Artists: Alex Nason w/ Brady Black (Alex website, Alex Instagram; Brady website, Brady Instagram)
Location: Bell Street between 1st & 2nd
Mural Description
Painted during the Belltown Mural Festival 2025.
This mural is designed to create some visual whimsy pulling you into an alley when alleys are generally considered moments of avoidance.
The Ice House mural is an homage to the history of the building owner, Albert L. Ewing, who was also an author. The text at the top is a poem of his called “The Bank of Love” from his poetry collection “Musings of an Iceman”.
The layers are ephemera of history and time right around this building in Belltown. The foundation layer includes antique maps and music posters, all from history right around this building.
The music posters are from Belltown venues where the nascent Grunge bands were playing in the late 80’s and early 90’s, including the Crocodile Cafe and the Vogue.
The children painted at large scale in greyscale, which is Brady’s signature style, interact with the wall and invite a sense of interaction and play. Note that the kid in the middle is standing on some books, one of which is “Musings of an Iceman.”
Alex used an augmented reality headset to sketch her initial vision on the wall. This has become an increasingly common method for muralists to upscale their artwork. Not working as efficiently as she’d have liked, Alex opted to sketch out the rest of her base design at nightfall via projector.
One of the most compelling pieces of this mural is that it was created in collaboration with the community. During the Belltown Murals Festival street event, dozens of members of the local community came in and support and assist Alex and Brady on the painting of this mural. There are literally touches of the Belltown community, their handiwork, in this mural.
Artist Statement
From Alex:
“Brady and I both like this collage style.
The building wall is literally the physical background, which we treated as the metaphorical foundation of the mural.
I focus more on the background and and Brady focused more on the foreground with the figures who are interacting with the mural with a contemporary lens, if you will.
Brady’s style of doing portraits visually plays with scale, but also invites people to look at and interact with the content of the mural. In this mural it is visual ephemera and the poetry by the former building owner.”
Alex Nason bio from Belltown Mural Festival:
Alex is a Seattle-based muralist whose work blends bold color, clean linework, and a mix of realism and graphic style. Originally from the Northeast and trained in illustration, she approaches each wall as a chance to transform space and create something engaging for the public. Her murals often play with movement, rhythm, and visual storytelling, shaped by the environment and community around them. Alexandra is also passionate about exploring themes of mental health, transformation, and healing, and hopes her work encourages others to connect with their own creativity.
Brady Black bio from Belltown Mural Festival:
Brady is a mural artist specializing in public art and the creation of “Community Murals”. His passion is empowering the community to be able to change their space with beauty they created with their own hands. Born and raised in Texas, his artistic journey took shape on the vibrant streets of Beirut, Lebanon, where he witnessed firsthand the transformative power of art in uniting communities. Brady murals and installations can be seen in Iraqi, Lebanon, Mexico, and in communities across the United States.
Map (see murals near me) / Belltown Murals general information