Painting a “Save Our Salmon Mural” at the USGS Western Fisheries Research Center
📍 Magnuson Park - Seattle, WA
COMING SOON! - July 8-9, 2023
Poster by Austin Picinich
Community Paint Day on July 8-9 at Magnuson Park, Seattle!
Where at: USGS
📍 USGS Western Fisheries Seattle Laboratory
The US Geological Survey’s Western Fisheries Research Center is excited to host the upcoming community mural event on July 8 & 9 at the USGS Seattle laboratory in Magnuson Park, Seattle. The mural will illustrate the science USGS does to understand and address impacts to fish and their aquatic ecosystems. While the mural is being painted, USGS will also open their doors so the public can tour the laboratory and see where much of this science takes place!
We’ll be painting all four sides of the 40-foot x 25-foot building out front of the laboratory - a 130-foot mural wrapping all the way around!
USGS Western FIsheries Research Center
We’re partnering with Seattle-based nonprofit Urban ArtWorks to host a TWO-DAY Community Painting weekend on July 8 & 9, 2023.
This entire mural will be painted in a “paint-by-number” format, with the design outlined onto the wall ahead of time. Over the two-day weekend July 8 & 9, we’ll have space to host 350+ volunteer painters. We want YOU to come help paint!
Come join the fun, no experience required!
Community Paint Day - July 8 & 9
PHOTO COURTESY OF Stan Corpuz
🗓 Day #1
“Community Paint Day” - MAIN EVENT
Saturday, July 8, 2023
YOU can help paint! Community Paint Day signups are 1-hour shifts, with shifts each hour 10am-5pm on July 8. We’ll host 40 painters per hour - which is 280+ painters on the day Saturday July 8! Please sign up in advance to paint, though there may be space for walk-ups too.
USGS will also be hosting free public tours of their main laboratory all day Saturday during the Community Paint Day. No signups necessary for tours - the event is open to the public, and painting slots are open until filled.
PHOTO COURTESY OF Stan Corpuz
🗓 Day #2
“Community Touchup Day”
Sunday, July 9, 2023
Day #2 will be our Community “Touchup” Day on Sunday July 9 with 70+ experienced artists. (“Experienced” simply means anyone who is comfortable with detailed lettering, logos, and details - you don’t have to be a “real” artist!) Signup shifts for Sunday are 3 hours each.
NOTE: there will not be lab tours Sunday, so make sure to visit for the main event to tour USGS.
Painters must sign up for specific slots. Paint Day signups NOW OPEN!
Timeline: Key Dates
Stages Creating the Mural
It all started as a blank building!
The “bunker” storage building in the front of the USGS Research Center has been beige concrete since the site was originally a naval base in the 1990s. We started with an idea and this blank canvas!
Stage 1
May 2023 - Design Concept Sketches
Our initial step was the design idea! Artist Austin Picinich created these initial draft of sketches to get the mural idea started.
Stage 2
July 1-7th, 2023 - Projecting Outlines
Next, a team of volunteers projected the design onto the building. The design is up & ready!
Stage 3
July 8-9th, 2023 - Community Paint Day
The final step will be painting - we’ll be hosting 350+ community members to “paint-by-number” the mural color on July 8 & 9th! Painter signups are now open:
PhotoS courtesy of USGS
USGS LABoratory
About the USGS Western Fisheries Research Center
The Western Fisheries Research Center is part of USGS, a federal government focused on providing science for a changing world. The Center researches focuses on impacts to fish and their aquatic ecosystems. Disease, invasive species, fish passage barriers, droughts, flooding, habitat loss, urbanization and climate change are some examples. USGS Western Fisheries has four “field stations”: at Marrowstone Island (WA), Columbia River (WA), Klamath Falls (OR), and Magnuson Park (Seattle, WA).
This mural will illustrate the science USGS does to understand and address impacts to fish and their aquatic ecosystems.
