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The area surrounding the intersection of Northeast Grand and Weidler is littered with car dealerships, fast food joints and an absence of anything aesthetically appealing. But on Friday morning, the neighborhood received a splash of color thanks to the work of local young artists.
Over a dozen kids and members of the non-profit Color Outside the Lines partnered with local artist group Rather Severe to create a colorful mural on the usually graffiti-covered walls of the 1608 building on the corner Wiedler and Grand.
Anna Barlow started Color Outside the Lines three years ago, a nonprofit that works to bring creative self-expression opportunities to foster children and at-risk youth in the Portland area.
“It’s so fun for them to come and bring a friend and feel like they are a part of they’re a part of the city,” says Barlow.
The organization, founded in 2012, uses art therapists and mentors, a handful of whom were in attendance Friday, to give children and their families an opportunity to have a creative outlet. For this mural project, they also partnered with TJ, which Kendrick Lamar started.
The youth who helped with the building beautification process on Friday received a special surprise: customized spray painted notebooks for them to use for their own sketches in the year to come.