(Artwork above by David 'Hyde' Cho' of Local Edition Creative; Photography by Mogli Maureal)

In 2000, thanks to the collaboration of Bedford Gallery Curator, the city Arts Commission, and Park & Rec Department, Walnut Creek adopted its Public Art Program, joining over 350 towns across the United States who sponsor public art. Since then, intriguing sculptures, fountains, and murals have sprung up all over the city.

With Kristin Farr’s massive eye-popping mural titled West Coast Barn Quilt on the Lesher Center, Walnut Creek expanded its mural program in 2018 onto downtown building walls. The edgy work of Bay Area artists Monica Canilao and Xara Thustra (MCXT) soon followed with a kaleidoscope of color on the western wall of Civic Park Community Center. Complex and abstract, the eye-popping 7 x 35-foot artwork, We Well All Be, was painted from a palette of 90 hand-mixed custom colors.

And even now, in these tough, socially distanced times, artists are transforming building walls have into colorful works of art spreading hope and beauty throughout the city. You can see those themes on 18-year-old Ally Mckay’s Better Days brilliant mural painted on the wall next to Sasa on Main Street. 

Sirron Norris used his rad illustrating talents to tell a cartoon-like story on the Duncan Arcade wall (a paseo that runs between Main and Locust streets.) The San Francisco artist is renowned for his vibrant action murals that adorn walls in the Mission and pediatric emergency rooms at Zuckerberg SF General Hospital.

Beauty is ignited in the Floral Bounty mural by Velia de Iuiis on a nearby Duncan Arcade wall featuring endangered and thriving plants from around the globe. Located at 1341 North Main Street, the #DuncanArcade public art project features the work of five esteemed Bay Area artists and will rotate at regular intervals to bring in new works.

David Hyde Cho’s fantastic mural, Jiko-jitsugen, (top of page) on the corner of Civic Drive and Locust Street, combines the five elements philosophy in Japanese Buddhism. The San Francisco street artist was one of the original talents behind the wall mural art boom that began in 2004 in the Mission District. 

Self-guided public art tours are available using the Public Art Map at bedfordgallery.org.