‘Outdoor gallery space’ in downtown Pasco highlights murals created by local students

Three high school students got real-life practice as artists when the opportunity came to paint murals for a business in downtown Pasco. An added bonus: they each received a scholarship for their work.

Ella Lehrman and Aleah Mahaffey (Chiawana High School) and Zahara Acevedo (Pasco High School) created 4-foot by 8-foot murals on frames, painted with acrylic. The murals were mounted to the west wall of the the Moon Security building.

Two of the students have since graduated high school. Lehrman is a current freshman at Washington State University. Acevedo plans to study graphic design at Eastern Washington University next year.

The murals were unveiled on Thursday afternoon.

Mahaffey told the Herald that her mural was inspired by her mother, who encouraged her to paint something meaningful in her life. The mural depicts a series of four temples, embellished with detailed flowers and reflective gold paint.

Mahaffey is part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and painted her own temple, on the far right in the mural

Acevedo’s mural illustrates a blended sea and space world. She said that she wanted to focus on the theme of identity by showing how two seemingly different things come together to create something beautiful.

There was a selection process for interested high school students in early 2024. The final three artists worked on their individual murals in the spring and summer, finishing by August.

The students painted on the large frames at their schools and at home.

“I didn’t fully appreciate the murals until I went down the street,” said Mike Miller, President of Moon Security. “It stands out. It looks good.”

Miller has longtime ties with the Pasco School District . He partnered with the district and the city’s Arts and Culture Commission on the mural project and a scholarship program for Pasco high school students.

Miller hopes to have a rotation of mural pieces on the wall each year.

He also collaborated with Saul Martinez, a former art teacher and owner of Café con Arte .

Martinez said that a rotating outdoor gallery space is something he’s never seen before.

Miller helped advocate for a change to the city code that would make the process of adding murals to buildings easier.

The city has since created a separate regulation for public art and murals that became official in August 2023.

A separate initiative led by the city’s Arts and Culture Commission will reimburse business owners up to $5,000 if they get murals painted on their buildings by the end of December.

The ongoing arts scholarship fund awards $1,000 to each student. The fund is administered by the Pasco Education Foundation .