SALT AND STRAW PRODUCTION

CENTRAL EASTSIDE MURAL DISTRICT

Portland Street Art Alliance is pleased to announce the completion of a tasty installation at Salt & Straw’s Production Kitchen in the Central Eastside Mural District. After nearly a year in the making, in December of 2021, seventeen artists from Portland and Seattle came together to wrap the nearly 7,000 square foot building in a confectionery dreamland!

All artists worked with aerosol spray paint over a three week period to transform their portion of the Salt & Straw warehouse walls. Artists had the freedom to paint what they pleased, but were asked to keep a loose color scheme and an ice cream and candy theme in mind.

The South wall runs along SE Ash Street, which is now transformed by three crisp and colorful Candyland-inspired works by GPK crew artists BOSE, FLASH, and CALM.

The East wall that runs along SE 3rd Avenue is anchored by two amazing throw-backs by artist BOSE from the 1974 claymation classic cartoon, The Year Without A Santa Claus.

The Ash Street side begins with Snow Miser spraying snowflakes across the wall. Down the way, a classic work by ABNR (4SK) covers the wall in candy-colored style. Two works on this wall are by street artist OUCH (MLS) with a shout out to HOPS (Seattle). These pieces include a rainbow colored work with a smiley scoop of ice cream on top.

In the center of the wall is a beautiful bombshell named “Candy” decked out with clever candy callouts by artist Villatose, who recently moved to Portland from Miami FL.

Next up are works by notorious Portland graffiti artist ZAE of the MLS crew, and BUNDY, another longtime Portland artist. The end corner is held down by another massive character painted by BOSE, this time a sundae-slinging Heat Miser, another familiar classic from the 1974 cartoon The Year Without A Santa Claus. The end corner is held down by another massive character painted by Bose, this time a sundae-slinging Heat Miser, another familiar classic from the 1974 cartoon The Year Without A Santa Claus.

The entire North facing wall of the Salt & Straw Community Project was managed by longtime artist and community organizer, Jay Meer, and is an ode to the cultural and historic landmark Burnside Skatepark, located just around the corner on SE 2nd Ave under the Burnside Bridge.

The wall includes several pieces, a massive transition, and is capped at both ends with a skate rat and an ice cream eating, skateboard riding wild hare. Jay Meer pulled together a stellar painting crew including VIDEO (Seattle), YETI (Seattle), Sam Harang (PDX), and Grreviews (PDX).

And there’s an extra sweet surprise on Salt & Straw’s recycling shed on the South side of the building which is covered with delicious works by artists GIVER and EKOSE of the 4SK crew.

Thank you to all our partners!

PSAA would like to thank the property owners, Michael and Patsy Myers for their support and partnership on this ground breaking new project.Michael Myers built this warehouse decades ago, after starting Coastal Produce when he was just 19 years old.

Not only were they part of making Produce Row what it is today, Coastal Produce was one of the largest produce distributors in the United States and revolutionized the produce distribution industry during its time in business.

“Having done business in the Central Eastside of Portland for almost six decades, I have never seen such a beautiful, rapid, ongoing transformation of a business district as what I am seeing with Portland Street Art Alliance’s mural projects in our Central Eastside. Building by building, mural by mural, Tiffany Conklin and Tomas Valladares of the Portland Street Art Alliance, along with these gifted artists are making Central Eastside such a beautiful place to live and work. I would strongly encourage other business and property owners to work with PSAA to be the next building in this transformation of our beloved Central Eastside.”

– Michael Myers, Property Owner

PSAA would also like to thank the ownership and management of Salt & Straw (a local Portland based ice cream maker) for their incredible support in this effort, from property owner negotiations, to site preparations, and oversight – and for the delicious ice cream party they hosted for the artists and PSAA team!

"We are beyond excited to be a part of this project. We love Portland and the Central Eastside is becoming a hub of local food makers, so investing in this part of the city is very important to us. These artists are incredibly talented and giving them a canvas to display their art is truly an honor. We feel so lucky to be graced with their beautiful work on a daily basis as we come to work - it makes every day better for hundreds of people in the area!”

– Kim Malek, President & CEO, Salt & Straw

Thanks to The Painter Guys, LLC for laying down such a yummy minty palette and for their help creating the larger-than-life sprinkle motif featured across the top of the building. The Painter Guys are an artist-led commercial painting company.

PSAA would also like to thank Todd DeNeffe for their ongoing support and guidance in the Central Eastside navigating painting sites like this.

Also, a big thank you to the Safety for All team efforts ensuring that our artists have safe access to the walls for painting.

Although we got rained out, PSAA would also like to thank Trash for Peace’s Ground Score for helping us get houseless day workers lined-up for wall prep at this site.

An empowered Villatose, learning to operate a large boom lift for the first time.

And thank you to Tomas Valladares of PSAA for providing free several of the artists with free aerial lift OSHA safety training in preparation for this mural project. These skills help artists grow and gives them the ability to take on larger, well-paying projects.

Photography by Sara Sjol for PSAA. Additional photos by Chris Christian.