The murals of Moses Lake
A nearly full-length view of artist Patricia Jensen’s “Man of Peace,” painted in 2004 to honor Chief Moses and the Sinkiuse-Columbia people.
CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Details of Chief Moses atop a horse in Patricia Jensen’s “Man of Peace” mural.
More details of Sinkiuse-Columbia daily life from the mural “Man of Peace.”
Patricia Jensen showed Sinkiuse-Columbia people fishing and caring for children.
Paul Carney, owner of EDUBS C/S at 1102 W. Broadway Ave., painted this shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe, on this side of his business, prior to the Day of the Dead in 2022, giving residents a place to say a prayer and honor their ancestors. “It was nice to do something for the community,” he said.
Some of the work of local artist Erika Kovalenko on the side of the Grant County Fairgrounds water tower on Airway Drive.
The unfinished mural on the side of The Hive at 116 W. Broadway Ave.
Some of the distinctive work of Erika Kovalenko on display in the Moses Lake city skatepark.
Patricia Jensen painted this mural on the side of the Moses Lake Post Office to honor Depression-era hobo and folk hero Monte Holms in 2006.
MOSES LAKE — There’s a very simple reason tattoo artist Shawn Willmorth painted the side of his building on W. Broadway Avenue.
“We painted it because it was awesome,” Willmorth, owner of The Hive at 116 W. Broadway Ave. “We just wanted to make an impact.”
The huge northeast-facing wall is covered with the things you might find in tattoos — a Chinese dragon, a large goldfish, a giant wooden mask with fangs. Willmorth said he started work on the wall about 15 years ago with a friend who was a graffiti artist before switching to tattoos, and several artists have worked on it over the years.
“It’s still not complete,” he said. “For one thing, it’s difficult to do. You have to rent scaffolding and all that type of stuff. So I haven’t just prioritized it.”
After more than a decade, though, Willmorth said he’d really like to start over and redo the giant mural on the side of his building.
“My long-term goal is to do more of a Moses Lake theme, with Japanese influence. I would like to do a giant carp and a couple of cranes,” he said. “But I don’t know if I’ll ever get to it. Like I said, it’s a major undertaking.”
The tattoo mural is one of several major public works of art scattered around the city. Perhaps the most striking is in Sinkiuse Square in downtown Moses Lake, where a long landscape called “Man of Peace” painted to honor Chief Moses and the Sinkiuse-Columbia faces north and a large painting honoring former Depression-era hobo turned folk hero (and short-line railroad owner) Monte Holm.
Both works were painted by Patricia Jensen, who said she was already researching the history of Moses Lake when she was asked to paint the mural to honor the chief and his people. In the “Man of Peace” mural, Jensen said she wanted to show how the Sinkiuse-Columbia people lived in the Columbia Basin prior to the arrival of European settlers.
“I met with the elders and the council, and it was quite an honor,” she said. “We went through photos, the history, to tell their story and honor their place in all this.
Unveiled in 2004 after a year of work, Jensen said the mural was tagged about a decade ago. Removing the graffiti damaged the work, which she said needs to be properly repaired and preserved.
“It needs a topcoat,” she said.
“I just thought it made a lot of sense,” said Jeff Foster, who once owned the building across from Sinkiuse Square that hosts the Chief Moses mural. “It was the least I could do.”
Dollie Boyd, director of the Moses Lake Museum and Art Center, said the city is looking for more places for public art, since murals like the works in Sinkiuse Square are less likely to be vandalized.
“Artworks are less likely to get defaced like blank spaces are, one reason we are looking at adding public art to places around town,” she wrote in an email.
The works of Erika Kovalenko, which grace the skate park at 4th Avenue and Dogwood Street as well as the water tower across from the Grant County Fairgrounds, have been tagged by graffiti artists, but ones respectful enough to not deface her actual work.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.
