from the mural tribute to Rose Marie Caughran is this piece on the Masonic Lodge building downtown, where the first floor today is occupied by the Harvest Fresh grocery store. It was done by Linfield University students and friends under the mentorship of instructor Totem Shriver. Photo by: David Bates

WILL SCHLOUGH

M. CHARLES

ATMA ROSHNI

JESSILYN AND LUCAS BRINKERHOFF

MURPHY PHALEN

KATIE DAISY AND KAREN ELAND

JOEL HOLMES

David Bates

David Bates is an Oregon journalist with more than 20 years as a
newspaper editor and reporter in the Willamette Valley, covering
virtually every topic imaginable and with a strong background in
arts/culture journalism. He has lived in Yamhill County since 1996 and
is working as a freelance writer. He has a long history of involvement in
the theater arts, acting and on occasion directing for Gallery Players
of Oregon and other area theaters. You can also find him on
Substack, where he writes about art and culture at Artlandia.