The building on SW Evergreen Ave. before the mural.

Bend artist Evan Namkung had just started filling in the eyes on his great horned owl mural when a man walked up to him. So Namkung put his paint down for a second to chat.

It wasn’t a rare occurrence for Namkung as he worked on the project.

“Doing it on such a busy street and having people walking by — it’s just really fun,” he said. “It’s more fun than sitting alone in a room and painting by yourself. You’ve got people to talk to. You’ve got people to interact with.”

He had been stationed on the sidewalk of SW Evergreen Ave. since July 9 and planned to work on the project through July 17. Instead, he ended up working long hours and through the weekend to finish on July 13 — four days ahead of schedule.

Namkung’s mural is the second recent artwork to go up near the intersection of Evergreen Ave. and Sixth Street. The two pieces — Namkung’s great horned owl and a “Greetings from Redmond Oregon” postcard-style mural across the street — mark a new era in Redmond’s public art scene.

“It’s exposing people to art when they least expect it,” said Jackie Abslag, programs coordinator with Redmond’s community development department. “I think it adds a really pretty aspect to downtown.”

Namkung described his style as detailed focused and street-inspired — something he attributed to growing up in Oakland, California. He’s normally drawn to painting people and nature, he said.

For the Redmond mural project, Namkung wanted to showcase an animal from the area. He thought about painting a pronghorn, among a couple other ideas, but said he settled on an owl “because I thought it’d be really dynamic to have it flying.”

He also opted out of a smaller mural in favor of decorating the entire side of the building.

“I wanted to use as much of the space as possible,” Namkung said. “Make it bright and colorful and really tie it into some of the local wildlife and landscape around the area here.”

Abslag said the Redmond Commission for Art in Public Places worked for three years on the code to allow murals in town, before city council passed it in June 2021.

RCAPP chair Dan Mooney said the commission wanted to create a mural in Redmond. It held a competition to determine who would get to paint the piece. RCAPP offered a $10,000 prize for the winner. Larry and Debra Peterson — owners of the Printing Post, where the mural was painted — threw in another $2,500 to cover costs.

”We absolutely thought it would be a great idea,” Debra Peterson said, “and it’s a great addition to downtown.” She said contributing money to the project felt like a way to give back to the Redmond community, especially as the owner of a company that had received grant funding from the city.

The competition garnered roughly 20 submissions, according to Mooney. RCAPP narrowed the field across three meetings.

When he cast his vote, Mooney said he was specifically looking for color, a design that would fill up a large portion of the wall, and a landscape or nature design. Eventually, he and a majority of RCAPP sided with Namkung, who had experience painting another mural in downtown Bend.

Mooney said he’s happy with the result. He said the new mural brings color to downtown Redmond, replacing what used to be a bland, gray wall.

As he painted, Namkung said he noticed people stopping at the postcard mural across the street and taking pictures, which he appreciated.

“Public art, whether it’s murals or sculptures or whatever it is, it’s a gathering place,” he said. “It draws people in. It creates some identity for a town or city.”

Namkung showcases his art on his Instagram @evan.namkung and on his website evannamkung.com.