SElf Guided Tour
Welcome to the Allgire Project, a growing outdoor gallery of Whidbey Island themed murals! Start from mural one and walk clockwise, following the numbered murals sequentially. Don’t miss our latest mural on the north side of 740 SE Pioneer Way, painted in August 2024 by Oak Harbor High graduate, Vanessa Cisco!
Backstory on the Allgire Project Murals: Founded by Sarah Schacht in 2019, the Allgire is comprised of two commercial buildings dating to 1905 and 1949 at 720 and 740 SE Pioneer Way. Between the two, an approximately 7,000 square foot parking lot with multiple walls. Schacht was inspired by Wynwood Walls in Miami, Florida, and how turning a large courtyard into an ever-changing mural collection attracted business, housing, and a refreshed sense of place in the Wynwood neighborhood. She “kicked off” the murals with her own funding, learning how to coordinate murals from a mural management firm. Her idea was for new murals to be funded by prior murals’ merchandise and event rentals of the parking lot space. While the 2020 pandemic threw a wrench in some of those plans, event rentals, and community partnerships with businesses have produced four new murals since 2022. The theme of Whidbey Island’s cultures, ecology, industry, and history permeates the collection.
Mural 1: Side Eye Seagull by Forest Wolf Kell
Painted in 2019 by Forest Wolf Kell
“Artist statement: This composition is created using elements significant to Oak Harbor and its history. Each symbol and object has a direct or metaphorical connection to the city in which it resides. Each of these are arranged so that the composition as a whole is balanced and so that all things are connected.”
More: Painted in 2019, this was the 3rd mural at the Allgire Project and privately funded. The mural features icons recognizable to locals, with a historic PBY plane flying high above the mural, streaming a pendant with Oak Harbor’s founding year. Oak Harbor’s loudest local, the Glaucous-winged Gull, stands watching over, as they can be found around Downtown Oak Harbor. Icons from the Navy, native plant life like the slow growing and long-lived Gary Oak (some over 2,000 years old), acorns, shells, and a porthole reflecting local’s connection with sailing and the sea.
Mural 2: Pilot 1.0
Painted in 2019 by Overall Creative
”Artist Statement from Lina of Overall Creative: This mural was heavily inspired by elements of Oak Harbor that Sarah, the local property owner, found crucial to include in the pilot Allgire mural. I brought in elements of the local waterways, Skagit Bay, the flora and fauna, farms (and the delicious berries they grow!), and the future of Oak Harbor as an Art’s hub. Through my use of bright colors and patterns in murals, I designed a piece that would activate the space and bring viewers closer to the mural and find the small treasures within the design.”
More: This vibrant mural was our first full mural at the Allgire Project, painted in summer 2019. The wall it’s on requires a lot of skill to paint, given its rocky, uneven texture. Elements from Oak Harbor also include use of purple and gold (Oak Harbor High School’s colors), and abstract images evoking summer on the island. While it’s our most photographed mural, it wasn’t always popular. Locals critiqued it as not having “Pacific Northwest colors,” or looking too much like graffiti. Since then, thousands of visitors have snapped selfies, video taped dance routines, or taken family photos here. Minor updates to the mural were updated, particularly to the gold spray paint which had faded by 2023.
Mural 3: Extra
Artist: Lina and Kathleen of Overall Creative, October 2019
Artist Statement from Lina of Overall Creative: Extra
“I have been dreaming of using a paint sprayer as the only tool to create a mural for a while and was given the opportunity to spruce up the corner of the pilot Allgire mural. Using only the paint colors we had on hand, the paint sprayer and some water, we created a piece that cascades down the wall. Kathleen as the leader of colors and I as the hand that led the paint sprayer to do its thang!”
More: Have you ever felt exhausted but also a little frenetic at the end of a group project? After a four day weekend of painting 8 murals with a group of artists in 2019, Kathleen and Lina from Overall Creative approached Sarah, Allgire Project’s founder with an idea: “What if we sprayed the wall with paint and water? Could we use glitter????” Sarah’s answer was, of course, yes. “Extra” reminds visitors a bit of the misty rain you see in the Pacific Northwest, shimmering through the forest.
Mural 4: Untitled
Artist: Josephine Rice, October 2019
Artist statement:
“The piece for the Allgire project was inspired by the flowers that grow on Whidbey Island. I was lucky enough to have a local farmer contact; Pam of Sonshine Farm to help me with more info. I'm obsessed with flowers, and chose my work as a florist so I could be around them all the time. I paint floral paper cutouts in gouache, and layer the compositions. I love the delicacy of what I make and also transforming it into murals!”
