Octomural Chapter 2

Though my neighbor and I were both ready to pull out brushes, paints and drop cloths that very day we met, we knew the size and placement of the wall called for more buy-in from multiple constituencies- and that always takes time, usually lots of it.

The potential mural wall was the back-side of a community health services building and extended an exhausting 200 feet long at an average height of 12 feet. This sad gray wall marked the dividing line between the commercial and residential sections of downtown Bremerton, and, as such, it directly faced the front doors and living room windows of a row of seven 1920s-era Bremerton homes across the narrow street. So my very first thought was I couldn’t just willy nilly paint whatever whim came to my mind. Too many people would walk out of their doors each morning and see it. I needed to design a work they would appreciate.

But… I was getting ahead of myself. First I needed to find out if the building owners even wanted a mural on their wall! So, next I called up the CEO of the health building and happily she agreed to meet me for lunch. Over my bowl of noodles, I told her a neighbor and I wanted a mural on their building and I could paint it. She said, “Well, as a matter of fact, we’ve been wanting a mural on the wall for awhile too…let’s do it!”

The three of us next envisioned a working group to brainstorm design ideas. We gathered a few neighbors whose homes faced the wall, a small group of employees from the health center, and me. We met in my house around the corner each month for several months to hammer out some ideas. I believe it was the original neighbor I met who came up with the Octopus theme, and it stuck for all of us. We also wanted to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., since the street had been re-named for him. However, we wanted imagery that was also unique to Bremerton and the Puget Sound region. So, what on earth do an Octopus and our greatest civil rights leader and national hero have in common? Well, not a lot, except that in a nod to MLK and the service he gave to our country, each of the 8 arms of our Octopus is “reaching out” to Bremerton in service to the community in unique ways.

To find out about what each arm is doing, stay tuned for Octomural Chapter 3!

A to-scale sketch of the Octomural. 15 feet long, it just barely fits on the floor across my living room!