Tiffany Clark, founder of the Mural Machine, is creating her 100th mural along the railroad bridge spanning Fifth Street behind Smokin’ Bar-B-Que.
“I’ve been waiting to paint the gates of the district for a long time,” she said. “Some of the people on this street changed my life and because of opportunities they gave me I was able to paint murals. And they doubled down on that success and this is my gift to them.”
The mural, created with brush and spray paint in 20 colors, depicts a woman at the center. A pair of lionesses or possibly a male and female lion — the emblem of the historic district — will be painted at both ends of the 3,000-square-foot mural.
“I love the idea of making a pro female piece to be the gateway to the district because there are so many female operated businesses down here and lovely women that I know that live in the neighborhood,” Clark said. “When we had the opportunity to create a lion and lioness, I wanted to accentuate the feminine.”
The portraits are surrounded by circles created in calligraffiti – a style used by internationally known artist “Cryptic,” Clark said. “This is unusual, and there’s nothing like this in Dayton. It’s big city stuff.”
Clark began working on the mural, sponsored by the Oregon District Business Association and Key-Ads, at the beginning of August and estimates it will be completed during the first week of September.
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