Mural underway on the Opera Alley side of the Buhne Building on G Street in Old Town Eureka. | Ryan Burns.

Behold! The first layer of a large new mural in Old Town Eureka was being applied this afternoon via black spray paint. But don’t worry: This matte-black look is not the final vision. According to Claire Reynolds, director of the Black Faun Art Gallery, London-based artist Dan Kitchener has been commissioned to paint a mural in the glimmering urban nightscape style seen below:

Photo courtesy Black Faun Gallery.

Kevin Bourque, founder of the Black Faun Art Projects Group, said this mural marks the beginning of a wave of new art projects in Eureka. “My plan is to have something like an annual summer mural festival that is inclusive of different styles of mural art around the world while embracing the tone of this community,” Bourque said in a press release. 

So what do you think, Humboldt? Does Kitchener’s style embrace the tone of our community?

Bourque hopes to involve other building owners in Old Town in an effort “to do this on a world-class level.”

Here’s the press release from Black Faun Art Project Group:

The Black Faun Art Project Group is sponsoring and curating the first of what will likely be many murals in Old Town Eureka’s Opera Alley. London-based artist Dan Kitchener, whose murals can be seen in England, Sweden, Italy, Cambodia, Vietnam, the U.S. and Canada, will begin painting a mural on the east side of the historic Buhne Building at the corner of 2nd and G Streets on July 10.

The Buhne Building mural was conceived and sponsored by Black Faun Art Projects Group founder Kevin Bourque. “To me, this mural represents the onset of a new phase in the development of Eureka as an arts community,” states Bourque. “It also represents a series of agendas by the City of Eureka to reinvigorate Old Town and the artist culture of Humboldt County. Eureka hasn’t had many new murals in quite some time and it is exciting to have this opportunity to start another cycle of creative output and an explosion of art on Eureka’s walls.”

Bourque’s designs on the cityscape of Eureka reach beyond this first Opera Alley mural. “My plan is to have something like an annual summer mural festival that is inclusive of different styles of mural art around the world while embracing the tone of this community,” states Bourque. “I hope that we generate enough interest among Old Town building owners and the City of Eureka to see this as a possibility to do this on a world class level. It is the beginning of something that can have a huge impact on our aesthetic environment.”

The Buhne Building mural painting will begin on July 10 and is expected to be completed by July 24th.