“public art projects with a purpose”

Murals along streams - raising awareness for salmon

📍 Greater Seattle, WA

“Public Art With a Purpose”

Our goals of the Save Our Salmon through Art Initiative are to:

• Raise awareness for salmon restoration in North Lake Washington creeks;

• brighten up the community with vibrant art;

• and involve community in its creation.

Follow @salmonmural on social media to stay updated on all our projects!

The Cause: Supporting Local Salmon

I’m partnering with the University of Washington’s North Lake Washington SalmonWatchers program to bring this initiative to life. SalmonWatchers is working to research, restore, and raise awareness for stream health and salmon populations. The SalmonWatchers program - founded and led by UW Bothell biology professor Dr. Jeff Jensen - works with students and community volunteers to positively impact local streams. Projects include building egg incubators and natural resources for salmon to thrive. I’m partnering with SalmonWatchers to write an educational plaque about each creek to be installed on each mural.

T-Shirts & Merchandise

We created merchandise from the mural design as T-shirts, stickers, magnets, greeting cards, and more.

The best part? 100% of proceeds go towards North Lake Washington SalmonWatchers to restore local salmon-spawning streams.

Shop merchandise via the link below!

180 +

volunteer painters involved

$11,642 +

raised for stream awareness and restoration efforts

979,000 +

people reached with salmon awareness campaigns

Videos

KING 5 Evening: Interview and TV segment!

King 5 Evening filmed at our Community Paint Day and interviewed me about the project! Check out this 2-minute TV segment which aired on Channel 5 on April 13th.

Time Lapse: Process Video

Watch the process start-to-finish as the mural came to life! From sketching it up, Paint Day, to touchup at the end - drone shots from our incredible videographers captured it take shape!

The Designs: Native Kokanee

The murals feature kokanee salmon (often referred to as “Little Red Fish”), a bright vivid illustration to remind people of the wildlife we share our local streams with. Kokanee are a type of landlocked sockeye that never make the trip out to the ocean, and are native to Lake Washington and its tributaries.

We typically think of sockeye, chinook, and coho when we think of salmon in Lake Washington, but prior to the 20th century kokanee were the most abundant salmon in the lake. Kokanee were thought to have been locally extinct from Lake Washington by the 2000s, but new research is shedding new light on a few local kokanee runs!

Community Paint Days

I’m partnering with Seattle-based nonprofit Urban ArtWorks to host Community Paint Days to bring these murals to life.

Our Paint Day for the Kirkland mural was held Saturday, April 2nd, 2022 with 160+ volunteers to help paint my design onto the wall.

At our events, we’re hosting signups as one hour shifts, with up to 20 volunteers per hour. No art experience required to participate, and we’ve had everyone ages 4 to 74 help paint these murals!

In Kirkland, all volunteer painting spots filled within hour after opening signups - we were blown away by the overwhelming support of this project, and were able to take several walk-ups during the Paint Day. Thanks to everyone who was involved!

Our First Wall: Kirkland, WA

📍 Juanita Beach Park

It all started by looking at this blank wall across from Juanita Beach Park.

Our Next Wall: Coming Soon!

📍 Bothell, WA

A second Save Our Salmon Mural will be coming to this wall along the Sammamish River Trail / Burke Gilman Trail in Bothell, WA!

North Creek, which runs along the trail, is an active hotspot for engangered kokanee salmon each fall - and is also the genetic research headquarters for North Lake Washington SalmonWatchers on UW’s Bothell campus.

Coming Summer 2022!

Our Third Wall

📍 Lake Forest Park, WA

This barricade was created from a restored culvert along McAleer Creek - next to Animal Acres Park and Brookside Elementary.

Coming September 2022!

More Walls Coming Soon!

📍 Issaquah, WA

We’ll be partnering with the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery to bring a mural location to downtown Issaquah. Stay tuned for more developments!

Coming Spring 2023!

Utility Boxes

📍 Various Locations, WA

We’ll be bringing a new dimension to the Save Our Salmon initiative - traffic signal boxes on intersections surrounding local streams!

Coming Summer 2022!

Press

Kirkland Lifestyle

“A Mural with a Purpose: Local Teen Artist Inspires and Brightens the Community”

425 Magazine

“Kirkland Teen Artist Saves Salmon”

University of Washington

“Community Mural Commemorates a Lifelong Passion”

Donate to support salmon

I designed and painted the mural entirely volunteer, so thanks to everyone who donated during our Embrace A Stream Challenge Nov 8-14th and our Kirkland Parks & Community Foundation fundraisers! - we have met our fundraising goal for costs of supplies!

Now that the mural is done, we’ve turned our fundraising efforts towards supporting stream restoration.

Before It Could All Happen: Drawing it Up

I spent several weeks before the Community Paint Day drawing my design up onto the Juanita wall. I outlined the whole design as “paint-by-number” style so it’d be easy for volunteers to get involved painting it.

My goal with the design was solid colors and solid shapes, so anyone regardless of art experience could participate in bringing the mural to life.

About the Artist: Austin Picinich

“I’m a 17-year-old artist from Kirkland, WA, and a junior at Juanita High School. I love brightening up my community, and art is the perfect way to do so! I enjoy acrylic-on-canvas painting as well, but murals are the perfect way to give back with my art. I especially love art that has a message, and raising awareness for salmon through murals is an amazing way to make an impact with art”

Kirkland Mural - More About Juanita Creek

You can learn more about Juanita Creek by reading the informational signs at Juanita Beach Park, across the street from SPUD. You can hike back in the trails to the creek - and maybe even catch a glimpse of fish!

During September and October you might be able to see coho and chinook, which migrate through Juanita Creek in the fall.