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The drive comes alive with mural stretching along I-5 overpass in downtown Vancouver

Mural decorates Evergreen Boulevard overpass with colorful native plants, community members’ pets

By Brianna Murschel, Columbian staff writer

Published: July 22, 2024, 6:05am

7 Photos

LEADOPTION Artist Ana Honsowetz painted a 600-foot mural on Evergreen Boulevard overlooking Interstate 5. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian) Photo Gallery

Vibrant and colorful Pacific Northwest native flowers, fruits, animals and more decorate the East Evergreen Boulevard Interstate 5 overpass.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place 10 a.m. Aug. 2 at the intersection of Evergreen and East Reserve Street to unveil the 600-foot-wide Evergreen Boulevard Community Garden mural painted by 23-year-old Vancouver artist Ana Honsowetz — also known as Ana the Artist.

“We decided something that would be really good for the community was a living garden that would be alive all year ’round,” Honsowetz said, “so that it would help bring people’s spirits up during the seasonal depression time.”

Honsowetz and Michael Walker, executive director of Vancouver’s Downtown Association, developed the design with a committee.

IF YOU GO

What: Unveiling of the 600-foot-wide Evergreen Boulevard Community Garden Mural

When: 10 to 10:30 a.m. Aug. 2

Where: Intersection of East Evergreen Boulevard and East Reserve Street

Cost: Free; no RSVP required

Information: vdausa.org/event/mural-and-scavenger-hunt-unveiling

Vancouver’s Downtown Association collaborated with the city of Vancouver Culture, Arts and Heritage Commission, the Washington State Department of Transportation, and the nonprofits Divine Consign and Historic Trust.

Walker said the mural, which references Fort Vancouver’s historical garden, is the result of a long effort to make East Evergreen Boulevard livelier.

The state transportation department owns the overpass, and Vancouver’s Downtown Association’s first step was getting the agency’s approval.

As the first mural that the state transportation department has approved in years, Honsowetz said, this was a big deal.

The project received a $10,000 grant from the city of Vancouver and a $5,000 grant from Divine Consign, and Vancouver’s Downtown Association provided the rest of the funds, totaling around $18,000, Walker said.

Honsowetz started painting the mural in September 2023 and completed it in June. She said she spent about 24 days on each side of the overpass. Her work was weather-dependent.

The East Evergreen overpass is the longest mural she’s painted, with 300 feet each on the north and south sides.

With the help of a few volunteers, Honsowetz painted the background of each panel a forest green using about 10 gallons of paint. Then she painted the flowers, animals and other pieces of the artwork, using around 45 colors in quart-size containers.

It took about 5 gallons of a clear anti-graffiti coating to cover the mural.

“This area used to get tagged a lot, which is one of the reasons they wanted to paint it, especially because the gray cement was just not pretty to look at on your walk to work,” Honsowetz said. “They wanted to make sure that if it ever got tagged, it would be easy to just wash off the tag instead of having to come out and repaint.”

Down the line of panels, Honsowetz painted local dogs, including her childhood dog, her sister’s dog, Walker’s dog and other community members’ pets. When she was painting, passersby walking their dogs often asked if she could paint their pets. She took photos of the dogs and incorporated some of them into the mural.

The unveiling event will include a scavenger hunt for community members to look for the community pets, native plants and other animals in the mural.

This isn’t Honsowetz’s first time working with Vancouver’s Downtown Association. She designed the downtown street banners with illustrated birds and Uptown Village banners with ginkgo leaves and painted the mural on Eighth Street with the large yellow heart surrounded by colorful flowers and leaves.

“East Evergreen really has turned into kind of an art corridor,” Walker said, “and this 600-foot-wide mural helps to add to that.”

This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.

IF YOU GO

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