This spring, Urban ArtWorks’ Base Crew youth artists partnered with the Crown Hill community to transform the Crown Hill underpass with public artwork. Through conversations, design sessions, and community paint days, youth artists worked together to create a mural on both sides of the 8th Avenue under Holman. The finished mural reflects the ideas, energy, and spirit of the people who live, walk, bike, and gather in Crown Hill every day.

Across both sides of the underpass, the design moves through flowing rivers, native plants, and wildlife, as well as neighborhood cats, books, and doorways creating the feeling of walking through a shared Pacific Northwest storybook.

On one side of the underpass features waves, salmon, riverside grasses, carved tree trunks, and beavers. A large crowned cat resting among flowers and foliage. Youth added the cat to pay homage to the neighborhood cats that also call Crown Hill home.

The opposite side continues the story with mountains, forests, mushrooms, butterflies, spiders, ladybugs, flowers, and colorful doorways that feel like portals into different imagined worlds. The doorways are a visual nod to the structural design of the bridge as well as a way to highlight the creativity and individuality of each youth artist’s contribution.

The color palette combines bright blues, pinks, greens, and golds inspired by water, sky, plant life, and sunset light in the Pacific Northwest.

The project began with community outreach and engagement, inviting neighbors to share what they wanted to see represented in the space. The Crown Hill Village Association and local leaders reached out across the community to gather ideas. Base Crew youth artists interpreted those ideas into a large-scale mural design that celebrates connection, color, and community. Over the course of several weeks, the underpass transformed from a gray corridor into a welcoming landmark created by and for the neighborhood.

One of the most meaningful parts of the process was how deeply collaborative the project became. Hundreds of volunteers and community members showed up to paint alongside youth artists, helping bring the mural to life one section at a time.

“Seeing all the ideas from the community, seeing the wide range of ideas, and then talking to the youth about it, and then seeing that sort of turn into what is the mural now.. it’s been a great evolution,” shared Crown Hill Community member Thuy.

Crown Hill Community member Maisha reflected on the collective spirit behind the work, saying, “I like that this was a collaborative community effort. You all did an outstanding job of interpreting the thoughts and ideas of the community, and seeing so many people come out who were excited to participate in this process.”

Crown Hill community member Karin, with the Crown Hill Village Association, spoke about the experience of witnessing the youth artists grow throughout the mural process: “My favorite part of the process was definitely getting to meet with all the youth artists and watch their creativity start to flow and the ideas start to happen and connect to what the community was asking for. To see this bright, beautiful result has been really amazing.”

For many of the youth artists, the project was about more than painting a wall, it was also about seeing ideas come together through teamwork and shared vision.

Teaching Artist Valencia Carroll reflected on how quickly the project grew from concept to reality: “It started with just an idea, community input of what they wanted to see, and to see it come to life is so fascinating. Seeing the community getting so involved was really encouraging and exciting to me.”

Base Crew Youth Artist Lysander highlighted the impact of the community paint days: “My favorite part of working on this mural was getting to see the community come together to help paint it. It was really nice to see the vibrant community in this neighborhood and get to see the people who are gonna be walking past this every day get to have a hand in creating it.”

Base Crew Youth artist Adrian reflected on the artistic collaboration within the crew itself: “My favorite part of this entire process was seeing everybody’s own art style be put into one piece of artwork. You could see the difference between four different styles of objects that are in the art piece.”

Several youth artists reflected on the teamwork that made the mural possible. “My favorite part of this process is watching all of our ideas mend together,” shared Manella.”

For Base Crew member Zayneb, the experience of working on such a large-scale mural offered a unique perspective: “Working on the mural really close, it looks weird and distorted, but then when you cross the street it looks really beautiful when you step back, and I think that makes it really rewarding.”

The Crown Hill underpass mural is what can happen when youth leadership, public art, and community collaboration come together. More than just a mural, the project created connections between neighbors, artists, and young people while making a public space into something welcoming, colorful, and alive with collective creativity.

This project is funded in part by a Neighborhood Matching Fund award from Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Special thanks to neighborhood partners, including the Crown Hill Village Association and Crown Hill neighbors for their partnership on this mural, and to the many volunteers who helped bring the project to life.