Mural Festival transforms Roseland neighborhood into mile-long canvas

Drivers traveling this week along Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa’s Roseland neighborhood may have noticed the ongoing Mural Festival, which has given an artistic makeover to several spots on the route.

Helmed by Roseland-based artists MJ Lindo-Lawyer and Joshua Lawyer, who in early 2021 founded the nonprofit organization The Mural Project, the inaugural festival features nine artists creating eight murals within a mile stretch. The art began to appear June 20, and the festival will culminate in a free, all-ages block party in collaboration with SOCO Market from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Mitote Food Park, 665 Sebastopol Road.

Lindo-Lawyer and Lawyer met in 2011 when they were working as artists in San Francisco. In 2016, the two moved and settled in the Roseland neighborhood. The pair are primarily gallery artists, though they grew inspired by local murals in 2019 and began creating their own large-scale art.

“It started off slow, then when COVID hit, it took off because our availability was so free,” Lindo-Lawyer said.

In 2020, the artists traveled to locations from Sacramento to Colorado to participate in festivals where artists gathered to paint a large number of murals in a concentrated area.

“We were really inspired by that and saw some really amazing talent, it really opened our eyes to trying to do something similar here in the North Bay,” Lindo-Lawyer said. “We wanted to change the scene of public art and wanted to expand and diversify what kind of murals are featured prominently here in Santa Rosa.”

The first Mural Festival is doing just that, and the eight murals are just the start of what the organizers want to incorporate into the neighborhood over the next several years.

“We'll feel done when there's no walls left in this area, and we'll move on to the next location,” Lindo-Lawyer said.

All of the artists participating in the Santa Rosa festival are from the Bay Area, and many are from Sonoma County.

Sebastopol artist Ricky Watts is creating a mural at Tia Maria Panaderia y Pasteleria, 44 Sebastopol Ave.

Vanessa Walsh of Forestville and Sergio Lopez of Santa Rosa are adding a mural to Sonoma County Meat Co., 35 Sebastopol Ave.

Oakland artist John Wentz, who just spent the past six years in Paris, has been practically living in a lift cage to paint his elevated mural at 1 Sebastopol Ave., where the street turns into Sebastopol Road west of the SMART tracks.

Just down the block, Forestville artist Amanda Lynn is painting a massive mural at SiteOne Landscape Supply, 180 Sebastopol Road.

Lynn met Lindo-Lawyer and Lawyer in San Francisco before she permanently moved to the North Bay a few years ago. In 2020, the couple asked her to be on the board of The Mural Project, “so I’m not only a muralist, I’m part of this project as well.”

A muralist for 20 years, Lynn says she is dedicated to getting art out to the public.

“It’s art for everyone,” Lynn said. “It always helps to uplift communities and bring joy to an area.”

Lynn is thinking of naming her piece, which covers three sides of the building at 180 Sebastopol Road, “Birds of Paradise.” The mural features local avian animals like Blue Herons, owls, quails and others mixed in with flora that represents the landscaping supply store’s vibe.

Other murals include Santa Rosa street and fine artist Hepos' work at La Guadalupana, 1031 Sebastopol Road; local illustrators Blanca Molina and Juan Jacquez’s collaboration at Sazon Authentic Peruvian Cuisine, 1129 Sebastopol Road; Lindo-Lawyer’s piece at HD Barber Studio, 989 Sebastopol Road; and Lawyer’s work at Novedades Blanqui, 1583 Sebastopol Road.

While the artists were given creative control of their murals, the organizers say, as curators, they tried to match artists to the businesses where the murals would live.

“We've been working on this for a year and half and most of these businesses have known about this for a year and a half, and everybody’s super excited,” Lindo-Lawyer said. “We want these murals to bring a boost to the economy in Roseland. We want people to come here as a destination.”

“This is a neighborhood that we thought could use public art, and there's also a community that seems to be hungry for it,” Lawyer added. “With Sonoma County being a tourist attraction in regards to wine and breweries, we want people to also look into what else they could do and hopefully realize that there's cluster of murals they can explore, and then get the best Mexican food you can in the area and have a livelier adventure than swirling glasses.”

The Mural Festival's closing block party Saturday promises to be a lively experience, with nearly 40 vendors and crafters, activities for all ages, local food and adult beverages for sale and all of the festival's artists on hand to show and share their art.

“It's an opportunity to meet the muralists who have set aside two weeks to install these pieces,” Lindo-Lawyer said.

For more information, go to instagram.com/the.mural.project.