A very cool thing is happening near where I live. There are a bunch of young men and women creating public artwork. I noticed it the first time, exiting off of I-99, when I saw a grey outline with numbers. The project is located under and along the I-99 overpass and 46th Street. It's hard not to notice when you pass by.

Now that the piece has progressed, I decided to walk down, snap a few photo's and ask a couple questions. Turns out that there is an organization called ARTWORKS that takes at-risk youths and works with them to create public art. The group has created over 350 murals for schools, businesses and parks throughout Seattle. The program was developed in 1995 by the SODO Business Association to clean up trash and graffiti along the busway in Seattle's industrial zone.

The project by my house is awesome. It was commissioned to a local artist, who then outlines the piece and places color numbers inside the lines. Then a team of youth comes out and paints it, using color by number. The artist comes out every so often to touch it up and art direct. Very cool.

It brightens up an otherwise grey overpass and should help keep graffiti tagging to a minimum. I'm a big fan of street art and this program needs our support.

I'm not the only person who noticed. Check out the Cool Hunter which features some professional photos of the finished street art and a short write up.