By Annie Soutter
My mom used to love to tell about how, when I got upset as a kid and dramatically stormed off, she would give me a little time, and then always find me in my room knitting. I still find so much peace and calm through knitting. But it’s not just knitting. It’s making art in general.
I love everything about it, the whole process: viewing, appreciating and drawing inspiration; researching and gathering supplies; learning new techniques, experimenting, making messes, and figuring it out; practicing, honing skills, refining the final piece; and sharing it with others. And it’s not just me! So many people out there find solace, comfort, and satisfaction through art.
But what happens when we make art together? What happens when that art is on display in our community?
ECCA’s mission is to build community — make our connections to each other stronger, more resilient, more meaningful. We do this by facilitating projects that bring people together to work side by side on common goals that lift us all up and make us all feel better, together, as a community.
Studies have shown that public works of art are incredible for communities. They increase pride of place, beautify spaces, encourage conversations, inspire wonder and creativity, elevate voices, foster inclusiveness, enhance well-being, and boost the economy, to name a few. And when the community works together to create that public art, the benefits are amplified.
This is why ECCA has decided to develop a Community Murals Project. We want our community to reap the incredible and vast rewards that come with making art together!
We have initiated the process by reaching out and securing permission from the city to install a community-created mural on the bathroom building at Hamllik Park.
We hope this mural will be the first of many. Imagine how inspiring it would be to have murals around Washougal that we created together, as a community? And what if we painted those murals on panels that could be moved and swapped between all the various locations? It would be a traveling mural gallery that represents and reflects our community!
Update: The photo at the top of this post is from the April 2024, the first community painting day for the Hamllik Park mural. The mural was finished in June 2024.
Annie Soutter lives in Washougal with her husband and three daughters.
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