Fresh Paint Opportunity Re-Opens to First Time Muralists

Open Signal had a wall. The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) had experience creating murals. Salvador Mayoral, who facilitates RACC’s Public Art Murals Program, recalls how Fresh Paint, got its start. “We were looking for a high visibility spot for a temporary mural pilot project,” he said. Open Signal’s Director of Strategy, Rebecca Burrell, remembers,

“We were looking for a way to bring visibility to our mission and bring more art into our neighborhood.”

The two organizations joined forces and, Fresh Paint, the partnership to provide Black and brown artists a place to become muralists, kicked off in 2017. Since then, 10 artists have been selected to paint a temporary mural on an exterior wall of Open Signal’s building facing the highly visible Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Each mural is hosted for at least four months and then painted over in preparation for the next artist.

Providing new opportunities

Fresh Paint is a professional development initiative providing emerging artists of color with a paid opportunity to paint a public mural for the first time in Portland. “We wanted artists who didn’t have experience as muralists but the desire to create murals get the support and resources they need to develop a new skill set and build their portfolio,” Mayoral explained. For several of the artists, the mural projects have led to other public commissions or funding opportunities. The wall currently features Limei Lai’s mural, Together.

How the artists are chosen

RACC and Open Signal, announce a new call for Fresh Paint muralists. Interested artists have until July 14th, 2021 to apply. To qualify for the opportunity, artists must live in the greater Portland metropolitan area, defined as Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington. The selected artists receive a commission for their participation and are offered the opportunity to engage with Open Signal’s resources and programming.

To be considered, artists can submit information about their background and interest through RACC’s online application portal. No proposals are required. Because the program is designed to support artists in establishing their careers, applicants may not have previously received any public art commission through RACC nor created an official exterior mural in the City of Portland. Regional Arts & Culture Council’s Public Art Murals Program will run the selection process, relying on past Fresh Paint muralists to review submissions and recommend which new artists should be selected. 

There will be an Artist Information Session held Tuesday, June 22 at 6 p.m. on Zoom. RSVP for the session here. For more information about the session, contact Daniela Serna at 503-288-1515 ext. 931 or daniela@opensignalpdx.org.