News

Appreciation for the Power of Public Art June 10, 2022

As I travel around the City, I continue to marvel at our community murals. Murals improve the appearance of the city by bringing color to former blank walls. Many of our murals depict times or persons in our past. Pictured are just a few of the murals around our great city.

A new mural is underway near Hwy 101 by the Coos Bay / North Bend boundary. The canvas is an old concrete wall, a remnant of the former Standard Oil fueling depot and storage tanks. Local artist Mike Vaughn began several weeks ago preparing the wall in order to make way for a new mural. The mural will depict the lower half of a visiting ship along with two tugboats, both the Coos Bay and North Bend tugs, pushing / guiding the ship in the bay. The artist provided me the below picture which depicts such an event.

As you will see in the below pictures, the mural is taking shape. Weather permitting, Vaughn is planning to complete the project later this month.

-Joe Benetti, Mayor of Coos Bay