📍 SPUD Fish & Chips - Juanita Beach Park - Kirkland, WA

APRIL, 2022

“A Mural With a Purpose”

Our goals of the Save Our Salmon Mural were to:

1. Raise awareness for salmon restoration in Juanita Creek;

2. brighten up the community with vibrant art;

3. and involve community in its creation.

Backstory About the Project

The idea for Save Our Salmon Mural all started in October 2021. I was one of 28 teens from across the country selected to attend the First Tee Innovators Forum in San Jose - a weekend-long leadership summit challenging teens to develop an innovative community service project to bring back to our communities. We listened to leaders talk about sustainability, leadership and innovation - and we explored strategies to bring our ideas to life. My idea for my project was a public art project to raise awareness for salmon - and the Save Our Salmon Mural was born. Over the following months from October to April I’ve begun implementation of my project and plan.

Follow @salmonmural on social media

The Cause: Supporting Local Salmon

I partnered with the University of Washington (UW)’s North Lake Washington SalmonWatchers program to bring this mural to life. SalmonWatchers is working to research, restore, and raise awareness for stream health and salmon populations. The SalmonWatchers program - founded and led by UW Bothell biology professor Dr. Jeff Jensen - works with students and community volunteers to positively impact streams like Juanita Creek. Projects include building egg incubators and natural resources for salmon to thrive. I’m partnering with SalmonWatchers to write a plaque about Juanita Creek - to be installed in one corner of the mural.

Videos

Time Lapse: Process Video

2:00 min

Watch the process start-to-finish as the mural came to life! From sketching it up, Community Paint Day, to touchup at the end - drone shots from our incredible videographers captured it take shape!

Community Paint Day

April 2nd, 2022

I partnered with the Seattle-based nonprofit Urban ArtWorks to host a Community Paint Day on Saturday, April 2nd, 2022 to host 160+ volunteers to help paint my design onto the wall.

We hosted signups as one hour shifts from 10am-5pm, with 20 volunteers per hour. No art experience required to participate, and we had everyone ages 4 to 74 help paint this mural!

All 140 volunteer painting spots filled an hour after opening signups - we were blown away by the overwhelming support of this project, and were able to take several walk-ups during the Paint Day. Thanks to everyone who was involved!

160 +

volunteer painters involved

$11,642 +

raised for stream awareness and restoration efforts

979,000 +

people reached with salmon awareness campaigns

The Design

Native Kokanee

The mural design features kokanee salmon (often referred to as “Little Red Fish”) in Juanita Creek, a bright vivid illustration to remind people of the wildlife we share our local streams with. Kokanee are a type of landlocked sockeye that never make the trip out to the ocean, and are native to Juanita Creek and Lake Washington.

We typically think of sockeye, chinook, and coho when we think of salmon in Lake Washington, but prior to the 20th century kokanee were the most abundant salmon in the lake. Kokanee were thought to have been locally extinct from Lake Washington by the 2000s, but new research is shedding new light on a few local kokanee runs!

The Location

📍 SPUD Fish & Chips - Juanita, Kirkland, WA

SPUD Fish & Chips has been a Seattle establishment since 1935, with currently 5 locations across the region.

SPUD’s iconic Kirkland location sits across from Juanita Beach Park and Juanita Creek. This historic SPUD is an iconic landmark that’s been serving seafood in the same corner of Kirkland since 1969.

The East-facing wall at SPUD is over 112-feet-long - the owners were excited to support our plan, and it's the perfect wall to use to brighten up the community and raise awareness for salmon!

Stage 1

March 2022 - Outlines & Drawing it Up

I spent several weeks before the Community Paint Day drawing my design up onto the wall. I outlined the whole design as “paint-by-number” style so it’d be easy for volunteers to get involved painting it.

My goal with the design was solid colors and solid shapes, so anyone regardless of art experience could participate in bringing the mural to life.

Stage 2

April 2nd, 2022 - Community Paint Day

On April 2nd, 2022 I hosted a Community Paint Day with Urban ArtWorks. The whole mural was painted in one day!

Stage 3

April 2022 - Touchup & Details

I then went back over the following weeks to touchup the mural, clean up lettering, linework, and details. We also rolled on an anti-graffiti clearcoating.

Press

Kirkland Lifestyle

“A Mural with a Purpose: Local Teen Artist Inspires and Brightens the Community”

425 Magazine

“Kirkland Teen Artist Saves Salmon”

University of Washington

“Community Mural Commemorates a Lifelong Passion”

Educational Plaque on the Mural

Learn about kokanee salmon and Juanita Creek by reading the informational plaques on the mural. Learn why kokanee in particular are at the heart of restoration efforts, and how you can be a good steward supporting Juanita Creek.

Written by Dr. Jeff Jensen - UW biology professor and founder of North Lake Washington SalmonWatchers.

Learn More About Juanita Creek

You can learn more about Juanita Creek by reading the informational signs at Juanita Beach Park, across the street from SPUD. You can hike back in the trails to the creek - and maybe even catch a glimpse of fish!

During September and October you might be able to see coho and chinook, which migrate through Juanita Creek in the fall.

Meet the Creators

About the Artist: Austin Picinich

“I’m a 17-year-old artist from Kirkland, WA, and a junior at Juanita High School. I love brightening up my community, and art is the perfect way to do so! I enjoy acrylic-on-canvas painting as well, but murals are the perfect way to give back with my art. I especially love art that has a message, and raising awareness for salmon through murals is an amazing way to make an impact with art”

UW North Lake Washington SalmonWatchers

The SalmonWatchers program - founded and led by UW Bothell biology professor Dr. Jeff Jensen - works with students and community volunteers to positively impact streams like McAleer Creek. Projects include building egg incubators and natural resources for salmon to thrive.

Urban ArtWorks

Urban ArtWorks is a Seattle-based nonprofit with a mission to engage youth and communities in the creation of public art that inspires connections and honors their voices. Urban ArtWorks hosts Community Paint Days all across Western Washington to bring public art to life.

And While You’re at SPUD…

Make sure to also stop inside, where you can purchase Save Our Salmon magnets and T-shirts.

You’ll also find prints of Austin’s “Sea King” turtle and “Sailboat Diptych” paintings hanging up inside the restaurant!

Merchandise

We created merchandise from the mural design as T-shirts, stickers, magnets, greeting cards, and more.

The best part? 100% of proceeds go towards North Lake Washington SalmonWatchers to restore local salmon-spawning streams.

Shop merchandise via the link below!

Fundraising for Mural Supplies

I designed and painted the mural entirely volunteer, so thanks to everyone who donated during our Embrace A Stream Challenge Nov 8-14th and our Kirkland Parks & Community Foundation fundraisers! - we have met our fundraising goal for costs of supplies!

Now that the mural is done, we’ve turned our fundraising efforts towards supporting stream restoration.

From a Mural to a Movement

What started as just the one mural is already growing!

I’ll be painting a second Save Our Salmon Mural location in Lake Forest Park, WA for September 2022.