Since she appeared on our wall in the summer of 2015, we have regularly received questions about the little Dutch girl who was captured in mid-float on the upper portion of the wall that’s most visible from Ferry Street Bridge. “Is she jumping?” “Maybe she’s swimming?” “Are those sparkles around her, or bubbles?”
Part of the joy we find in the mural is that there is no correct answer to the questions. We asked them of the artist herself, and even she didn’t know. (If you simply must have an answer, we personally suspect that our Dutch girl is closer to flying than jumping. There’s something dream-like about her, and if you spend some time considering her, she exudes joy or at least, contentment.)
As for the story behind the story, the mural on the bridge-facing wall came about in partnership with the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. You may have noticed that we have a fondness for murals — another of our buildings features an Italian street scene and another celebrates TrackTown USA. So when JSMA had a muralist, and we wanted a mural, we came to an agreement. One of them was that visiting artist Amanda Marie could choose her subject and content. It was a delightful way for us to put what was otherwise a large blank wall to use. (We minimized the use of windows on that side of the building in order to limit road noise for our apartments.)
Learn more about the artist and the project here. And of course, this town is now full of stunning murals. Check them out here.
