Treasure Valley artists paint Nampa downtown

NAMPA — Artists are bringing color to downtown Nampa, creating a feature in an otherwise-empty alleyway.

Wall Street Alley is getting six new murals this summer, each relating to Idaho or Nampa culture. The alley stretches from First through Third streets in the heart of downtown. Artists are currently hard at work in the alley, right next door to Nampa Floral.

“I’ll work until the sun hits this side of the building,” local artist Matt Sunderman said, looking up at his mural.

On Tuesday, Sunderman was in the beginning stages of a piece that reads “Go Play Outside!” with a dog catching a frisbee. He estimated that his new mural would take over 30 hours to complete.

This isn’t the first round of murals to go up in the alley. Last summer, seven murals were created by local artists. On the same stretch of the alley, Sunderman previously created a mural of a hyperrealistic mountain bluebird.

Perpendicular to the alley, a large mural of the historic Dewey Palace hotel was also painted by Sunderman.

“With all the public art, it’s just going to drive more people down here to explore,” he said.

Sunderman believes that Nampa has an up-and-coming art scene and has slowly seen it grow.

“I’m happy to participate with the rest of the artists,” he said. “I think it’s going to create a sense of place for this back alley.”

Artist Richard Chavez sat on scaffolding high above the ground, his feet dangling as he painted. Chavez is working on a cubist mural calling attention to Nampa’s food scene, with caricatures of people eating.

“This year, I thought, well, let’s call attention to the downtown revitalization and the eateries that are coming in and just have a fun play on that,” Chavez said.

Chavez previously painted a mural for Wall Street Alley in 2023. His work stands several feet tall depicting the state insect, a monarch butterfly, and the state fish, a cutthroat trout.

Chavez is from Marsing, a half-hour drive west of Nampa and an even farther drive to Boise. Chavez said he appreciates the opportunity for artists like himself to work closer to home.

“There’s a lot in Boise, but it’s far...it makes it difficult for artists on this side of the valley to be really involved out there,” Chavez said. “To have something here is so important because there are so many local artists in the Nampa-Caldwell area, and I think they miss out.”

This year, Chavez is painting two murals. His second piece is inspired by Nampa’s infamous Amalgamated Sugar Factory, which opened in 1942.

“It probably doesn’t get a lot of positive attention from the public, but I thought it’d be a good way to pay homage to the factory,” he said.

The city covers costs for the artists, including paint and other materials. Chavez hopes the murals will play a part in bringing positive attention downtown.

“I hadn’t really ever come to downtown Nampa until I started on this project,” he said. “I realized, ‘wow, there’s so much down here.’”

The murals are just one part of the Wall Street Alley improvement project. Nampa Economic Development Director Robyn Sellers said they aim to make the area walkable and will be extending sidewalks and repaving the alleyway.

Next summer, the city plans to add lighting and planters. Dumpsters in the alleyway will eventually be removed and consolidated, rather than having them spread throughout the alley.

The focus on Wall Street Alley came with the introduction of outdoor seating. Prefunk Beer Bar and The 112 both have patio seating in the alley.

“They had already started making it a pedestrian alley, so it was like, why not continue it?” Sellers said.

The goal is to transform the alleyway and get more people downtown. Nampa’s Urban Renewal Agency is funding the majority of the project.

“Over the last five years, there’s just been so much effort at creating a community gathering space and also incentivizing restaurants to come downtown,” Sellers said.

All six murals are expected to be completed by mid-August, with hopes that the alley will serve as an attraction.

“When they come downtown, they’re going to go get an ice cream, they’re gonna go get some pizza…and then they go into our retail shops and buy things there as well,” Sellers said. “It’s a great way to bring people downtown and then that helps support our local businesses.”