Bend pedestrian tunnel gets splash of color

Portland artist Tom Cramer has come to Bend to add a splash of color to the popular pedestrian tunnel underneath Colorado Avenue.

Cramer painted murals on cars in the 1980s until someone asked him to paint on a wall in a house. From there, he did the murals at the Wonderball Room in Portland. He was hired by the Old Mill District to add more color to the tunnel, located near the Bend Whitewater Park.

Cramer has been working with a group of about five men to finish the project by the end of the week. He said Thursday the piece takes about 400 hours of work.

“To get everybody in sync, I can’t do everything by myself. It’s overwhelming, but it’s all done by hand and it’s hard getting everybody, including myself, into a groove,” Cramer said. “At first, it’s kind of rough. It takes awhile before it gets going. Once it starts going, you just start to flow.”

The design took some planning and improvising. The group put in the lines at the beginning of the week, then added color, and is now adding black lines on the outline of the design.

Cramer said the environment and the bright colors that the client wanted are meant to give people a brighter outlook on their day.

“After all, you have to communicate. If it’s only for you, what’s the point?” Cramer said. “You want to make people feel good about themselves, and that’s sort of a way to change things for the better.”

The mural is expected to be finished Friday.