October 2 -- Community Meeting

Colman neighbors met at the Central Area Senior Center on October 2 to discuss the community mural. Artist Eddie Walker presented his ideas for the mural concept.

Community members provided some feedback and other ideas for the mural. For example, some people suggested that the mural should have an educational component, such as an accompanying brochure that will explain the events depicted in the mural. Caroline contributed her skills as an architect and drew the mural wall to scale.

Eddie described the mural concept which involves three thematic layers that will radiate from the center. These themes have emerged from the interviews and archival research:

1) History of the Colman School building

2) Struggles of the Colman/Judkins neighborhood

3) Everyday life of the Central District

The edges of the mural will blend the depictions of local community life with the greater Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.


Colman building itself, surrounded by its history (students, principal, school boycott, closure, take-over, etc.), will be the central imagery of the mural.

Beyond the layer of Colman School history, images will radiate outward from the historic building into the second layer, which will depict the struggles of the communities that surround the Colman building. For example, there will be images of Judkins Rejected, the marches and the neighborhood organizing.

The third and the outer layer of imagery will depict everyday life in the community, such as church life, sports, picnics, socializing, families, etc.

In addition to the three layers (History, Struggles and Everyday Life) the mural will have two more elements. One element is a layer of text that is directly taken from the stories that people have contributed to the mural. The other element will be a layer made up of stencils that will be applied by community members once the mural is mounted.

At this point, we need to continue to gather stories from neighbors. A number of people have volunteered to be interviewed and if anyone has a story to contribute or would like to volunteer to do some interviews, please email Irina at irinag@u.washington.edu

Our next meeting will take place at the Douglas Truth Library on October 16th at 6pm. Please join us to review Eddie's design and to provide further feedback.