Trashcan Mural Project: Amy Alexander

Artist Profile:

My husband Kyle and I have lived in Kalama and raised our three children here for the last 20 years, and we love that they got to grow up here. I am so excited to watch the art installations pop up around town, just adding to the beauty and whimsy here. I have been privileged to work as a hospice nurse in my professional life, and in my free time, I enjoy my family and creating art of all kinds. I currently make custom polymer clay earrings under the name Empress Crow. I enjoy painting, be it acrylic or watercolor, sculpting, and making music as well. I thoroughly enjoy refinishing and jazzing up old lawn ornaments like my collection of gnomes. I was so excited about this project, but I was a little nervous to apply at first. Ultimately, I drew inspiration easily from our lives here. Our kids grew up running along the water’s edge, building with driftwood, flying kites at the park, and trying to skip rocks on the water. We taught them about wildlife and flora here. They looked for Bigfoot in the trees and tiny gnomes among the foliage. We carefully watched deer graze through the windows and loved waving at the sailors on the many vessels from the shoreline. The funniest thing to me was living here while Twilight was filming and never realizing it until I finally watched the movie later. Aside from these things, I tried to incorporate little things I love from around town: the sumac trees near the police station, familiar landmarks on the river, wildflowers (including those plentiful California poppies). The shells and pebbles along the shore my kiddos used to carry in their pockets like treasure. I hope our happy memories painted here spark happy ones for others too.