Santa Rosa teams with nonprofit arts group to bring more murals to city walls

An effort to beautify Santa Rosa has brought animals floating along a neon pink sea, a dragon and a giant woman and her cat, among other creations, to the sides of city businesses, unveiled recently as part of The Mural Project’s latest festival of public art.

The 2-year-old Mural Project, helmed by Roseland-based artists MJ Lindo-Lawyer and Joshua Lawyer, made a splash with last summer’s inaugural Mural Festival, during which eight murals went up along a mile-span of Sebastopol Road.

The nonprofit took to the streets again this month, teaming with the city of Santa Rosa to bring more art to commercial spaces in need of a new look.

This year’s festival saw eight murals go up on businesses throughout downtown Santa Rosa, along Santa Rosa Avenue and Petaluma Hill Road corridor and in Roseland Oct. 2-14.

Seven of the pieces were paid for by the city’s new Small Business Support Program, spearheaded by Santa Rosa Arts and Culture manager Tara Thompson and the city’s arts specialist Jessica Rasmussen. Those mural locations include Barrel Proof Lounge on Mendocino Avenue, Daredevils & Queens barbershop in Railroad Square, HD Barber Studio in Roseland, Mike Chavez Painting and The Astro Motel on Santa Rosa Avenue, and Shady Oak Barrel House on First Street. Mural Project’s Joshua Lawyer painted a mural at the Museum of Sonoma County for the support program separate from the Mural Project.

The Small Business Support Program aims to increase the visibility and desirability of local storefronts and commercial areas that were financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Thompson said.

The program was funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act and includes money for the murals as well as facade improvement grants for small business to fix up awnings, windows, signage and more, according to Thompson.

Local businesses that met the definition of an “Impacted Small Business“ were invited to apply to have their building painted, and The Mural Project selected artists to create the art.

The number of businesses who applied to receive murals or facade improvement exceeded the city’s expectation, according to Thompson.

This year, The Mural Project invited both local and nationwide artists to participate.

“We really try to focus on artists that are creating things that are inspiring to others and we try to bring diversity to the art in Santa Rosa,” Lindo-Lawyer said. “We were excited to be able to get artists from all over because it brings a fresh look as well, because people are bringing their experience from different areas.”

While the Mural Project paired the artists and businesses, Lindo-Lawyer says the work on the walls was completely up to the artist’s inspiration.

“The piece at the Astro Motel by Amy Sol; she just wanted to paint a dragon, and that’s what she went with,” Lindo-Lawyer said. “We're letting the artists have power over their artwork.”

In addition to Las Vegas-based Sol’s dragon, Grants Pass, Oregon, tattoo artist and muralist Gan Dalf also drew inspiration from a dragon for her piece located at Daredevils & Queens barbershop. Other artists, like local muralist Amandalyn, drew inspiration from nature.

So far, Lindo-Lawyer said the response from the business owners is universally positive.

“Everyone’s been so excited,” she said.

In addition to The Mural Project, the Small Business Support Program also enlisted longtime arts group ArtStart to install murals at five locations.

So far, ArtStart, which mentors young artists in the community, has completed one of the murals, “Los Nopales,” a large-scale wooden cacti at Cafe Frida Gallery in the city’s South of A arts district, according to the nonprofit’s Programs Director Asherah Weiss, who co-led the installation with artist Elena Malpica-Vargas.

“It’s added a lot vibrancy to the street,” Weiss said of the art.

Other ArtStart murals in the works will go up at Santa Rosa Seafood at Santa Rosa Avenue and Elsa Drive, Dierk’s Parkside Cafe on Santa Rosa Avenue across from Juilliard Park, The Hattery on Petaluma Hill Road, and the offices of The Press Democrat on B Street.

Weiss said she is grateful for Thompson and Rasmussen’s work to add artistic beauty to the city’s facades.

“It brings a lot of value to our hometown,” she said.