Artist Kyra Watkins getting started on her first mural in Portland, OR.
Portland Street Art Alliance’s Ladies Up Project brings rotating new murals to Portland and beyond, all designed and painted by female-identifying artists.
The first Ladies Up Mural Project is located at Morrison Place at 1401 SE Morrison St (along SE Alder St & SE 15th Ave). This mural project was made possible thanks to a partnership with the former property owner Killian Pacific, and current owner KOSS Real Estate Investments, along with sponsors Miller Paint and Metro Paint, and donations from neighborhood association residents.
The Ladies Up Project is an active rotating PSAA Community Art Project, where PSAA is provided curatorial control and artists are provided considerable open creative freedom in their work.
For this collaboration, PSAA chose a broad theme: a line-up of emerging female-identifying artists. Female/femme/non-binary artists are highly underrepresented when it comes to overall access to painting in public space. As a result of this gender inequity, not all perspectives and stories are being told in our artistic landscape. Street art is a very male-dominated culture, so PSAA has been working to create opportunities and safe spaces for female-identifying muralists to paint.
As with all Community Art Projects, these works of art will periodically rotate, to provide new and emerging female artists a chance to display their work and practice their skills. For the community, these projects provide fresh and exciting new work that people come back time and time again to see and enjoy.
MEET THE MURALISTS
SUMMER 2024
The first 2024 Ladies Up mural was painted by Seattle-based artist Stevie Shao. The mural, titled Nymph Spell, is a synthesis of Shao’s cultural symbolism and personal narrative, combining animal symbology and the inevitable turn of life’s seasons. A periodical cicada folds its wings post flight - right in front of an outdoor cat poised to strike. A traditional symbol of rebirth and summertime, the large wild insect is about to fall prey to a small domestic animal.
The second 2024 Ladies up mural was painted by Afghan-American artist Saphya Lones. Titled the The High Priestess & The Fool new mural is inspired by the traditional tarot cards, this piece represents the necessary combination of iterative play and wise intention while exploring (life, art, and otherwise). With elements such as the fig (referencing Sylvia Plath’s Bell Jar), and a hot dog (referencing nothing), the mural embodies being anti-solemn with serious intention.
SPRING 2022
The first piece along SE 15th Avenue was painted by Villatose is an interconnected wonder, with two women intertwined by hair and hands in a passionate embrace. The next work by Lynsee Sardell features a magic scene with open hands and soft colors popping atop rays of light. The third panel by Bernadette Little depicts a stunning stylized portrait in her signature style. The last mural is a beautiful tribute to a dearly departed friend, painted by Brenda DePriest.
WINTER 2021
In November of 2021, PSAA teamed up with the Independent Publishing & Resource Center (IPRC) to organize two more murals at Ladies Up by Laura Camila Medina and Angela Saenz. Laura is current working on their MFA at Yale School of Art. Angela Saenz originally from Omaha, NE creates paintings and drawings rooted in personal observation of the human experience.
SUMMER 2020
Along SE Alder Street, the original line-up of the Ladies Up murals painted during the height of the racial justice protests the Summer of 2020. Tatyana Ostepenko was born and raised in Soviet Ukraine and painted three Babushkas gazing out onto a rural Ukrainian landscape. Salomée is a bilingual designer with Algerian and Peruvian decent born in Switzerland who has went onto launch a successful mural career after painting this mural. Amaranta Colindres was born in Santa Ana El Salvador and raised in California and painted a powerful tiger using all spray paint. Isis Fisher born and raised in Hawaii painted a trippy pair of figures using only black and white. Kyra Watkins originally from Cincinnati, Ohio painted a man with a parrot on their shoulder and has went on to start a youth program mentoring foster kids in mural art. Sunny Beard is a tattooist and cancer thriver, originally from Reno, NV, who painted a detailed snake along with red carnations. Finally, N.O. Bonzo a Portland-based contemporary artist who is known for their feminine images and hard hitting political content.
WORK IN PROGRESS
“As an organization, Killian Pacific believes that fueling creative expression in our city leads to healthy vibrant communities. We strive to celebrate the arts in each of our projects and have been privileged to work with the PSAA team on many murals and installations throughout our portfolio. The “Ladies Up” mural project spearheaded by PSAA is one of our favorites to date, as we truly appreciate the intent to support local female-identifying artists in creating an all-women’s mural wall in the city of Portland. Additionally, we feel that in supporting artists during the unprecedented times we are experiencing today we are not only supporting individuals, but also providing beautiful, artistic moments of hope for everyone to enjoy. - Chelsea Rooklyn, Killian Pacific ”
INAUGURAL SPONSORS AND 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. Additional support from Buckman Neighborhood community members; Dylan Huff and Katherine Kiely.