By Ron Evans
You may have noticed some changes happening around town over the past few years. Many walls that for years sat bare and lifeless have been brought to life with vibrant colors and massive illustrations. Wenatchee seems to be enjoying a bit of a growth spurt concerning murals due to a combination of open minded property/business owners and enterprising artists passionately pursuing an art form that can often be hard to get approval for. Creative works should probably be polarizing to some degree but large murals on prominent public buildings can be especially tricky. Fortunately, from what I can tell, the locals seem to be mostly digging these recent artistic endeavors - even the graffiti has been kept to a minimum.
The latest local large-scale project is about to be underway at the Wenatchee Valley YMCA and like most powerful pieces of art, it was born out of a mixture of creative hunger and a conviction to make a positive statement during difficult times. Artists Heather Dappen and Ellen Smith garnered some significant local financial support for the project by receiving a grant from The Woods Family Music & Arts Grant and a Creek Grant through the Icicle Fund.
“We are lucky here in Wenatchee to have both the Woods family and Harriet Bullitt be such wonderful patrons of the arts (if you’re reading this, please don’t ever stop!).” said Dappen, a freelance graphic designer and illustrator by trade.
“Both these grants require that their recipients are non-profits, so Ellen and I started looking for local non-profits that had buildings with blank walls. I had always eyed the YMCA wall because it was so big and blank. When you’re a muralist size really does matter. Big, empty, and visible is how we like ‘em.”
Dappen’s partner in creative shenanigans, Ellen Smith attended Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan where she earned a fine arts degree in Art Education with a minor in Painting. She currently teaches art at Pioneer Middle School in Wenatchee. Smith, like Dappen, is no rookie when it comes to putting brush to wall.
“I’ve made or been involved in a handful of murals. I did a few interior and exterior mural-sized paintings in Michigan in college. While Heather designed and did most of the hard work on the mural outside Collapse Gallery, I was thrilled to be invited to help out with it. “ Smith said.
“That mural is actually how Heather and I met each other and discovered our shared hope of brightening up downtown with more murals and it led to us collaborating on this current mural.”
Artists Heather Dappen and Ellen Smith in their natural habitats.
COMET: Where did the idea for this mural come from and how did you arrive at the phrase “Better Together” in a typographic style?
SMITH: Last August, we took a meandering walk around downtown and the surrounding areas with our sketchbooks in hand to scout out possible walls. Then we researched who those walls belonged to and started inquiring, emailing the individuals and businesses attached to those walls. We got some immediate “no thank yous,” we got some non-responders, and we got some interest, including an enthusiastic “Yes!” from Dorry Foster, the CEO at the YMCA.
DAPPEN: We applied for these grants almost a year ago and now it seems like a completely different time. When we finally heard we were awarded the Creek Grant, it was in the middle of a pandemic and right after the death of George Floyd. Though we were originally planning on doing something purely whimsical, we thought it would be tone deaf to not address the current climate in some way. When we talked with Dorry, she mentioned that “Better Together” was a tagline that the Wenatchee Valley YMCA sometimes used. It seemed like a fitting and necessary message. The message is re-enforced by the typeface which we based on the Gilbert font. The Gilbert font was created in honor of Gilbert Baker, a famous LGBTQ activist and creator of the rainbow flag. He stood for unity and acceptance, all with a wicked sense of humor and a daring style.
Can you walk us through a bit of your initial design process?
DAPPEN: Words and information inundate us from all angles, so they’re easy to tune out even when they are messages we want to absorb. We wanted our mural to make more of a lasting impact by forcing the viewer to interact with it a little longer. The first impression of the mural is just supposed to be its visual appeal - it’s bright, funky, kind of retro feeling. Then, the viewer might notice a letter or two. Then they’ll be compelled to stop and follow the yellow thread to figure out the entire phrase. English-speakers may also be confused by the latter part of the mural “Mejor juntos” and that will be another puzzle they get to figure out.
SMITH: A mural might seem like an unnecessary pleasantry or a trivial feel-good gesture, but studies have shown that public art can dramatically improve how people feel about and identify with their local community, so we wanted to use this opportunity to bring people together.
Tell us about the planning and scheming phase when working on such a large scale, and a little about the materials you’ll be using.
SMITH: Planning, scheming, and designing is a huge part of the process, and it can be even more time-intensive than painting! Heather and I went through about 20 or more iterations of designs before narrowing it down to the final options. We both use a combination of traditional sketching and digital tools to do the designing for something this large. We will project our final design onto the wall, trace it, then paint it using the highest quality exterior paint and help from some YMCA volunteer painters.
DAPPEN: The wall always dictates the design when it comes to muraling. You may have odd dimensions, handrails, weird obstructions, or interesting surrounding features to take into consideration. Because of this I never get too attached to any specific subject matter before understanding the wall I’m working with.
Are there permits or city zoning issues to be addressed with murals or is it just down to whoever owns the building being cool with it?
SMITH: Sometimes there are city zoning considerations, other times it is all up to the building owner. In this case Dorry Foster, the CEO of the Wenatchee Valley YMCA, had to look into this because of the Y building’s historical status. It is always good to check first. A mural is not the time to ask for forgiveness later!
DAPPEN: Ellen and I are hoping to do a street mural (literally on the road) at some point and I am sure there will be a lot more hoops to jump through with something like that. We’ll need to work with the city, redirect traffic, make sure the design won’t interfere with driver visibility, and choose an even more durable paint that can withstand snow, cars, semis, etc.
Is there a dream mural location/subject matter you’d be thrilled to get a chance to do?
DAPPEN: The wall that keeps siren calling to me is down on 5th Ave below Apple Valley Petroleum (the north side of the street). It’s just west of the underpass before Piere St. Her unconventional shape and interesting placement get something a stirrin’ in my loins. Just ripe with potential…
A dream project of gargantuan scale would be on the Lineage building on Orondo and Columbia. This used to be a mainly industrial area with all the packing sheds, but now with Pybus and the breweries down there, it is becoming a more central location for residents and tourists. It would be gratifying to make the entrance to this new epicenter more visually appealing. Of course this wall is massive, I’d guess at least 8,000 square feet. We would need some good funding to pull off something of that scale.
SMITH: I love the thought of muraling some of these gloriously boxy and window-less fruit packing warehouses that Wenatchee has. Those buildings are so particular to this area, why not turn them into unique works of art?
I would also be thrilled to do what I’ve had in my mind as a concept for a while - what I think of as “mini-murals.” These would be relatively small, primarily abstract murals to provide punches of color and moments of delight in unexpected areas such as a nook entrance of a storefront, a bathroom of a cool business, a corner of an office, or on a unique architectural feature, etc. Mini-murals would be affordable and attainable for places that want a memorable pop of color but maybe don’t have a large space, a big budget, or time to help seek out funding or wait many months for a larger project.
How can people follow the progress of this project online?
DAPPEN: The Wenatchee Valley YMCA Facebook page will be posting updates and Ellen will post behind-the-scenes updates and the work in progress on her Instagram. Come watch (from a COVID-friendly distance), help, or even backseat paint!
Ellen Smith’s Instagram: @belugadijon
Dappen and Smith’s Murals Instagram: @fightthebeige