More: Josie Rice’s mural was one of her first commissioned murals, since 2019, Rice’s work can be seen festooned across the main entry to Nordstrom’s flagship store in Seattle, on walls and stairs at Amazon, and in homes across North America. This mural suffered a setback in 2022 when a contractor, without permission, pressure-washed the wall, causing damage to the mural. In addition, an influencer stuck “removable hangers” to the mural without permission, peeling off paint. Unlike other walls, Rice’s mural is painted on 1930’s wood and must be replaced. Enjoy the mural in it’s current form—one day, it will be sold in carefully carved out pieces to fund new Allgire Project murals.
Mural 5: Untitled
Artist: Nikita Ares, October, 2022
About Ares: Nikita Ares is a Seattle-based painter originally from Cagayan de Oro, Philippines. She received her BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in 2018. Her works consist primarily of drawing and painting that includes movement, energy, and consciousness.
Theme: Oregon grapes, a medicinal plant native to Whidbey Island. Painted in late September of 2022 by Nikita and a handful of OHHS student artists, the first version of this mural wasn’t meant to be. An unforeseen rainstorm poured buckets of rain the night the mural should’ve been drying—the whole mural had to be squeegeed off the wall. It’s repaint process felt a little “wabi-sabi” (“Wabi-sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect."[9]). The mural was repainted with Ares and OHHS students, community support with a giant blue tarp to paint over and a donated, propane-fueld heat gun to dry the mural before any rains came.
The finished mural is energetic, vibrant, and reflects colors one might find in the Oregon grape plant over the course of 12 months. If you’re here in May/June, you’re in luck: by happy coincident, the bush above this mural bursts open into tiny, lilac colored blossoms, perfectly matching some of the colors used in Ares’ mural.
Mural 6: Untitled
Artist: Eva Armisén, May 2023 Media: Whidbey News Times
How did world-famous, Spanish painter Eva Armisén, known as the “painter of happiness,” come to paint a mural in Oak Harbor, Washington? Eva, her sister Christina and Sarah met at Art Basel in December, 2022. Sarah was impressed with the calm, happy feeling that radiated from Eva’s work. Despite the improbability of being able to attract a world-famous artist like Armisén to Whidbey Island, Armisén’s travel schedule included a stop in Los Angeles in May, 2023. With the magic of Alaska Air miles and community support from individuals like Candlewood Suites, Armisén and her team were able to come up to Whidbey and paint a mural honoring military spouses and families.
Navy spouses were interviewed about their experiences and perspectives of living on Whidbey, the connections that sustained them through long deployments of loved ones, and building a family in a place one might only live two to four years. The mural integrates nods to navy air station icons like anchors a toy plane. Children are waving good bye to a loved one on a ship setting sail, carrying a heart.
The mural went through several versions (and even moved walls at the last minute!) to get to a concept that felt right. 15+ Oak Harbor High School students painted this mural along with Eva and Christina, finding local in-season flowers in Downtown and painting them along the bottom edge of the wall.
Mural 7: Forgetting & Remembering
Artist: Yvonne Chan
Painted August, 2019
“In recent years, as I’ve learned more and more about the history of early Chinese-American immigrants to the States, I felt surprised by how much I discovered–and how much it seemed like we had collectively just forgotten. While I had briefly learned about the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act in school, I never knew the extent of the violence and discrimination that they faced right here in the Pacific Northwest. When I looked into the history of Oak Harbor, I learned that a number of these immigrants had settled here and made their lives here in the late 1800's. I thought it would be interesting to show part of their story in the mural, through the thoughts of a contemporary girl who is looking back into her roots and her past.”
More: From HistoryLink.org, the Washington State history site.
“Oak Harbor's Chinese Residents
During the 1880s and 1890s, Chinese immigrants made up a large proportion of the workforce on farms, in industrial operations, and in towns. Racist feelings bubbled up to mob action against the Chinese, called Celestials, in populated areas including Oak Harbor. Business groups organized boycotts of Chinese businesses and prohibitions against employing Chinese. Farmers and businessmen who refused to sign pledges against the Chinese were threatened with violence. Oak Harbor residents dynamited Chinese potato patches.
Farmers, on the other hand, relied on the cheap labor and had no desire to remove what they regarded as reliable employees and responsible tenants. In 1882 Federal law prohibited Chinese immigration and smuggling Chinese laborers from Asia and Canada became a profitable business. After violent rioters expelled the Chinese in Tacoma in 1885, many Chinese left Whidbey Island, but a few individuals remained protected by landlords and employers.” In Chan’s mural, between the undulating leaves and steam, a viewer sees Chinese settlers arriving, farming, and no longer here, telling a poignant story of displacement and racism. This mural was painted with the help of hundreds of Oak Harbor residents, including toddlers, during Oak Harbor Music Fest, in “paint by numbers” style. We thank 911 Guerrilla Arts for their generous contribution to this mural!!
