Murals around Portland, Forest for the Trees NW, seen on Sunday, August 31, my mural find #5

Forest for the Trees, August 18 through 23, is a not-for-profit public mural project in Portland, Oregon. (Seen on their Web site.)



The fourth mural I photographed while out and about in my Zipcar Kia Soul, named Greer. Artist: Zach Yarrington of Portland, Oregon. Location: 2121 SE 6th. This mural took me by surprise as I drove by, unexpected in cream and black. On the Forest for the Trees NW Web site:

Zach Yarrington is an artist and designer living in Portland, Oregon. He has spent the past three years as co-founder and creative director of Band, a multi-faceted graphic design studio. When not working on client work through Band, he enjoys painting in large scale. Zach likes to make work that is making the places we live better places to be.

It's a doggone shame that some jerk has already tagged this mural. Yes, I said jerk. Strong word, but I do not like it one bit that there are those who believe they are entitled who think the rules do not apply to them, who think it is OK to deface works of art and/or buildings, structures, you name it.



When I drove by, the mural appeared on the passenger side of the car. There was no where to pull off, so I made the block, well the couple of blocks and decided to pull over just past the overpass on the opposite side of the street so that I could get out of the car and take a few photos across the street. I like how the structure of the overpass frames the mural.



I walked back towards the car, stopped and turned to take this wider shot so that you get a feel for the location.

More from FFTT Web site: Forest for the Trees is a not-for-profit public mural project in Portland, Oregon. The mural project promotes public visual expression; collaboration; and community engagement with contemporary art and the creative process. In August 2013, FFTT united seventeen artists from around the world to paint ten Portland murals.

This August, twenty local and international artists will come together for a week in Portland to paint more than a dozen pieces on public walls. FFTT aims to bring opportunity for local and visiting artists, and to share their gifts on a large public scale in Portland—a city already known as a creative hub and home to many talented artists.

Murals around Portland, Forest for the Trees NW, seen on Sunday, August 31, my mural find #4

Forest for the Trees, August 18 through 23, is a not-for-profit public mural project in Portland, Oregon. (Seen on their Web site.)



The third mural I photographed while out and about in my Zipcar Kia Soul, named Greer. Artist: J. Shea of Portland, Oregon. Location: 1301 SE Grand Ave. This mural was the easiest one to find since it is just north of my work building and across the avenue. I saw him painting one day after work as I waited for the bus. On his Web site:

Was invited to paint another mural this year.............for the Forest for the Tree's Mural Project here in Portland.................this year I got to paint my own wall...........on the exterior of Kidd's Toy Museum..................it was fun week painting with all the other artists...........hanging with old friends...............and meeting new ones...................



A close-up for you. That watch chain gets me. And the fish hook on the end of the string attached to the toy sailboat. Perfection.



Another close-up. A coordinated on the unicycle. A campfire burns brightly as the fish swim by and the wind-up cat looks on. A teensy tiny knight upon a robust steed.



One more close-up. My favorite part of the mural, this bee, perfectly curved segmented body, wings gracefully aloft.



More from FFTT Web site: Forest for the Trees is a not-for-profit public mural project in Portland, Oregon. The mural project promotes public visual expression; collaboration; and community engagement with contemporary art and the creative process. In August 2013, FFTT united seventeen artists from around the world to paint ten Portland murals.

This August, twenty local and international artists will come together for a week in Portland to paint more than a dozen pieces on public walls. FFTT aims to bring opportunity for local and visiting artists, and to share their gifts on a large public scale in Portland—a city already known as a creative hub and home to many talented artists.

Murals around Portland, Forest for the Trees NW, seen on Sunday, August 31, my mural find #3

Forest for the Trees, August 18 through 23, is a not-for-profit public mural project in Portland, Oregon. (Seen on their Web site.)



The third mural I located while out and about in my Zipcar Kia Soul, named Greer. Artist: NoseGo of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Location: 842 SE 3rd Avenue. On his Web site:

Yis "Nosego" Goodwin ​

NoseGo is a Philadelphia-based artist with a passion for illustration and media arts. He mixes fine art with a contemporary style to deliver highly energetic work. His designs feature an assemblage of patterns, vibrant colors and characters derived from his imagination and his surrounding environment.​ 



The part of the mural that mesmerized me--those bits of brick, I suppose, which seem to be attached to the wall, sticking out form it. They're painted there! Not three dimensional at all!



