An elaborate, decorative mural created to beautify the Multnomah County Courthouse job site may wind up finding a permanent home when the job is complete a couple of years from now.

The mural, spearheaded by Portland artist Ralph Pugay and students from the King School Museum of Contemporary Art, currently adorns a temporary pedestrian shelter on the north side of the job site along Southwest Madison Street between Southwest First Avenue and the Hawthorne Bridge‘s west end. The artwork depicts a jury box filled with people representing the concept of a “jury of your peers.”

It was, Pugay said, an educational experience for students and teachers alike. The art community, the judicial branch and the construction industry converged for one project.

“It seemed really interesting for us to create a project that is courthouse-related,” Pugay said last week following a short dedication ceremony for the mural. “So what we ended up doing is creating a mural that is about us thinking about what … a non-partial jury (looks) like.”

Viewers now see 86 artistic portraits – figures created by students and superimposed into a courthouse environment. It relates to the new 17-story Multnomah County Courthouse building that is rising floor by floor on the adjacent site under the direction of general contractor Hoffman Construction.

“I think the students got to learn a lot about the process of construction but also about the judicial process,” Pugay said. “And me too.”

Overseeing the work, and helping connect all the moving parts, was the Regional Arts and Culture Council. It worked with the King School Museum of Contemporary Art and its staff to organize the initial art and its eventual installation by Hoffman Construction on the pedestrian walkway.

It all came together last week, when everyone involved gathered at the Hawthorne Bridge‘s west end to dedicate the mural. The event was attended by Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Nan Waller, Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith and numerous others from both the public and private sectors.

“Part of our initial experience was to talk to and have a conversation with Judge Waller around what she does as a judge, but also what the new courthouse is for,” said Pugay, who has taught art classes at the King School for the past year.

Waller was all smiles at the dedication as she surveyed the mural and spoke with students and other visitors.

“Hopefully we can find a place for it in the new courthouse,” Waller told the assembled group of King students. “Since I’ll be in the new courthouse, maybe I can figure out a way of getting it in my new courtroom.”

Each of the 86 figures was originally drawn by one of the 13 students in Pugay’s class. And because of time constraints, the project was carried out over a span of hours, not days or weeks. In fact, when it came down to the drawing itself, each figure received just seven minutes worth of work. Pugay ensured that by timing each drawing session.

“We only had about two class sessions to work on it,” he said. “Because the class happens at one in the afternoon, and at that time everyone is kind of (sleepy), so it seemed like a good idea to keep time. I think that in that way if we had seven minutes for each drawing there’s not a lot of time for overthinking.”

Once the initial 11-inch-by-14-inch drawings were complete, they were scanned into digital files and enlarged for printing. The resulting prints were placed on panels in the pedestrian shelter and laminated to protect against ultraviolet light and other dangers.

King School teacher Kiera Asay oversees the school’s leadership class, which provided the artists for the mural. The students experienced a lot of growth during the project, both artistically and personally, she said.

“We had to just be comfortable with discomfort and getting away with our mistakes,” she said. “The students, I really appreciate how they’re owning every part of it; they’re definitely owning the good and the bad. … It’s really exciting to see them get so excited about their work.”

There were smiles all around as the students toured the site and saw the sheer size of their work and how thousands of passersby, both on foot and in vehicles, were going to be viewing the mural each day.

“It has turned out to be really informative and something that I think that is very impactful, especially after today,” Asay said. “Coming and seeing it through, I think has been very impactful for them.”

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