Northgate Community Center recently spearheaded the creation of a new neighborhood mural. The mural, named “Cosmic Unity”, is located on the north facing retaining wall of the Pacific Medical Center Northgate Clinic’s parking lot. The wall faces the Northgate Community Center multipurpose room and wraps around to face the Thornton Creek Natural Area. Northgate Community Center staff worked with local youth to solicit design ideas to spruce up this once plain gray facade, which now bursts with colors and avian imagery.
Through a series of brainstorming sessions, the youth in the area came up with the design concepts of unity, community, togetherness and peace. Artist Andrew Miller interpreted these concepts into the final design. During the two weeks of painting to complete the mural, teens went to the wall in small group or worked one-on-one with Andy to layout, draw and fill in the design. This was both a great learning experience for some of our young artists as well as an opportunity for them to take ownership of this new place-making feature in the Northgate community. In total, teens contributed over 20 hours of work to help develop the design idea and paint the mural. Pacific Medical Center will also be working with Seattle Parks and Recreation youth programs to provide guidance, clinic tours, and information to youth interested in careers in the medical field.