SHORELINE — It’s one of the most visible corners leaving Edmonds.
For 15 years, a mural of sitting children covered the concrete wall at the corner of Ballinger Way and First Avenue NE. But the paint was chipping and fading.
Now an artist is painting a new mural of scenes from the past and present of Echo Lake at the corner near the Nile Golf Course.
“Thousands of people drive by there, and we really wanted to enliven that corner and have something fresh and new for people to look at,” said Ros Bird, public art coordinator for the city of Shoreline.
Edmonds artist Andy Eccleshall is using historic photos to create the scenes. One will include a picture of the old Interurban trolley that fades into the current Interurban trail. Another historic picture shows a family boating on Echo Lake.
“People just out sort of having fun out on the water,” Eccleshall said. “It used to be a real hot spot back in the day.”
The project at the Snohomish-King county line costs $8,000. The city of Shoreline working with the Echo Lake Neighborhood Association is paying for the work through the city’s mini-grant program and a 1 percent fund for the arts, a city fund that sets aside money on public works projects to pay for municipal art.
Eccleshall, who has created a couple of murals in downtown Edmonds, worked with the neighborhood association on the design for the new artwork.
He expects the project will be finished this week, if the weather cooperates.
“I’m hoping what I do makes people happy,” Eccleshall said.
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