Portland Will Soon Have a New Street Art District

Viaduct Arts will commission several new murals in an often over looked part of Southeast.

Mural by Josh Keyes at Southeast 17th and Morrison. IMAGE: Rosie Struve.
By Shannon Gormley

Portland is about to get a whole lot more street art.

Arts nonprofit Portland Street Art Alliance has announced plans to commission several new murals in the industrial eastside. Dubbed the Viaduct Arts Initiative, the program is one of PSAA's biggest undertakings yet, and has long been in the works. Thanks to a new grant, the organization launched its call for artists yesterday.

With more than two dozen murals, the central eastside is already somewhat of an unofficial street art district. Forest for the Trees, an annual mural painting festival, has commissioned many works in the area.

But most of the art is concentrated in the Buckman neighborhood and around Division Street. Viaduct Arts will commission several new murals in an often over looked part of town, underneath the Hawthorne and Morrison bridges and along the loading docks of 2nd and 3rd Avenue.

PSAA is now accepting applications for the project, and will announce the chosen artists in February.

Related: A Web Developer Created a Site Mapping Portland's Murals, Heritage Trees and Neighborhood Book Shares.

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