The concrete walls beneath the Truckee River Bridge in Tahoe City are becoming a public canvas. Artists were painting two large murals along the Truckee River Trail when KUNR Public Radio reported on the project Oct. 12. Led by the nonprofit Arts For The Schools, the work follows more than three years of planning, community input, artist selection, agency coordination and permitting. The underpass sits near the Tahoe City Transit Center and is part of a route used by people walking and biking through town.
More than 500 community members helped select the designs, KUNR reported. The two winning concepts take different paths through the region’s landscape. The Light, led by mixed-media artist Frida Ticehurst, looks at Lake Tahoe’s shifting light through mountains, native vegetation and water. A Dip Into the Truckee River Ecosystem, created by artists Bryn Merrell and Alex Bailey, follows the river from Lake Tahoe toward Pyramid Lake and includes species found throughout the watershed.
Ticehurst told KUNR that her mural draws on the sunrises, sunsets and moonlight that shape how people experience the Tahoe area. Arts For The Schools describes the work as layered with references to regional history as well as the lake’s light and plant life.
The second mural looks below the river’s surface. Bailey, a scientific illustrator, explained to KUNR that the work maps the river’s course between Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake and includes species important to the ecosystem. The artists said they spent months researching which species to include. Merrell hopes the animals will make people curious, including children who pass through the underpass on the trail. The nonprofit’s project page says the piece pairs scientific knowledge with playful visual storytelling.
The route of the Truckee gives the second mural room to connect a local place with a wider watershed. Arts For The Schools says the river begins at Lake Tahoe, passes through communities including Truckee, Reno and Sparks, and reaches Pyramid Lake. Its project description notes that water links forests, meadows, wetlands, neighborhoods and wildlife habitat along the way. The mural uses that journey to invite trail users to notice how a river connects places beyond the spot where they are standing.
The project is also a collaboration among public agencies and local organizations. Arts For The Schools lists Placer County, the North Tahoe Community Alliance, Caltrans and the Tahoe City Public Utility District among its partners. A Sept. 24 post from Placer County’s public information officer said the project received $52,248 through the TOT-TBID Dollars at Work program, supported by the North Tahoe business community and the county. The nonprofit also credits local businesses and individuals for donated materials and other hands-on help.
Preparation for the site included transportation-art review, permits, maintenance planning, traffic control and safety coordination, according to the nonprofit. Those steps helped move the idea from selected designs to a work site beneath an active bridge, while the Tahoe City Public Utility District’s public works team helped prepare the walls and keep the bike path accessible during the project. The county’s Sept. 24 update said work began Sept. 9 with surface preparation and traffic-control measures.
Arts For The Schools executive director Lindsay McIntosh told KUNR that the project marks a major pivot into public art for the nonprofit. She said the murals offer another way for people to connect with a region often associated with outdoor recreation. KUNR described the two collaborating artist teams as women-led. Bailey told the station that the ecosystem mural’s ceiling shows the Truckee River’s reach from Pyramid Lake toward Lake Tahoe. Arts For The Schools says the murals occupy the bridge’s abutment walls and ceiling. On its project page, the nonprofit defines a watershed as land where rain, snowmelt, streams and groundwater drain toward a shared body of water.
The installation was still in progress in KUNR’s Oct. 12 report. Arts For The Schools anticipated completion by Oct. 31, weather and site conditions permitting. When complete, the two works will remain visible to pedestrians, cyclists and river users, bringing art and ecological stories into an everyday public space.
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