Several individuals contributed to painting the Riverside Mural, including (left to right) Pullman Arts Foundation Executive Director and Washington State University Pullman Association Professor Joe Hedges, WSU Pullman intermediate and advanced painting students Hollis Linton, Kody O’Dell and Andrea Zimmerman, muralist Tori Shao, Pullman Arts Foundation Project Coordinator Sarah Barnett, and Downtown Pullman Association Board of Director Bobbie Ryder.
PULLMAN, WA — A dedication ceremony for the freshly-painted Riverside Mural is slated for Thursday, Oct. 12, following an early completion by Seattle-based artist Tori Shao and several community members.
The dedication ceremony will be at 11 a.m. in Pine Street Plaza adjacent to the new mural’s location on the back facade of a commercial building on the 400 block of East Main Street and is open to the public. The ceremony will include brief remarks by representatives from the Downtown Pullman Association, Pullman Arts Foundation and other local organizations along with a video from Shao. Light refreshments will also be served.
Painting of the mural began on Sept. 15, thanks to Pullman Arts Foundation Project Coordinator Sarah Barnett, several local college and high school students, and volunteers with the Downtown Pullman Association and Pullman Arts Foundation. Shao joined the effort Sept. 20 to fill in the finer details of her design and the mural was completed Sept. 24, ahead of the early October date initially anticipated.
The Riverside Mural project has been a collaborative effort between the Downtown Pullman Association and Pullman Arts Foundation since 2022. It first came to fruition when Bobbie Ryder, a member of the Downtown Pullman Association Board of Directors, approached Pullman Arts Foundation Executive Director Joe Hedges with the idea. The two organizations have worked throughout this year to secure funding and an artist for the project.
“I am relieved and excited that the project has been completed,” said Hedges, who is also an associate professor of painting and intermedia at Washington State University Pullman. “At 100-feet, this is the largest mural project in Pullman. It will have high visibility and make a lasting impact on downtown. It will serve as a testament to the power of the arts and of community engagement.”
Shao, a landscape architect who has completed several other community murals, was selected following a call for artists and request for qualifications in January that garnered 16 applications. Hedges said Shao was selected after demonstrating “an especially thoughtful sensitivity to place, informed by her background in landscape architecture.” Her design features a forefront waterscape with local vegetation and wildlife and the Palouse hills in the distance.
Funding for the approximately $30,000 Riverside Mural came from private donations and local grants with efforts to raise the funds beginning in February. More than 100 individuals have contributed in addition to grants from the Pullman Civic Trust and Pullman Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center.
“(Bobbie) nearly single-handedly raised many thousands of dollars to make the project possible,” Hedges said.
Any funding raised in excess for the Riverside Mural project has been dedicated toward other beautification and revitalization efforts within the arts in downtown Pullman. Community members interested in supporting these projects can still contribute to both organizations by visiting https://pullmanartsfoundation.org/ or https://downtownpullman.org/.