Graffiti News

John Pugh is installing a 100-foot-long optical-illusion mural on the northwest exterior wall of the historic Elks Lodge in downtown Ashland, Oregon. According to Janet Eastman's report for The Oregonian/OregonLive, Where the Crow Lights brings an oak, theater curtains and the Chautauqua dome into a single painted space.

John Pugh links the mural to a former Shasta village

Where the Crow Lights takes its name from a former Shasta village. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Ashland's Historic Commission and Public Arts Advisory Committee approved the project in 2023. The work is being installed on a building dating to 1910, with Pugh planning roughly two months on scaffolding two stories above the sidewalk.

The title places the mural's story before the theater history represented in the composition. Pugh told the publication that the dome helped generate Oregon Shakespeare Festival founder Angus Bowmer's idea for a Globe Theatre in 1935, while the work's deeper roots reach back to the sacred Shasta village.

An oak opens the painted theater curtains

Leafy oak branches part the curtains in the mural's central scene. According to The Oregonian/OregonLive, the oak belongs to the ancient Ashland Creek watershed that sheltered the Shasta people of the Rogue Valley. Painted sunlight appears to illuminate the tree inside the Chautauqua dome.

The report explains that cultural and entertainment lectures were held at the dome from 1893. Its surviving concrete walls form part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Elizabethan Theatre near the entrance to Lithia Park. The architectural reference therefore connects the painted scene to a surviving part of Ashland's performance history.

Outside the painted curtains is Teddy, a Roosevelt elk kept in a cage in Lithia Park in the 1930s. The publication reports that a taxidermied Teddy is inside the Elks Lodge. That detail links an element on the wall to an object within the building.

Studio panels and on-site painting create the illusion

Precisely painted shadows and light sources produce the mural's sense of depth. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Pugh hand-painted dozens of panels at his Big Dog Studio in Ashland. Installation began at 9 p.m. on a Wednesday, with cooler evening hours suited to the acrylic wallpaper paste used in the process.

According to the report, six horizontal strips measuring 40 feet by 5 feet go into the center first, followed by vertical strips along the sides. Painted windows sit along the top. Pugh paints the curtains on location and uses glazes for details including people, crows and dragonflies.

For a viewer, the curtain edges and the light falling on the oak offer concrete features to study. The work combines preparation in a studio with painting at the building, so an installation photograph may show only one stage of the final composition.

Consultation and private fundraising support the project

Pugh consulted regional tribal members, historians and residents, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. The report names Modoc nation elder Todd Greer among those consulted. That establishes participation in the research process; it should not be expanded into a claim that every community has formally endorsed the mural.

The project has a $250,000 budget raised privately through nonprofit Ashland Art Works. Volunteer producer Maddy DiRienzo told the publication that less than $30,000 remained to complete the funding. After three years of creative and fundraising work, she described appreciation and relief at the community effort. The remaining amount is a figure from the report, not a live fundraising balance.

The report identifies wherethecrowlights.org for donations. Pugh also explained a broader intention: to encourage people to think of themselves as part of the natural world and to pause long enough to examine the story. That is the artist's stated purpose, rather than a measured outcome.

The mural can be seen from two downtown streets

The wall is visible from East Main and North 1st streets, above the single-story Chase Bank, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. An interactive guide is planned to explain the components, and the city plans a dedication ceremony in spring 2027. Installation and dedication are separate milestones.

For wider street-art exploration, consult the Wallscape map. When documenting this mural, distinguish a work-in-progress view from a completed view and retain the artist's name and title. Looking closely at the painted light can explain the illusion; following the attributed history helps explain the scene.