Ms. Willie’s Dream, Mural at City Hall

Mural Selection and Design Process
In 2019 with construction of the new City Hall underway, the project began with forming a committee to determine the plan for public art. Per the City’s Public Art Guidelines, the committee comprised three neighborhood representatives, two City staff members, a City Planner, and an arts community representative. The committee outlined three core goals, including the:

• reincorporation of beloved pieces of artwork from the City’s permanent collection;

• addition of five new outdoor sculpture pads within the City Hall Plaza; and

• creation and purchase of two new significant works to exhibit inside and outside the building. 

The committee identified the exterior northeast corner of the building as ideal for a mural and initiated the Request for Proposal process. ACLO talked to Portland Street Art Alliance to gain expertise from their approach because they center community participation effectively in creating murals. Of the four artists who submitted proposals and were interviewed, the committee selected Sarah Farahat’s mural proposal. 

Community Listening Sessions
To generate inspiration for the mural, Farahat facilitated two community listening sessions hosted by the ACLO to identify themes to shape the mural’s subject matter in July 2022. One listening session dedicated time to BIPOC+-identifying community members. 

Ms. Willie’s Dream
During the sessions, long-time Lake Oswego community member and one of the founding members of Respond to Racism, Willie Poinsette described her dream of a bright future for all the children in Lake Oswego. This description inspired the mural’s concept embodied in the title, Ms. Willie’s Dream.

Holly Bartholomew of LO Monthly Magazine quoted Farahat as describing her interest in what Ms. Willie Poinsette said during the listening sessions as, “I was inspired by her work and commitment to a city that sounds like there’s been times at which people in her family have not felt particularly welcomed or comfortable there, so to talk with her and understand her commitment to creating better, safer, more equitable spaces in the community for everyone, that felt inspiring to me.” 

Farahat’s choice to include swirling wapato flowers in the mural represents a flourishing relationship between people, animals, and the natural world. She expressed that she “hopes that when people look at the mural, they feel a sense of joy and fun as well as hope that one day all children in Lake Oswego feel happy, accepted, and welcome.” 

Other Public Art in City Hall Funded by Percent for Art
In addition to the mural, the Percent for Art program funded the acquisition of a significant public art piece by Lillian Pitt, entitled The Land Remembers. The suspended Mobius-shaped piece has an infinite continuous design and glass accents. The design depicts the relationship between the land and its occupants of the Pacific Northwest going back over 8,000 years. The Land Remembers honors the past as well as the present, along with the future. ACLO coordinated the installation of the artwork in City Hall’s atrium in the fall of 2021.

Future Murals at City Hall
The initial mural will be the first in a series of many. The mural structure allows for multiple iterations, with the intent of a rotating exhibition of new murals. 

Artwork Description
Title: Ms. Willie’s Dream
Artist: Sarah Farahat
Medium: Acrylic on Aluminum
Size: 8’x15’
2023
Located: Corner of A Avenue and 3rd Street

Sarah Farahat’s quotes are from Holly Bartholomew’s story on the mural in the June 2023 edition of LO Monthly Magazine.