KFnet in T-Town
Jul. 21, 2008 at 7:20am
6th Ave's Muralistic Tendencies
There's a cereal serial muraler on the loose in the Sixth Ave district! Keep your eyes out for a gentleman in his 80s offering up his artistic services to spruce up blanks hunks of your building. It's reported that he's tagged at least three buildings with images of sweeping landscapes for which he charges "whatever" and leaves his fee up to you. It could be that he's even lying about his age with reports that he's in great shape given the 80-something number he's told people.
:)
Seriously tho, some beautiful murals have popped up on account of this one man and I love it. In my opinion, no blank business wall should be left blank in this town. Before I could even find grant money or whatever to help spread this idea, it's already happening. And I, for one, couldn't be happier. Sixth Ave. and every corner of Tacoma deserves more color and art. Here are some examples of his recent work and of other mural projects along Sixth Ave. alone:
Neighborhood Market with a cleaner exterior and new mural
New mural on the side of Old Milwaukee Cafe
Then of course there's the new intersection mural done by the community at Art on the Ave:
And another in the works on the wall at the back of Schucks being created during the Sixth Ave farmers' market each Tuesday:
 by dawntown on 7/21/2008 @ 8:42am | Ooooh, Ive always wanted to do mural work. Looks like 6th ave farmers market needs some help? |
 by Heather on 7/21/2008 @ 8:51am | Dawn, if you'd like to help with this mural, please contact me or Claudia at Ixia Tile. I can give you some contact phone numbers and e-mails; Claudia knows more about it than I do. |
 by ixia on 7/21/2008 @ 9:13am | Dawn, send me an e-mail at ixia@harbornet.com
The artist doing the farmers market mural is Jennevieve Schlemmer. Dionne Bonner did the octopus on the intersection of 6th and Pine. The other three murals have almost appeared overnight. I would like to learn the artists name and contact. Does anyone know? Have a look here for lots of art on the Ave www.on6thave.com/6thave-public-art.html |
 by one store on 7/21/2008 @ 9:33am | My husband and I talked with him last Tuesday when he was painting.
He is the COOLEST and GROOVIEST little old man. |
 by thriceallamerican on 7/21/2008 @ 10:07am | Mmmmm...cereal muraler...
I think maybe "serial" is the word you were looking for, but it certainly doesn't sound as tasty. And if the mural guy is listening, I vote that the next mural actually be a cereal mural. That would be awesome. Maybe Old Milwaukee has another wall available... |
 by Nick on 7/21/2008 @ 10:08am | Hey this is waay cool - and a medium that really does well in representing 6th Ave!
It's really encouraging to see the community (in addition to business owners) taking ownership and making this place one worth caring about (now why does that sound familiar...). |
 by KevinFreitas on 7/21/2008 @ 10:11am | I think maybe "serial" is the word you were looking for, but it certainly doesn't sound as tasty.
Damn English! I totally need to invent my own language. Or maybe just read more. I would like to learn the artists name and contact. Does anyone know? @ixia: Pat at Old Milwaukee may know. She's who I chatted with about it. |
by ixia on 7/21/2008 @ 10:17am | I talked with John Loesch at the Market. He's got lots of interesting details about the guy, but no name yet.........
Perhaps you could try your hand at a cereal painting, Kevin. You seem to be a connoisseur of fine cereals. |
 by Erik on 7/21/2008 @ 10:33am | Great to see some many great developments on 6th Avenue.
The murals seem to be working pretty well and give some depth to some blank walls. I wonder if more intersections will be painted on 6th in the near future. |
 by NineInchNachos on 7/21/2008 @ 10:41am | Lets find out more about this Old Man of the Murial. Who can donate an investigative journalist to this noble cause? Weekly Volcano? Tacoma Weekly? TNT? |
 by izenmania on 7/21/2008 @ 10:49am | Here's one for you, Kevin. |
by KevinFreitas on 7/21/2008 @ 1:18pm | Yes, hooked on phonics worked for me!
:| I'll chat with Pat to see if I can find out any more or if he'll be around planning any other murals. |
 by intacoma on 7/21/2008 @ 1:28pm | wow those are so amazing |
by ixia on 7/21/2008 @ 2:07pm | The Old Milwaukee Mural now has a red train in it... |
by intacoma on 7/21/2008 @ 2:19pm | just went by the teriyaki one, it now has lil pieces of teriyaki running around in it |
by intacoma on 7/21/2008 @ 2:26pm |  |
by intacoma on 7/21/2008 @ 2:26pm | sorta weird but I like it! |
 by baglady on 7/21/2008 @ 7:17pm | Ok folks... the phantom muralist is John Moeller. He lives on No. 7th with his daughter. I am sure we will see him again even though he has finished our mural. He received such great response while he was working. He did say he would be back soon. |
by NineInchNachos on 7/21/2008 @ 8:09pm | Thanks baglady! Kevin are you going to get the scoop on this one? |
by baglady on 7/24/2008 @ 6:10pm | He is at it again. Now the wall at Last Stop Computers at the corner of 6th and Cedar.
(Across from the Old Milwaukee) Can't wait to see his finished piece. |
 by fredo on 7/24/2008 @ 7:46pm | The murals definitely make ugly or nondescript buildings more attractive. Nicely designed architectural buildings and historic buildings, not so much. |
by Erik on 7/24/2008 @ 8:48pm | He is at it again. Now the wall at Last Stop Computers at the corner of 6th and Cedar.
Pretty amazing he lined up so many properties. |
by baglady on 7/24/2008 @ 9:23pm | IT 'S A CHAIN REACTION!
We actually talked to him about a mural on our way to the Farmers Market while he was doing Kobe. He was working on our background by Thur and completed on Sun. Brian from Last Stop Computers liked what he did on our building, talked to him today and he got started on their wall. Not bad for an 82 year old. I hope I am that ambitious and energetic at that age! |
 by Twisty on 7/25/2008 @ 9:26am | "...for which he charges "whatever" and leaves his fee up to you..."
So much for that "No Spec" nonsense, eh? |
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Although I have another home on the web I thought it might be nice to lead by example a bit and put this blog system up to the test myself.
So far, so good... Funny how I build web tools for other people that are far better than the one's I have setup over on KFnet.
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