Local Artists Team Up to Paint Mural in Downtown Chehalis

Summertime in southwest Washington means another season of the Chehalis Community Renaissance Team putting local artists to work beautifying the downtown corridor of the Mint City.

New painted benches have already been placed along the walkways and another round of facade grants for businesses to update the outside of their storefronts will be handed out this month. The largest splash of color, though, will be one of the first sight for many visitors to Chehalis as they enter town.

Artists Emily von Flotow and Thomas Sutley will begin collaborating next week on a large mural to occupy the north-facing wall of 566 N. Market Blvd., home to the Ewe and I store that sells yarn and needlecraft supplies alongside Black Sheep Creamery. Work is scheduled to begin Monday and should take about one month to complete.

Sutley, who could not be reached for comment prior to press time, created the design that includes a landscape view of the Chehalis River Valley and a biplane pulling a banner that reads “Welcome to Chehalis.” The likeness of Eliza Barrett, one of the key figures behind the growth of the town during the latter half of the 19th century, will be featured in the foreground of the mural. The only public monument of Barrett’s contributions to Chehlais is her gravesite in the Fern Hill Cemetery.

“We’ve been working with the building owners and we wanted to keep the agriculture theme going with the building,” said Annalee Tobey, executive director of the CCRT. “We also wanted to keep a theme that would be appropriate for the agricultural nature of the businesses there. We’re really excited to be able to honor (Barrett) too, because she doesn’t really have anything in the community we can think of where she’s been honored.”

Sutley and von Flotow are no strangers to the downtown beautification efforts of the CCRT. Both have contributed to efforts to paint garbage can lids, while von Flotow is responsible for the murals on the public bathrooms downtown and the one adjacent to Ewe and I depicting the local farmers market.

The two artists are excited to collaborate together on a single project, von Flotow said. She works in education, a career which allows her to dedicate her summers to creating art. Sutley, a graduate of W.F. West High School in Chehalis, puts his artwork on clothing under his own Vryheim Design label. He also has paintings and drawings for sale at local businesses such as Dapper Games.

“The mural is completely his design,” von Flotow said. “We wanted something that says ‘Chehalis’ and represents the town, given that it’s one of the first things a lot of people will see as they come in. We realized that wall can be seen from the railroad, like Amtrak passengers, and a lot of cars coming in off National Avenue. It’s going to be different than the farmers market mural, but we want to tie them together.”

The CCRT is paying for the mural itself out of its own funds rather than facilitating a grant from a third party, Tobey said. She added that to her, it’s worth it to bring more colorful art and excitement to the north end of downtown Chehalis.

Sutley and von Flotow will be using a lift to paint the majority of the wall, since much of it will be out of reach at ground level. It’s nice to be able to visit with people while painting in public, von Flotow said, but it will also be helpful for the pair to be able to put their heads down and paint before the sun starts beating down on that wall during the hottest part of the day.

“The first time I did a mural in Chehalis in 2017, I started in late August and it took me working every weekend for more than a month,” von Flotow said. “So it was getting into October, and I was having to work around the weather and the cold. The one last year, I started it in June, so I had good weather  but the paint could get sticky in the heat. So I think right now is a pretty good time and with us both being there, we can probably get through it pretty quickly.”