Local nonprofit looks to brighten downtown Mountain View with murals

In downtown Los Altos, it’s difficult to miss the colorful splay of murals on the sides of buildings, depicting local histories and cultural motifs. But just across the border in Mountain View, this artistic tradition is nearly nonexistent.

Arts Mountain View, a local nonprofit, is looking to change that by providing more support for businesses to put murals on their buildings.

The impetus for Arts Mountain View began with Anita Rosen, a Mountain View resident who was inspired by the public artwork that she saw in Los Altos.

“I wasn’t expecting to see it, and it was beautiful and it was wonderful,” Rosen said, referring to the Los Altos murals. “I thought to myself, Mountain View is younger and hipper than Los Altos. Why did they have all these cool murals and we have none?”

When Rosen started inquiring about the city’s process to commission murals, she was surprised to learn there wasn’t much of a structure in place for the kinds of projects she was interested in pursuing – those that were not tied to the city.

For capital improvement projects of more than $1 million, Mountain View earmarks 2% of the construction budget for public art. It caps out at $400,000, and mainly applies to projects like buildings and parks, according to John Lang, the city’s economic vitality manager.

The selection process is vetted by a visual arts committee, an advisory body that receives a lot of input from the community, before going to City Council for approval. But this kind of funding and oversight does not exist for art installations on private property.

In these cases, a mural typically requires a minor planning permit, which costs $174, Lang said. The city also is not involved in choosing the mural’s subject or style. It just can’t be signage like a billboard advertisement, Lang said.

Given that the process is not particularly difficult or expensive, it is a bit of a puzzle as to why Mountain View does not have more murals on its buildings, as compared to neighboring cities, like Los Altos and Palo Alto.

Rosen attributed the dearth of murals to a lack of public awareness that it was even a possibility. “When there’s no murals, people can’t visualize the benefit of a mural,” she said, noting that it tends to gain traction once people actually see it in the community.

Rosen cited the success of Arts Los Altos as a model to emulate. Since it got its start in 2020, Arts Los Altos has commissioned more than a dozen art installations in Los Altos. The nonprofit also helps connect artists with businesses and property owners, along with the wider community to collaborate on projects.

Rosen plans to take a similar approach with Arts Mountain View. She already is planning a mural for Mountain View Station, funded by a VTA grant. But Rosen does not just want to stop with one mural; she is looking to produce about three a year for downtown businesses.

Arts Mountain View would do all of the project management for free, including applying for facade improvement grants from the city, Rosen said. It also would help businesses select artists, based on their style preferences. “The owner gets to choose what they want on their building, what message they want, and what artist and what style,” she said.

Rosen even has a pitch for property owners who might be hesitant to paint their walls. Artists can use vinyl wrap instead, which has been done for two murals in Los Altos. It comes off easily and also protects the building, Rosen said.

Not just focused on murals, Rosen is working with the Mountain Chamber of Commerce to get a polyform program started in the city as well. The idea is for local businesses to sponsor a polyform, which are small sculptures, and have artists decorate them.

To encourage community participation, Arts Mountain View has launched a survey for the public to vote on the shape of the polyform. The decorated polyforms then would be displayed on Castro Street and auctioned off to the highest bidder. All proceeds would go to Arts Mountain View to fund its projects, Rosen said.

Still, while inspired by Los Altos, Rosen also sees a key difference between the two cities that likely will be reflected in future art installations, she said.

“Downtown Los Altos has a lot of beautiful birds and flowers, and I don’t think we’re going to have lots of birds and flowers. I think we’re going to have much edgier art, and it’s going to be much more geared – just from the types of businesses and kind of grants you can get – about making people feel inclusive,” Rosen said.

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