Mural will brighten a dingy underpass

Mallory Blanchard was 10 feet above 38th Street, her feet firmly planted on a rung of an aluminum ladder as traffic rolled below through an underpass in the River North Art District.

“I have never done anything like this before,” said Blanchard, who was among more than 200 volunteers who worked on a 498-foot-long mural and public art project Saturday and Sunday.

The 20-foot-high mural was expected to be completed Sunday evening by 10 p.m. It will brighten the south side of a dark underpass that connects RiNo’s east and west sides.

The blue, purple, mint green and magenta mural is layered with geometric shapes. Last December, artist Patrick Milbery and volunteers painted a similar mural on the north side of the underpass.

Lighting will complement the mural, splashing patterns of shadow and light on the walls and brightening the road running through the overpass, Milbery said. The lighting installation, which is underway, is expected to be completed by Nov. 30.

The lighting and murals on both sides of the underpass cost a total of $120,000, said Tracy Weil, co-founder and creative director of the RiNo Art District. Blue Moon, the city of Denver, the art district, the RiNo Business Improvement District and RiNo General Improvement District all contributed funding for the project.

“Several colors will be used in the lighting to create a nice bond between the walls and the illumination work,” Milbery said.

More than 30 lighting fixtures, some of which will rotate, will be connected by data cables and controlled by a computer, said Ramiro Flores, an electrician with Creative Electric in Englewood.

The lighting was created by artist collaborative Knomad Colab, which employs light to transform natural places, abandoned spaces and places scarred by industrial decay, according to Knomad’s website.

Blanchard and other volunteers worked two-hour shifts.

Blanchard, an accountant for Molson Coors Brewing Co., maker of Blue Moon, said she had never painted a wall before. The company, which has a Blue Moon Brewery nearby, encouraged employees to volunteer for the project, she said.

She invited two of her friends, Allyson Lindsey and Meridith Jackson, to help.

“I’m excited to help bring some color” to the dimly lit underpass, Lindsey said.

Jackson said she volunteered because “it sounded like it would be a fun cultural thing to do, and it is fun to contribute to the community.”

On Nov. 30, the lights will be turned on for the first time beneath the underpass at 4:30 p.m., Weil said. The public is invited to attend.

Photos by Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post Mural designer Jason Graves, middle, shows volunteers TJ Erny, left, and Kristen Schneider how he wants the design executed on the walls of the 38th Street underpass between Wynkoop and Walnut streets on Sunday.

Artist Patrick Milbery shows off the tools of his trade for the mural on the 38th Street underpass, which was to be finished Sunday night. More than 200 volunteers helped Milbery with the painting of the mural.