Local artists Juan Navarro and Patrick Barwinski are painting a large-scale mural on Downtown's Lime Street bridge, creating what may be the most visible public artwork in the city. The project, funded by Altura Credit Union with logistical support from the city, has required closing one of Riverside’s busiest streets for several days.
The bridge connects the county administration building to a remote parking lot and serves as a highly conspicuous landmark visible from both street level and the nearby freeway. With tens of thousands of people passing under or viewing the bridge daily, the mural represents the highest degree of public art visibility possible in Riverside.
(Ken Crawford)
“Whether it was painted or not, just the bridge being here has been an icon over the city of Riverside,” said Barwinski. “We’re just adding a little color today. It just enhances that memory, and now people would say, ‘I remember this when I used to go when I was a young kid.’”
For Navarro, the project represents a significant career milestone, coming immediately after the completion of his Artist in Residency grant. “The end of the residency is not the end of my career,” Navarro said. “I have to take what I got from the residency and make something new out of it.”
The bridge’s strategic importance as both functional infrastructure and symbolic gateway was not lost on Navarro. “Arches have always been entryways, so the fact that the city chose this as a place to put art on and say, ‘Hey, we have an arts and cultural district,’” Navarro said.
The project’s freeway visibility adds another dimension of reach. “That bridge you can see from the freeway,” Navarro noted after a friend’s observation. “So that means even the people that drive on the 91, they’re going to be curious about this city. What’s going on over there? Why is there color here?”
Community response has been overwhelmingly positive. Navarro described receiving gifts from residents, including lunch delivered by a local woman who said she loves supporting artists. “Receiving gifts from the community and seeing that everything is positive right now for this project is pretty cool,” Navarro said.
Barwinski, who may be most recognized by Riversiders for painting Mariposa Alley between Ninth and Tenth streets near City Hall, brings an unapologetically joyful aesthetic featuring large-scale florals and bright colors. Barwinski is also a recipient of the next round of Artist in Residency grants, continuing the city’s investment in local talent.
The collaboration pairs Barwinski’s exuberant, flower-filled approach with Navarro’s deep sense of civic representation, creating a bold statement that must be deciphered and metabolized at driving speed. Unlike much public art that draws attention to spaces not often noticed, this project brings art to one of the most obvious places in the city. The artwork serves as both immediate visual impact for freeway commuters and accumulated daily experience for local drivers, functioning at multiple temporal scales simultaneously.
Several days of work remain to complete the mural, with street closures continuing as the artists work to transform the bridge into Riverside’s most visible cultural landmark.
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