Wheels Mural for Assembly 118

Wheels (scaled mural rendering); R Williamson; digital sketch; 8/23

It’s been all summer that I haven’t painted directly on a wall but with approval coming today for ‘Wheels’, I’ll soon be back to doing just that. As usual for me this is an inside wall, so the coming rain won’t get in the way.

Assembly 118 is a recent, large multiunit apartment complex in Seattles Othello neighborhood. Open for almost 2 years now and looking to finish some details in the commons spaces, one of which is a mural for the long lobby wall.

We went through several design ideas before coming back to one of my very first concepts for the theme. ‘Wheels’ uses a selection of all the many human powered and/or human scaled rolling devices that we all use to get around these days. I often pause when I’m in a dense urban environment to take in all the multi-varied small scale ways that we now use to roll around and get places. Unicycles, scooters, electric bikes, skateboards, onewheels, cargo bikes, motor scooters, monocycles, folding bikes, roller blades, and on. Despite the fact that rental versions of some literally litter the landscape, the variety of human powered transport is changing the streetscape of all our cities, for the better..

Wheels (scaled mural rendering - detail); R Williamson; digital sketch; 8/23