Thanks to our annual Wide Open Walls festival, Sacramento is graced with a vibrant and powerful mural by artist, Adnate. This is one of many Adnate murals scattered across the globe. He paints large scale, captivating murals centering indigenous peoples as a way of “creating a statement of reclaiming the land that was always theirs.”…
Category: Mural
Few & Far Mural ~ 24th & S Alley
A long stretch of blank wall on the CED building in the alley at Round Corners (near 24th & S) was brought to life last September by an all-women crew of street artists called, Few & Far (1). The crew, who flew in from numerous cities across the country to gather and paint together in…
Desert Cactus and Prickly Pear ~ 23rd & K Alley
A midtown business facing a problem with frequent intruders on their back patio hired artists rather than security guards to resolve the situation. Artist Margaret Arnold painted and Steve Cook sculpted, and together they secured the 30-foot-wide patio wall behind Western Properties office (1). The Art: The three-sided mural was painted by Arnold and is…
Holiday Inn Ceramic Murals ~ 3rd & K
The clay sculpture murals at the Capitol Plaza Holiday Inn were created by someone but just who remains a mystery. Ceramic artist, Stan Bitters, was one promising lead, but no record was found identifying him as the artist and he himself, via email, stated that he has never done work in Sacramento. Regardless who created…
Spanish Fly Mural ~ 1723 J
Joplin, Hendrix, and Dylan. A simple and compelling mural by local artist, Pete Bettencourt, on the Spanish Fly Hair Garage Salon parking lot wall. The Art: Bettencourt’s imagery brings alive the expressive soul of these iconic musicians. The mural looks almost unfinished, and maybe more was planned, regardless, the open form with the use of…
Lily Moon Mural ~ 1115 21st
Thoughts of Van Gough drift through my imagination whenever I see this mural along 21st Street in the alley between J & K. Yellows, blues, purples, oranges and reds pop out of the black backdrop. Brush strokes in swirls, lines and dashes form a mountain lake sunset landscape, and, along the bottom edge, silhouetted figures…
CCC Mural ~ 1719 24th St
Fighting fires, building trails, planting forests, and building construction… this is the kind of natural resource and emergency response work that young adults do when they become members of the California Conservation Corps (CCC) for a year of service. This mural was painted in the late ’90s by members of the California Conservation Corps on…
Time To Wake Up ~ 17th & T
Letting go. Holding on. Waking up. Local artist, Shaun Burner, recently created this mural of metaphysical themes on the side of the Royal Market at 17th & T (1). Burner told Submerge that the open hand symbolizes letting go and the clutching fist with the oozing substance symbolizes holding on (2). The Artist: Burner’s work…
Alhambra Sweet Dream ~ 25th btw J & K
The Alhambra Theater was built in 1927 and demolished nearly 50 years later in 1974 after voters rejected a bond measure that would have preserved the historic movie house (1). This mural on 26th between J & K is a remembrance of the lovely theater that once graced our city. Wikipedia describes the Alhambra as…
Furlow Furrows Mural ~ 1716 L
“Things that crawl, bite, squirm, slither and cause serious harm; those are the things I dream about. Snakes, lizards, carnivorous mammals, birds, and insects with large mandibles are the most amazing organisms in my surreal world.” (Artist’s statement: The origin of my pathology) And so we enter the surreal world of artist John Stuart Berger,…