Wallingford Branch Art Gallery

Artwork by Richard Elliott at the Wallingford Branch
Artwork by Richard Elliott at the Wallingford Branch

Ellensburg artist Richard Elliott designed five colorful neon signs to represent activities going on in the library:

  • A blue world from the logo of The Seattle Public Library
  • A red mystic eye to represent mystery
  • A white "at" symbol to represent computer access
  • A green puzzle piece to symbolize family gathering and accumulation of knowledge
  • A yellow atom symbol to represent human knowledge

Wallingford Library - a Visual History

Inspiration for this evolutionary portrayal of the Wallingford Library came from the history of photography - from Sepia, to black and white and finally color. Each acquired photograph was an image in time. Starting on the mural left is the 1949 Wilmot Memorial Library in a donated house at 4422 Meridian Avenue N. Outgrowing its space and with a new name, the Wallingford Wilmot Library, was moved in 1989 to 1629 N. 45th Street in what was known in early days (1914) as the Wallingford Fire Station. On the mural right, is the Wallingford Library's present location at 1501 45th Ave leased from the Solid Ground Building.

The Wallingford Library Mural was created by the generous work of graphic designers Cheryl Tsuhako and Brandon Mac Innis using photographic resources from the Museum of History and Industry, The Seattle Public Library archives, and community member Jan Muth. Library staff member Christine Burgoyne had the original idea for the mural. The mural was made through the support of Cat Saunders (project editor), the Wallyhood blog and donations from the Wallingford Community.