Graffiti News

A new wildflower mural has been painted in Montclair Village, the commercial district in the Oakland hills. According to The Mercury News, where columnist Ginny Prior covered it in her "Eye on the Hills" column on October 20, 2026, the painting covers the dining parklet outside the former Perle wine bar on Mountain Boulevard. It is the newest addition to a district that already has plenty of wall art.

The new Montclair Village mural sits on a Mountain Boulevard parklet

The mural is a wildflower painting on the outdoor dining parklet in front of the space once occupied by Perle, a wine bar on Mountain Boulevard. Prior placed it within a broader trend: murals are having their moment in cities across the United States, and Montclair Village is no exception. Even the district's parking garage has wall art on every level.

A parklet is an unusual canvas. It is generally a small street-side structure that turns curb space into seating, so people see the artwork at arm's length, while eating or walking past, rather than from across the street. The photo that ran with the column shows the artist painting flowers on the parklet; it was supplied by Ophelia Ding, who is also part of the project.

Minnie Bredouw leads the Montclair Blooms initiative

Minnie Bredouw, a mural artist and community organizer, is the person behind Montclair Blooms. She is a longtime visual artist and a former creative director at Pinterest. Bredouw and her team of artists are scouting new spaces for native plant murals in Montclair.

"This project is very near and dear to my heart," Bredouw told The Mercury News. She traced the idea to summers spent teaching design in Copenhagen, where she saw how much a few special touches could add to a place, and wanted the same close to home. Bredouw has lived in Montclair for about five years and enjoys what many call the gateway to the Oakland hills and their open space.

Why paint native wildflowers in a Matisse style?

Bredouw's reasoning is that local flowers can give the neighborhood a visual language of its own. She said she has been studying the wildflowers of Northern California and thought "Matisse-style graphics" of local flowers could create "a beautiful visual language for Montclair, nestled in nature."

For context, Matisse's name usually calls to mind his late paper cut-outs: simplified outlines and flat, saturated color. That kind of graphic reads quickly from the sidewalk and repeats well across many walls. For a project that wants several murals to look like they belong together, a consistent graphic language is what turns separate paintings into a recognizable series.

Bredouw launched the initiative this summer with local artists Nivi Ramesh Brett, Ophelia Ding and Stephanie Lewis. The group sees its native pollinating plant murals as a way to bring the natural world around the district directly into Montclair Village, and it is raising funds for what it calls a fresh visual identity for Montclair.

Where will the next Montclair Blooms mural go?

The next mural could appear soon, possibly on the retaining wall near the tennis and pickleball courts, according to The Mercury News. Montclair Blooms is a volunteer effort, and people who want to support it can find details at montclairvillage.com/montclair-blooms.

Community mural projects run by volunteers and backed by neighbors tend to grow one wall at a time, and their pace often depends on local support. Native plants and pollinators are also a recurring theme in neighborhood murals of this kind, because they tie public art to a landscape residents already know.

For people who follow street art, a series in progress is worth tracking: each new wall extends the set, and noting where and when each piece appears shows how a neighborhood's look changes over time. You can find and log murals like this one on the Wallscape map.

Source: The Mercury News