The Viaduct Arts initiative brings vibrant community art to the streets of the Central Eastside Industrial District.
CENTRAL EASTSIDE MURAL DISTRICT
A key part of Viaduct Arts is learning together. For both a non-profit and the participating artists, we stretch and grow our skills and portfolios to new heights. In 2020 artists, Derek Yost, GATS, and Galen Malcolm provided artists with mentorship through mural painting and logistics.
Working closely with community partners, Portland Street Art Alliance has worked for several years to “seed” a new mural district in Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID). The goal of the Viaduct Arts initiative is to promote more inclusive engagement and access to public art-making in the city.
Thanks to grant support from the Oregon Community Foundation’s (OCF) Creative Heights Grant, in the summer of 2020 PSAA launched the Viaduct Arts initiative, bringing new five large-scale murals to the walls beneath the Hawthorne and Morrison Bridge Viaducts, all by diverse artists Oregon-based artists.
In 2021, PSAA’s work in the Central Eastside Mural District continues. Grant funding for two additional large-scale murals under the Belmont Viaduct has been provided by the Central Eastside Industrial Council and Proposer Portland.
The second phase of the mural district welcomes a new unique partnership between PSAA and several local homeless service organizations. These partnerships are being supported by grant funds awarded from the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. The goal of these new partnerships is to engage with and help folks living on the streets of the Central Eastside. Working with local service partners, PSAA will provide homeless community members with access to paid work and training opportunities in mural-making activities happening in the district.
“Viaduct Arts aims to center voices not often represented in Portland’s public art landscape. Fundamental to the success of this project is providing and preserving equitable access for artists across Oregon to push their creative limits and make their voices heard in urban public spaces.”
The Viaduct Arts initiative also strives to address social and geographic disparities, specifically when it comes to gaining access to large-scale outdoor painting opportunities in the city. Therefore, Viaduct Arts outreach focuses on working with artists who identify as being a part of underrepresented communities (BIPOC+, LGBTQ, Women, Rural, Disabled, etc.).
CENTRAL EASTSIDE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY
As Portland experiences accelerated redevelopment and demographic changes, there is an increased urgency for the creation of spaces that welcome artists to work, grow, and thrive. The Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID) is long-time “industrial sanctuary.” In the early 1900s, thanks to the fertile Willamette Valley, Italian immigrants established fruit and vegetable wholesale distribution and transportation networks. This new riverside industrial district became known as “Produce Row.” At the heart of this historic industrial area, are two parallel loading dock streets - 2nd & 3rd Avenues. These thoroughfares transect four viaducts - under the Hawthorne and Morrison Bridges that create deep cavern-like spaces cutting through the Central Eastside. This unique environment creates opportunities for large-scale artwork. With recent changes in zoning, and increased interest in development, this area is rapidly changing. Viaduct Arts aims ensure that street art remains an essential element of the district and future development.
“SEEDING” PUBLIC ART IN CEID
In 2019, PSAA hosted an open call inviting artists across the state of Oregon to apply for a spot in the muralist line-up. PSAA formed a selection committee consisting of prominent members of the local arts community, community advocates, and curators. With the help of community partners and news outlets, PSAA received nearly 200 applications from artists from around the state of Oregon. Five Oregon-based artists were invited to participate in the 2020 launch of the Viaduct Arts initiative.
PSAA is now working with the Central Eastside Industrial Council and Proposer Portland to expand the new mural distinct, with several new viaduct mural sites planned for late 2020 and the summer of 2021.
Street art has long been an important and visible part of the Central Eastside, contributing to it’s uniquely innovative and gritty character. Street art enriches everyday life, helps to build a city's identity and fosters a sense of place and pride in our community.
Murals provide access to art without barriers of admission
Murals promote a sense of identity and belonging
Murals create a tangible sense of place
NEW MURALS COMPLETED IN 2020
MEET THE ARTISTS
OLIVER CASILLAS | TALENT, OR
66 SE Morrison St
Oliver Casillas is a Mexican-American artist living in Talent, Oregon. Oliver has studied the arts since a young age, immersing themselves in painting, sculpture and ceramics early. Born in Guadalajara in 1995, Oliver attended school in Guadalajara, Mexico and later university in Namur, Belgium, living also in Los Angeles, and moving later to Talent where he rediscovered his passion for art. For the past two years, Oliver has now dedicated himself exclusively to art and tattooing. Oliver is the artistic manager for a project named "We Art Here," which uses art to raise awareness about social struggles, environmental stewardship, and movements of protest. Oliver aims to expand his public art practice in the Pacific Northwest, painting murals in urban areas where it will make the most impact, support collective identity building, and improved quality of life for neighbors.