The wall where the mural lives!



Another close-up of a part of the mural.



More from FFTT Web site: Forest for the Trees is a not-for-profit public mural project in Portland, Oregon. The mural project promotes public visual expression; collaboration; and community engagement with contemporary art and the creative process. In August 2013, FFTT united seventeen artists from around the world to paint ten Portland murals.

This August, twenty local and international artists will come together for a week in Portland to paint more than a dozen pieces on public walls. FFTT aims to bring opportunity for local and visiting artists, and to share their gifts on a large public scale in Portland—a city already known as a creative hub and home to many talented artists.

Murals around Portland, Forest for the Trees NW, seen on Sunday, August 31, my mural find #2

Forest for the Trees, August 18 through 23, is a not-for-profit public mural project in Portland, Oregon. (Seen on their Web site.)



The second mural I located while out and about in my Zipcar Kia Soul, named Greer. Artist: Paige Wright of Portland, Oregon. Location: 2306 SE Morrison St. On her Web site:

There is a place where we lose ourselves. Some people call it a happy place or spiritual experience or meditation. I find that place within the studio. Human beings need a balance between the physical and the mental. The studio is where there is no hierarchy between movement and thought; one has to think to move and move to think.

Ceramics is a tool I use to investigate identity. Process becomes a metaphor for understanding. There is a filtration of information between what I look at and what is produced out of my hands. The marks and movements recorded in the clay become my thoughts.

I make portraits to analyze memories and understand myself. The act of Portraiture is like how we keep people; particular parts come together to construct a whole. A person’s specific features have to be described or just a vague human is created. By spending time rendering my relations I reflect on human framework and genealogy. Solidifying faces in the ceramic process I suspend the character creating placeholders and monuments that capture ephemeral memories.



The part of the mural that is ceramic, this face as a three dimensional portrait.



Zippers suspended from puffy white clouds. Rays of sun coming from the ceramic head included in the mural.



Another close-up of a part of the mural. The hands fascinate me, with their long arms dangling from more puffy white clouds. Plus, those short zippers in the other cloud. If you'll notice in the previous photo, much longer zippers dangle from another white cloud.



More from FFTT Web site: Forest for the Trees is a not-for-profit public mural project in Portland, Oregon. The mural project promotes public visual expression; collaboration; and community engagement with contemporary art and the creative process. In August 2013, FFTT united seventeen artists from around the world to paint ten Portland murals.

This August, twenty local and international artists will come together for a week in Portland to paint more than a dozen pieces on public walls. FFTT aims to bring opportunity for local and visiting artists, and to share their gifts on a large public scale in Portland—a city already known as a creative hub and home to many talented artists.

Murals around Portland, Forest for the Trees NW, seen on Sunday, August 31, my mural find #1

Forest for the Trees, August 18 through 23, is a not-for-profit public mural project in Portland, Oregon. (Seen on their Web site.)



The first mural I located while out and about in my Zipcar Kia Soul, named Greer. Artist: Rather Severe of Portland, Oregon. Location: 3602 NE Sandy Blvd. On their Web site: Murals and Artworks by Jon Stommel & Travis Czekalski. This mural is part of Portland's 2014 Forest For The Trees Mural Project. The wall is at 3602 NE Sandy Blvd on the side of Pulse PDX, painted over a 6 day period. It was such a great honor to participate in the project and represent local artists in Portland!



It's a miracle that I found this mural as easily as I did, since I was driving Greer east on Sandy, and the mural faces west. I knew I was close, from what the iPhone GPS I had plugged in was telling me, so I decided to pull into the lot to turn around and go back west on Sandy. As soon as I entered this empty parking lot, I saw this beauty out of the corner of my eye. Wow. Wow. Wow.



Something about its colors and shapes and vivid-self made me slowly shut the car door, staring at it and  deciding subconsciously not to shut the door all the way, not to make a sound to interrupt my mural-induced reverie.



More from FFTT Web site: Forest for the Trees is a not-for-profit public mural project in Portland, Oregon. The mural project promotes public visual expression; collaboration; and community engagement with contemporary art and the creative process. In August 2013, FFTT united seventeen artists from around the world to paint ten Portland murals.

This August, twenty local and international artists will come together for a week in Portland to paint more than a dozen pieces on public walls. FFTT aims to bring opportunity for local and visiting artists, and to share their gifts on a large public scale in Portland—a city already known as a creative hub and home to many talented artists.