Sown Together

What was once a neighborhood eyesore, now functions as a beautiful source of history, education, and community pride. Acorn Murals and the Elk Run Farm community turn an old shipping container into 4 works of art.

When I heard Elk Run Farm (ERF) was in need of a mural artist, I jumped at the chance. It is especially exciting for me to partner with organizations who care for the community.

Elk Run Farm (ERF) is part of the King County Food Coalition. Last year they grew, and donated, over 14,000 LBS of food to several food banks across King County, WA. This year they’ve expanded growing into a new field, and are aiming to grow and donate 20,000 LBS of food.

Before: They have a shipping container at the farm used for storage. Previously, it was purely functional, old, and battered.

ERF wanted to not only beautify the container, but to honor one of their retiring members, and tell the story of the farm. Clare Nance, was the Plant Science teacher with Tahoma High School, who spearheaded the partnership for high school students to learn and volunteer on the farm.

This side of the shipping container faces the school, and features the Tahoma High School mascot, as well as a dedication to Clare. This is the first side visible, and acts as a greeting for students and park goers as they enter the Elk Run Natural Area and Farm.

The second side features a lush PNW landscape, with an elk portrait in the foreground, shown with it’s the head facing left as a tie in with the Elk Run Farm logo. The striped sky highlights Mount Tahoma, while adding contemporary visual interest, that works in harmony with the shipping container’s metal corrugation, and has a subtle nod to the rains of the PNW. Mount Tahoma is shown as a mix of blues and yellow to deepen the connection with Tahoma High School's colors, and to create a soft glow. The foreground is accented with silhouettes of Douglas fir trees, a great blue heron, and red tailed hawk, as they were noted to be some of Clare's favorite things she saw while working on the farm. The fireweed was selected for both its coloration, and symbol of resilience.

The third side showcases a modified version of the ERF Logo, affectionately known as "just the beet."

I modified the logo slightly so that it has stronger readability painted on the shipping container’s highly textured surface.

To further reduce distortion from the shipping container’s shape, it is sized for the elk silhouette to comfortably fit with the lock being fully seated within just the beat color.

The final side, which faces the farm, showcases a selection of crops grown at ERF. It shows a stylized landscape as a cross-section, so that viewers can see what is happening both above and below ground.

Garlic is prominently featured as it is a prized crop, with many food banks reporting it as a rare and prized donation. ERF dedicates 1/8th of their annual growing space solely for garlic production to increase the flavor opportunities for food bank shoppers. Their garlic harvest is also one of their main annual community activities.

A dahlia represents ERF's annual CSA fundraiser, and was selected for being one of Clare's favorite flowers. Additionally, the dahlia variety Salish Twilight Girl was hybridized in the PNW.

The farm intentionally grows culturally diverse crops, such as bok choy, radish, and carrots to serve the culturally diverse communities that shop at the food banks. Salmonberries were selected to honor indigenous food sources, and as a PNW native plant grown on ERF.

Elk Run Farm heavily invests in cultivating healthy soil, as healthy soil leads to healthy food that tastes better. There are three bands of color, to represent the shift in soil moisture levels with increased depth. I also included a mottled aesthetic for the deeper soil as a representation of texture, nutrients, and healthy bacteria. (Which children had a wonderful time painting.) As the farm increased the soil health, they saw an increase of in earthworms, so we had to include at least one.

Above there is a green mason bee as a nod to ERF's annual mason bee class, and a bumble bee to symbolize native pollinators. And last, and least (in size) is a tiny praying mantis, as a fun easter egg for the ERF staff.

Volunteers weed and harvest as needed on the farm. At the end of a hard day they’re washing veggies, preparing them to send on the next food bank run, while I (separately) wash brushes in preparation for the next mural.

🫜 You can learn more about opportunities to support Elk Run Farm here.

🎨 And if you’re interested in your own mural, you can connect with me here.