Oliver Casillas | SE Water & Belmont Avenues
“My mural “What Keep us Together” will be inspired by the iconic portion of land shared by Mexico and the United States - the Sonora Desert. This mural aims to depict the shared nature among them, the purity, and reality behind skin colors, languages, ways of thinking, and religions. In other words, behind the human being. It is an invitation to think outside of our boxes and realize what binds and keeps us together. ”
MARIA RODRIGUEZ | PORTLAND, OR
1430 SE Water Ave
Maria Rodriguez is a Mexican-American illustrator and muralist. Currently based in Portland, Oregon but originally from Los Angeles their work explores themes of identity and culture while also creating work that is playful and lighthearted. Maria studied at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, focusing on editorial illustration.
“Without Indigenous, Latinx, and POC farm workers, we would not have the food on our tables. Many of the foods in our fridges have a story behind them and I’d like to show gratitude and appreciation to the many who work tirelessly and face things one should not have to, to merely survive. With this mural I’d like people to both face that reality and think about ways they can show appreciation for those who bring food to our tables. With the grant-awarded funds I receive, I will donate part of them to PCUN and Causa Oregon.”
Maria Rodriguez, SE Hawthorne & Water Avenues | Photo: @wiredforsound
CLOE ASHTON | PORTLAND, OR
1420 SE Water Ave
Cloe Ashton is an illustrator living in Portland Oregon. Working in a wide variety of mediums her pieces speak to an activist spirit, veering from the low-brow whimsy to subversive. Cloe experimented with special reflective spray paint on the ghost bike. Shine a bright light or flash on it and see it glow!
“Activism can take many forms and can even be a celebration, but it is important to remember that the origins of those festivities are often dark events and that so many parties are actually memorials. [This mural represents] massive bike rides that normally occur throughout the month of June in Portland, a festival called Pedalpalooza. [In times like these] we have an opportunity to reflect on why we gather, what it means, and how we can make the streets safer.””
FRANCISCO MORALES | PORTLAND, OR
210 SE Madison St
Francisco Morales is a Latinx freelance illustrator and designer living in Portland. Originally from Los Angeles, California his work draws upon his experience being raised in LA and growing up as a first generation Mexican. Recently, Francisco produced and served as the Art Director for Doug Fir Lounge’s 15 year anniversary campaign. His practice focuses on primarily collaborating with clients and artists from underrepresented communities. Francisco has worked with local artists such as Y La Bamba, Orquestra Pacifico Tropical, DJs Noche Libre, Brown Calculus, Bocha and the Produce Organics hip hop label.
“Paradise is a mural that is inspired by the exchange of goods and culture between the US and Latino communities. Most of the objects depicted in the work have been brought to the US from countries south of the border. This exchange comes at high cost to Latino communities. These folks pick produce through back-breaking labor, live in low income areas, and move to this country in search of a better life searching for their own slice of ‘paradise.’ All of these elements are presented with a chain link fence backdrop to highlight that oftentimes there are barriers, whether physical or societal, that can keep folks from attaining these dreams or their own paradise.”
NIA MUSIBA | PORTLAND, OR
1510 SE Water
Nia Musiba is a multidisciplinary artist from Denver, Colorado now based in Portland. Her art is primarily centered around people, and her identity as both an African American woman and the daughter of a Tanzanian immigrant influence her work and her discovery of black history through an artistic lens. Whether through digital or physical mediums, community based art practices or her solo work, Nia’s goal is to create space for herself and for others that wouldn’t historically have a platform.
“This piece is all about flexibility and play. I was inspired by my youth, days spent in the sun with friends and family moving and stretching and growing. I integrated bright colors along with the green, yellow, blue and black of the Tanzanian flag. I wanted to pay homage to the exploration and curiosity we all get to experience as children, but also express the constant balancing act that I felt growing up Black in America, having one parent from Africa and one from the States. I also wanted to depict Black bodies in an undeniably fun way, because this kind of representation is important, especially in a place like Portland.”
WORKING WITH DISTRICT OWNERS
DONATE A WALL
Do you have a wall? Consider supporting a public art project. There’s lots of options.
Please email PSAA at info@pdxstreetart.org or fill out this form:
PROPERTY OWNER OR RENTER FORM
MEDIA COVERAGE
DONATIONS
Consider making a tax-deductible donation to support the Viaduct Arts initiative! All business donors who contribute $1,000 or more will become an “official sponsor” and recognized on this website, in marketing promotions, and on social media.
SPONSORS + PARTNERS
The Central Eastside Mural District is funded, in part, by the Regional Arts & Culture Council, Prosper Portland, the Oregon Arts Commission, and the Central Eastside Industrial Council’s Central Eastside Together grant program.