Outdoor court mural artists announced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 12, 2020

Tiffany Patterson, Joshua Martel, and Nick Goettling have been selected as the three individual artists to install outdoor basketball court murals on Spokane Parks basketball courts in Peaceful Valley, Chief Garry Park, and Thornton Murphy Park. The murals are part of a Hooptown USA project revitalizing courts throughout the region, made possible with support from MultiCare Regional Health System and Spokane Arts. The court murals are a celebration of the strength of both our local arts and sports communities. Together the mission is to establish a mosaic of art and basketball throughout the region to inspire and encourage inclusivity, ultimately building healthier communities.

Patterson, Martel, and Goettling were among the 38 artists from around the country who submitted applications for these projects, in response to an open call for artists administered by Spokane Arts in March and April of this year. A panel of representatives from Hooptown USA, Spokane Parks, MultiCare, and Arts Commissioners selected eight top designs as finalists. The other finalists for the project were Reinaldo Gil Zambrano, Mila Sketch, the De Felice Family, and Paulina Cholewinski. The finalist designs were shared in a community survey designed to gather input from the three neighborhoods where these courts are located as well as from court users. The selection panel considered survey input, along with the finalist artists’ full applications, experience and past work, in making their selections.

Peaceful Valley’s basketball court will be the first outdoor court mural site for the project, and installation is expected to begin this month. Tiffany Patterson, a local artist and illustrator who has become well known locally for her recognizable playful and layered style, was selected for the Peaceful Valley site. Patterson was thrilled to be selected for that location, as it is in the same area of the very first mural project she was a part of over a decade ago: a City School project that partnered students and local artists. She’s been part of a dozen mural projects since that first one. In her application for this project, Patterson noted she wanted to “use color and repeated shapes to mirror the energy of the game.” For neighborhood representative Carol Bryan, the mostly blue and green design reflects the not-so-peaceful section of the river that flows through the neighborhood. “The River down here is very active. I love how her design captures that movement in a playful way.” Punctuated by bright orange flaming basketballs, Patterson hopes her design is a fun and inclusive mural that helps to make the court even more inviting to anyone that might want to play, and as a space for imagining new games. “I have fond memories of running down basketball court lines as a child and making up games. I tried to include possibilities for hopping from shapes, and safe zones, perfect for play,” shared Patterson.

Chief Garry Park will be the site of the second mural to be installed for the project, and neighborhood residents will be invited to participate in a community engagement project during the mural installation, designed and led by artist Joshua Martel. The Chief Garry Park court mural is scheduled to begin installation in mid-July of this year. After growing up in Coeur d’Alene, Martel spent time in California and travelled the country, gaining experience as a muralist painting over 50 murals in the past seven years. Having recently returned to the area, Martel is excited to be installing his first large-scale mural in Spokane and looking forward to working with neighborhood residents. Martel had two designs in the top eight, one featuring two basketball players and the other (the selected design for this project) focused on a pair of classic basketball sneakers. Several artists’ designs featuring shoes were among the top candidates; Martel’s design was praised for being simple yet bold, relying on a muted but vibrant color palette. As Martel noted in his application, “Simplicity when done right is strong.”

The court mural at Thornton Murphy Park, in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood, will be installed in 2021. Experienced muralist Nick Goettling, who has installed murals in many places including Seattle, Portland, and Chicago, created a design inspired by the Spokane River for this project. As Goettling shared in his application, “This mural is meant to be seen and enjoyed at ground level, where the flowing lines, dynamic movement, and bold colors will reflect the energy and dynamism of the basketball games it frames.” Goettling is also currently working on a sculpture to be installed in the new Franklin Elementary school in Spokane; a project he was selected for by the Washington State Arts Commission. City arts commissioner Derrick Oliver was enthusiastic about the opportunity to include a piece from Goettling in Spokane’s public mural collection, “His work is phenomenal.”

Prior to the mural installations, each court will be resurfaced and the basketball court lines repainted. The specifications for painting court murals include a special grit added to the paint, to ensure the court is safe for the primary purpose of playing basketball. All of the resurfacing work, painting, supplies and labor are being donated by Hooptown USA and MultiCare, with additional support from Spokane Arts, to benefit the neighborhoods and residents who frequent these Spokane parks.

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Spokane Arts is an independent non-profit arts organization that partners with public and private entities to promote arts and culture in Spokane. Spokane Arts does so through grantmaking, arts advocacy, professional development opportunities for artists, and through our diverse programming across arts disciplines, which includes management of the public murals collection and other public artwork.  

Since 1990, the Spokane Hoopfest Association has built over 30 community outdoor basketball courts in the region and donated over $1.6 million to local, charitable organizations, including Special Olympics – the primary beneficiary; community centers and various youth sports and learning programs. Hooptown USA is a brand that is designed to acknowledge and celebrate what Spokane has accomplished as a basketball community. As a city, we love and follow the game like no other place – from elite competitors, recreational players, teams, coaches, volunteers, and spectators young and old. We believe that sports connect neighborhoods – street by street – into healthy, thriving communities. Hooptown USA strives to enhance and strengthen those connections while amplifying our collective identity – all rooted in the magic of hoops.

From left: Tiffany Patterson’s mural design to be installed in Peaceful Valley, Joshua Martel’s design to be installed in Chief Garry Park, and Nick Goettling’s design to be installed in Thornton Murphy Park.

Along with the three selected designs, these five designs were also in the top eight selected from 38 proposals submitted by artists from around the country. From top left, designs by: Lina Cholewinski and Kathleen Warner, Reinaldo Gil Zambrano, Joshua Martel, Mila Sketch, and the De Felice Group.