A Pandemic of Positivity: How a Graffiti Crew Transformed Downtown Everett
The vibrancy of Downtown Everett has been transformed in recent years thanks to dozens of new large-scale graffiti murals. From Ninja Turtle’d alleyways to life-size whales, all four levels of the Downtown Everett Library Parking Garage, and so much more.
One of the key contributors to this movement, Brianna Mattes, was kind enough to catch me up on Everett’s recent makeover. Basking in her exuberant energy while we sat window-side in comfy swivel chairs at Artisan’s Books and Coffee, Brianna excitedly gave me the scoop. Brianna’s husband, Hyper, is a graffiti artist with over 30 years of experience. Together, they run Hype Murals, working to bring recognition to the graffiti art form and build bridges between the community and the art world.
Brianna’s natural event organizing skills, along with Hyper and Des, helped put on the Going All City graffiti mural events that took place in Everett in 2020 and 2022. The events were done in conjunction with Hyper and Des’ Graffaholeks Graffiti Crew (“or G.A.K., or G.A.C., or G.A. … In graffiti, you can have so many ways of spelling things or different acronyms, it's just a part of the game,” Brianna shared).
Graffaholeks is a nationwide graffiti crew that started in Arizona 25 years ago. Hyper is the senior member of the Northwest chapter. Graffaholeks artists travel from all over the country to help put on these events every year. And their events bring in a multitude of graffiti artists from other crews, both national and international. Everett’s paint jam events had artists from all over north and south America. LA, Arizona, New Mexico, Chicago, New York, Texas, and even Chile were just a few of the places Brianna rattled off the top of her head.
Hype Murals also does commission pieces, combined with Everett’s Going All City events, it’s clear how Hype Murals has been at the forefront of Everett’s colorful transformation.
During the ‘Going All City’ event, every floor of the library parking garage was painted with its own color theme // Garret Hunt
"One of our missions is to try and get some recognition for this art form," says Brianna. "It comes with bad connotations, but graffiti is an actual art form that takes decades to learn, and it takes perseverance, dedication, money, time, commitment, passion and all of those things that singing and dancing, oil painting and sculpting also require."
Hype Murals is also committed to reaching out to budding new artists and at-risk youth. During the Going All City event, they partnered with the Everett Public Library to offer a children's mural program where 60 kids from the community had the opportunity to work with their own graffiti artist.
"There's nothing more heart-wrenchingly precious than seeing these tiny little baby boys and girls working with what some might say is an intimidating tattood-pierced up graffiti artist," says Brianna. "And they're down on the ground with them and they're drawing this stuff and helping them with the spray can on the wall. It's outreach for the kids, but it's also something to show the artists this is something you can do and you will be loved. Kids, even beyond adults, are open and un-judgmental and they're ready for that lovin' and getting that attention and getting that time with some paint."
From first-timers to experienced artists alike, it’s wonderful how Hype Murals is helping artists express their creativity and connect with others. A lot goes into the murals I never would have thought about, from weed whacking to buffing and painting and picking up needles and garbage, “there is a lot that goes into simply just getting a wall prepped for when the artists arrive,” Brianna shared.
Another benefit to these approved graffiti murals is that they tend to help cut down on problems with random taggers. “Events like this in the past have shown that they help stop tagging- its definitely frowned upon to ever tag a completed mural- you don't do it,” Brianna shared. “So a lot of business owners that took the opportunity in 2020 to get a mural, they were return customers at 2022’s event because they haven’t had to buff their walls and deal with any tagging in two years- so they wanted more of their walls done.”
Kudos to Brianna, Hype Murals, and the Graffaholeks Graffiti Crew for their hard and beautiful work! You can check out this map of all the murals to go enjoy the art for yourself.
Keep up with Hype Murals and stay in the know about future events, which will include upcoming walking tours through Downtown Everett this Summer.
Follow @hypemurals
Garret is the co-founder + CEO of Live in Everett. He’s also journeying toward wholeness at GarretHunt.com.
