"An Evening on the Barlow Road" - Estacada, OR - Murals on Waymarking.com

Designed By: Am Griswold
Location: Napa Auto/Iron Kettle Building (Corner of Zobrist and SW 4th Ave.)

Am Griswold was lead artist on the "An Evening on the Barlow Road" mural. The mural is painted on the wall of the vacant building facing True Value Hardware.

When Oregon Trail pioneers circled their wagons along the Barlow Road just a few days' journey from their new homesteads, the weary travelers camped under a moonlit sky by a glowing campfire, swapping stories about life on the trail and dreaming of their future in the Beaver State.

Built in 1846 by Sam Barlow and Philip Foster, the 100-mile Barlow Road served as an alternative to floating down the Columbia River on the final stretch of their 2,000-mile journey.

After a day of hard traveling, wagon breakdowns, and the constant hunt for food and water, an evening camped by the Barlow Road was a temporary respite from the hardships of life on the trail, when pioneers could play music together, cook up dinner and dessert in a Dutch oven and relax before another grueling day.

In 2009, Artback artist Am Griswold led the painting of “An Evening on the Barlow Road,” during the Estacada Summer Celebration, July 23-26 in downtown Estacada. The mural was painted on the wall of a vacant building facing the parking lot of True Value Hardware at Main Street and Third Avenue.

“This is Oregon’s sesquicentennial year, and I wanted to do something that would represent Oregon history,” Griswold said. There will be little vignettes of what might have gone on, and you’ll almost be able to hear the excitement of the people knowing they were almost at the end of the trail.”

The scene will feature pioneer camps and families in the evening, and Griswold is currently researched activities of the pioneers along the trail to incorporate into the mural. She also planned to drive the route of the trail to identify features that could be incorporated into the mural.

“This mural is a nighttime scene at dusk,” Griswold said. “There will be some dramatic lighting with a beautiful sunset on one end with the sky darkening on the other end. The little vignettes will be lit by firelight or lamplight. The dramatic lighting of a night scene will be kind of a challenge, but it should be fun to try and achieve.”

A group of very talented local artists banded together in 1994 and painted the first mural in Estacada - the ArtBack Artists were born.

Since then, the group has added their handiwork to dozens of buildings in the community, featuring murals depicting Native Americans, Estacada in its heyday as a timber town, pioneers on their way to Oregon City and numerous other themes. Each mural is largely completed in a weekend during the last full weekend in July by members of the Artback.

The annual Estacada Summer Celebration arts and music festival was created in 2000 to celebrate the ArtBack's annual mural-in-a-weekend project, which takes place every 4th weekend in July.

These murals have made Estacada a very special place to live. Estacada is growing as a community that really cares about its surroundings and the arts. Creating is the essence of our purpose and is imperative to our progress as a humanity.

Estacada is a small town of around 2800 located 30 miles southeast of Portland, Oregon. It is the art community that has encouraged the murals of Estacada you see there. They are painted on various businesses about town.

City: Estacada Location Name: Building Artist: Am Griswold Date: 2009 Media: House paint on wall Relevant Web Site: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and description of your visit. One original photo of the mural must also be submitted. GPSr photo NOT required.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/30/2010 shadow101 visited it