Mural 8:
Our Summer
Artist Statement: Vanessa Cisco, 2024 Windermere Whidbey Island Mural Scholarship winner. Painted August, 2024 Media: Whidbey News Times
“Our Summer” takes place at one of the Whidbey Islands campgrounds, Fort Casey. The mural's theme focuses on youth scouting and camping on the island. I was inspired by Sarah Schacht’s grandfather's story, John M. Allgire. In 1964, Allgire formed Scout Troop 62. This was the first troop in Mount Baker Council for scouts with learning disabilities. Then, in 1968, he became the chairman of the Island District Committee, a position he held for 14 years, and continued his involvement with scouting for 54 years. The inclusion of both learning and physical disabilities within the scouting community was moving for many, including myself.
I am a Child Of a Deaf Adult (CODA). Because of this, I decided to include a cochlear implant for one of my characters in the mural. I believe the mural provides an example of how disabilities can have a wide range of being both visible and invisible. I also wanted to focus on including diversity, as Whidbey Island has become a community of all kinds of people from everywhere. While doing my research for the mural, I requested photos from the Western Washington Girl Scouts and Troop 57 Boy Scouts for reference. From the photos I received, you can see the richness of the scouting culture and how the community contributes.
Overall, with the mural, I wanted to capture the feeling of what it is like to camp on Whidbey Island. It has provided a space for many of us to experience and build memories, whether that is with our friends, family, or the community, and many more generations to come.
Mural 9: Murphy Dock and the Fairhaven
Artist: Timothy Haslet, October 2019
Artist Statement: Inspired from an old photo of Oak Harbor from the early 1900’s, I chose to keep the greyscale palette while capturing it through the lens of my expressionist style seen in Whidbey Island galleries and shows. Dock Street, which runs next to the mural, is important to me because there is a view straight down to the water where Maylor Dock used to be before it burned down in the 1960’s. Oak Harbor has made steps in the past to rebuild, talking of a passenger ferry to Everett even, but this is yet to be. Maybe this mural may help to see this vision fulfilled? This is the first of many projects that I dream of working on to make Whidbey Island a more dynamic and sought-after destination.
Mural 10:
Round Up, the mural
Artist: Fox Spears, October 2019
Artist statement: I often reference river and mountain landscapes with the organic shapes layered within the geometric patterns. The relationship that Indigenous people have with land is often presented as mystical, but it was built over millennia as our ancestors carefully observed and listened to their environments. I do not believe it is wholly dependent on any specific physical location; instead, it is a way of moving through the world.
For this mural (Fox’s first!) he used one of his patterns, inspired by traditional Karuk basketry - and added line work mimicking the mountain ranges visible from the Whidbey Island area. In order to achieve the texture that Fox achieves in his printmaking, we collectively played with water and paint to texturize the smooth wall and add layers similar to how wet paint might affect a paper surface. The negative space will be used as a movie screen to gather locals and visitors during warm summer nights. - kw
Mural 11: Dutch Clogs
Artist: Ariel Parrow, October 2019
Artist Statement: I loved hearing about Oak Harbors early residents, and I thought it was interesting that one of the first was a shoemaker. When Sarah shared a photo of her relatives donning classic clogs, it seemed proper to do a nod to a traditional style shoe with the mural design. Lastly, I added in a little stamp to the inside of one of the shoes to reference the annual Oak Harbor cultural celebration called "Holland Happening". This particular mural was really fun for me- my painting style often chooses one subject to depict in a highly detailed way, and I was so happy that the details of this mural celebrated the local culture of Oak Harbor.
Mural 12: Untitled
Artist: Kat, 2023 Allgire Project Mural Scholarship Winner & OHHS Graduate
Mural theme: Bicycling Whidbey
Artist Statement Coming Soon!
Kat’s attention to detail impressed her art teacher at Oak Harbor High School, but it’s her determination and skill that produced such a beloved image of local life. Bicycling Whidbey is a favorite of tourists and bicyclists, and this culture and industry (reflected in Skagit Cycle across the street) is reflected by Kat’s depiction of a real trail with this exact view. She painted her dad’s vintage red bike in the foreground—which you can see tourists posing with to look like they’re riding the bike. Seen here, Kat in an orange t-shirt and her friends, talented OHHS grads who helped her paint the mural. Special thanks to Kat’s dad who helped us patch the wall’s stucco prior to painting—not a small job!