Ogden walls, concrete suddenly getting murals, splashes of color
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- Artist Cole Eisenhour talks about his mural, “You Belong,” on a parking garage off 25th Street in Ogden on Aug. 17, 2021. (Photo by Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner)
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- The newly painted tunnel along the Ogden River Parkway trail underneath Monroe Boulevard on Aug. 11, 2021. (Photo by Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner)
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- A mural on the wall of the Roosters Brewing Co. building in Ogden on Aug. 17, 2021. (Photo by Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner)
Artist Cole Eisenhour talks about his mural, "You Belong," on a parking garage off 25th Street in Ogden on Aug. 17, 2021. (Photo by Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner)
OGDEN — Suddenly, it seems, Ogden is getting an influx of art on some of the blank walls and concrete spaces around the city.
Notably, there were the murals completed by artist David Sepulveda on five blank walls on city-owned parking structures along Grant Avenue in the city center, presented to the public in a ceremony last July.
But now there are more.
Cole Eisenhour, a Weber County artist, formally unveiled a new mural earlier this month called “You Belong” on what had been a blank space on a parking garage along 25th Street, just west of Washington Boulevard. MarketStar, which owns the parking structure, partnered with the Ogden Downtown Alliance in bringing the plans to fruition.
“It’s for everybody,” Eisenhour said. He calls the mural urban art and said the aim of “You Belong” is to reflect and celebrate the diversity of the community and to sound a message of inclusiveness, drawing from the core values of MarketStar.
The newly painted tunnel along the Ogden River Parkway trail underneath Monroe Boulevard on Aug. 11, 2021. (Photo by Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner)
Last week, a contingent of volunteers taking part in a state tourism conference in Ogden helped paint the Ogden River Parkway tunnel under Monroe Boulevard near the Ogden Botanical Gardens. Call it a tunnel mural.
The tunnel “was just white and it was getting graffitied,” said Christy McBride, who heads Ogden’s Arts, Culture and Events Division.
It’s not yet complete, but when done, the completed work is to reflect a “mountains to metro” theme, that is, the urbanity of Ogden and the natural mountains on the city’s eastern side. The city of Ogden and Visit Ogden, which promotes tourism in Weber County, are spearheading that effort.
Kim Bowsher, who leads the Ogden Downtown Alliance, said public murals bring color and vibrancy to a city.
More significantly, “art is a way people can see themselves in a community. It’s like visual storytelling,” she said. “It lets more people feel a part of something.”
A mural on the wall of the Roosters Brewing Co. building in Ogden on Aug. 17, 2021. (Photo by Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner)
Other murals color walls around Ogden, including one on the side of the Roosters Brewing Co. location at 235 25th St. There are the monarch butterflies painted outside The Monarch art studio location at 455 25th St. and another mural on the west side of the new Tru by Hilton hotel in Ogden at 2405 Lincoln Ave.