Seattle is filled with environmentally friendly citizens who commute by using the bus system.
What many of these people don’t necessarily realize is that some of the bus shelters that they stand at every day are painted with murals, and that anyone can take part in this art project.
Rose McCracken is the Project Program Manager of Transit Route Facilities who leads this ongoing project, which is in its 10th year. She explains that although there are some bus shelters that have been commissioned through the King County Arts Council, most of the shelters have been painted by schools, churches, summer camps, and everyday artists who want to showcase their work.
Each bus shelter has a number painted on it. If it has not been decorated with a mural and you wish to paint it, all you need to do is write down the number of the shelter, call McCracken, and she will supply you with all the equipment.
“I make sure it isn’t a shelter that’s going to be pulled and help them get the materials they need,” she says.
McCracken has a background in art and actually painted murals while she was in school. She took over this project last year. As a Project Program Manager, she focuses on various graphic projects and helps prepare materials for community meetings. The mural project is something she does on the side.
“There are a lot of summer programs that like to paint murals but the winter is slower. In winter only one or two bus shelters are painted a month.”
McCracken shared a list of all the bus shelters in the Queen Anne and Magnolia area that are currently painted. Only one was commissioned, at 10th Avenue East and East Galer Street on Queen Anne, by Gage Academy. Volunteers painted the 18 other shelters in the area, ranging from the Girl Scouts (at Taylor Avenue North and Lee Street,) St. Anne’s School (West Galer and Second Avenue, and West McGraw and 6th Avenue) to Seattle Central Community College (28th Avenue West and West Blaine Street.)
Sharon LeVine, member of the Queen Anne Community Council, and Lauren Hibbard were the parties responsible for cleaning up the underpass on Dexter Avenue North. Through this project, LeVine met Katherine Sather, who told her about the four murals she volunteered to paint.
Sather painted a mural at Lynn and Queen Anne Avenue on each side of Aurora. The mural is of Native American art. Sather also realized that this shelter didn’t have trashcans and volunteered to place some there. Further south, at the stop next to the Aloha Inn, she painted a shelter with Hawaiian art, and also painted one with whales on Dexter Avenue which has since been dismantled because of the construction around the area. At the Swedish Cultural Center on Dexter, which is a Scandinavian Club, she also lobbied to paint Scandinavian art but the project never got applied.
Since meeting Sather, LeVine has been an advocate for spreading the word about the mural project.
“Most people don’t know about this program and that it’s free,” LeVine said. “You are left to your own devices as long as your mural is in good taste.”
LeVine wants as many bus shelters painted as possible in order to beautify the city.
“I want to encourage families to paint with their children, teenagers, college students, anyone who wants to make their mark. You can be any age, any person can do it, and you don’t have to be a great artist.”
For more information on how you can paint a bus stop, visit http://metro.kingcounty.gov/prog/sheltermural/shelter_mural.html
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