How to See the Soldotna Murals

When the Soldotna Rotary Club spearheaded the production of murals in Soldotna, they knew they needed a unique approach. After all, traditional murals are labor-intensive (when painted at a large scale) and often fade over time—especially in Alaska’s harsh climate.

But the Rotary Club really wanted to bring more public art to Soldotna. So its members asked local artists to paint smaller pieces, took high-resolution digital images of those paintings, and brought a portfolio of those images to local businesses, asking if they’d like to purchase a mural (to pay the artist and cover the cost of printing). For those who said yes, the mural was printed on a 4’ x 8 aluminum panel so the business could display it outside or inside the business.

The result was a fairly inexpensive way to brighten the community with gorgeous art! And the rotary has shared this successful model with other towns around Alaska, so they could follow a similar formula to produce their own local public art.

The project was such a success, in fact, that more murals were inevitable. In 2019, students created a second batch of murals under the guidance of a local art professor Cam Choy of Kenai Peninsula College, and the aluminum panels went on display at Soldotna Creek Park. These murals, and a future batch currently in production (to be revealed in 2021–2022) are part of a joint project sponsored by both Soldotna Rotary Clubs: the Soldotna Rotary Club and the Kenai River Rotary Clubs.