Local Artist Planning Largest Mural in City's History

A Sonoma County artist who got his start painting the walls of the Phoenix Theater has embarked on an ambitious project to paint the largest mural in Petaluma’s history.

The five-story tall multi-color mural on the theater’s southern wall (facing Western Avenue) is a sort of homecoming for 32-year-old Ricky Watts, who credits the popular teen hang out for orienting him toward a career in the arts.

“The Phoenix Theater is special to me,” Watts wrote on his Kickstarter page, where he has mounted a campaign to raise $5,500 for the project.

“I grew up in Petaluma and am a product of the Phoenix, as are hundreds of other teens and young adults…I painted some of my earliest murals inside the Phoenix and I credit theater manager Tom Gaffey for giving me the wall space to practice my craft and help me become the artist I am today.”

The mural is not only a way to give back to the Phoenix Theater and the community, says Watts, but also meant to encourage local teens to pursue their dreams.

“I am proof the Phoenix is a positive, vital place for young people,” he says.

Watts describes the mural as a “vibrant, rhythmic work undulating with colors in a field of interweaving wave patterns.” Others call it a hyper-detailed piece of art morphing into surrealism.

See the photoshopped image on the right

The Phoenix’s Board of Directors and the Petaluma Planning Department have already approved the mural and work is expected to start this spring. 

"It's a brave project and it may raise a few eyebrows," says Phoenix general manager Tom Gaffey. "We hope it stirs up some conversations."

In recent years, Watts has shown his art in Petaluma and San Francisco galleries. His work graced one of the stages at last summer’s Outside Lands Music Festival.

The mural will be presented in collaboration with a new exhibit at the Petaluma Arts Center called Cosmic Terrain. It will include paintings and sculptures by San Francisco artists MARS-1, Oliver Vernon and Damon Soule, who all got their start as graffiti artists, and opens April 4.

Ricky Watts' art can currently be seen at Heebe Jeebe.

Click here to read more about Watts’ project and to donate.