Lab Tours - July 8th
30-minute tours of the USGS Western Fisheries Seattle Laboratory will be held July 8 at:
11:15 am, 12:15, 1:15, 2:15, 3:15, and 4:15 pm
(Fifteen minutes after each painting shift to ensure painters can tour after painting). A USGS staff member guiding the tour will meet people in the parking lot by the mural about five minutes before the start of each tour.
If you’re a painter signed up for the 10:00-11:00 painting shift, then you’d go on the 11:15-11:45 tour after you paint. We recommend all painters stick around for the behind-the-scenes tour!
The tours are free and open to the public - anyone can walk-up (regardless if painting, or not! and signing up separately for the tour is not necessary).
(during the Community Paint Day, please park across 65th in the park & ride lot)
We’ll be painting ALL 4 sides of the USGS building - lots of blank walls to fill!
FAQs
about this USGS Save Our Salmon Mural:
-
Nope - all supplies, brushes, and paints will be provided at the Paint Day. Just wear clothes you don’t mind getting painty.
-
Kids & families are welcome (and encouraged!) to paint at our Community Paint Day July 8.
Previous art experience is NOT required to participate. The whole design will be outlined up onto the wall ahead of time, and it’ll be all solid colors inside the lines (think “paint by number” style).
-
Due to the high interest, we're asking all volunteers to please limit their signup to only one hour on Saturday July 8th so we can fit more volunteers involved.
If you want to paint more, feel free to signup for the entire “Touchup” Day Sunday July 9th too. We invite experienced artists or those who can confidently paint details to signup BOTH days.
-
For painting - all painters must sign up in advance. If there are any no-shows day-of, chances are we will likely be able to take a few walkup painters per hour.
For tours - the event and tours are all open to the public. Anyone can attend, watch the mural in progress, and go on a tour of the USGS Seattle Laboratory.
-
Please park across 65th St in the park & ride lot, and walk across.
-
-
There will likely be a news crew filming and/or photographing during the event. By signing up, you consent to being filmed while painting and/or on tours. We will let you know in our email newsletter when any media coverage airs!
-
-
You can find SOS Murals by artist Austin Picinich at:
Juanita Creek (Kirkland) at 📍 SPUD Fish & Chips - painted April 2022
McAleer Creek (Lake Forest Park) at 📍 Animal Acres Park - painted Sept 2022
USGS Western Fisheries Laboratory (Seattle) at 📍 Magnuson Park - coming July 2023
About the Artist: Austin Picinich
Photo by Kuria Jorissen
PHOTO courtesy of Gary Word
PHOTO courtesy of Kuria Jorissen
Meet the artist behind the design!
Austin Picinich is an 18-year-old artist from Kirkland, WA. He’s an incoming freshman at University of Washington. Austin created the nationally-awarded Save Our Salmon (SOS) Mural Initiative painting murals along salmon-spawning streams.
So far, Austin has painted a 112-foot SOS Mural along Juanita Creek (Kirkland), and a 188-foot SOS Mural above McAleer Creek (Lake Forest Park, WA). In 2022, Austin won the Barron Prize for Young Heroes, and SOS was named one of the top 15 national projects making communities better. Austin’s murals have been featured on KING 5, KOMO 4, The Seattle Times, and the national Inspiring Young Heroes documentary.
Now, this will be Austin’s 3rd Save Our Salmon Mural at USGS!
Austin is designing the mural, and will outline his design onto the building at USGS ahead of time, so it’s ready to “paint-by-number”!
Meet the Artist: Austin
Watch Austin in the national “Inspiring Young Heroes” video (2:40min)
Watch Austin’s mural announcement video: (1:10 min)
Watch a past Community Paint Day:
Time Lapse video from Juanita Creek mural:
The Design: Sneak Peeks!
Here’s a sneak peek at Austin’s design!
Help us spread the word!
Download our printable flyer, and spread around town!
