<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1WR7Ik_1F0NkNje00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1WR7Ik_1F0NkNje00" width="900" height="599" ><figcaption>Guests visited John Pugh's Big Dog Studio in Ashland on Friday, Sept. 4, for a preview look at his nearly completed mural that will go onto an exterior wall of the Ashland Elks Lodge. Art Van Kraft photo</figcaption></figure>‘Where the Crow Lights’ honors Ashland’s Indigenous roots as well as its theater; a reception gave guests a look at the nearly finished artworkThe downtown Ashland mural project is expected to head out the door of Big Dog Studio in three weeks. Local residents gathered at the Helman Street studio last Friday to get a final preview look at the 100-foot mural “Where the Crow Lights.”The mural will be installed on the north wall of the Ashland Elks Lodge on East Main Street. Scaffolding is the first phase, and mural creator John Pugh says his team is ready to go. There will be five artists on the scaffolding, several students, an artist from Cleveland and an artist from Atlanta.Roxy Dyson is the artist from Atlanta, where she works as a set decorator for theater and television. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0wR39i_1F0NkNje00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0wR39i_1F0NkNje00" width="400" height="512" ><figcaption>John Pugh, right, talks with artists Mark Molchan and Roxy Dyson, who are part of the team helping Pugh finish the mural. Art Van Kraft photo</figcaption></figure>“I’m here because I’m trying to pivot from that career to murals, but I’m still working on my fear of heights,” she said.“I really like Ashland, it’s like a snow globe town. Everything is so magical and tranquil here. I enjoy the deer walking among the people and the bands of turkeys, but not so much in front of my car,” she said. “I really love the atmosphere here, it’s a town of artists and filmmakers.” Mark Molchan is another top notch artist on the team, he’s a muralist from Portland who specializes is realism. Molchan has worked on a number Pugh’s projects in the past and was the last to join the team. Pugh said Molchan’s expertise is a big asset to the team. “I’ve worked with Mark on many projects and he is a very artist talented artist who can add a great deal to this one,” Pugh said. With five artists working, Pugh said the group is meeting its schedule.“I’m going to finish the tree with the leaves and the canvas tent here in the studio,” he said. “Then next week we are taking the mural down inside the studio. The following week the scaffold goes up at the Elks building with a big crane. I’m going to have that scaffold finished in a week, so in two weeks we should be out there painting.” Pugh added, “This beautiful majestic oak that’s pushing back the curtains will also be amazing looking when it’s lit up at night. That’s the thing that we should see as were going down the street. Then to realize that it’s a building that’s evolved into a village of people underneath that tree. That helps tell the story that brings people into the mural in the first place,” he added.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=20QDBU_1F0NkNje00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=20QDBU_1F0NkNje00" width="756" height="600" ><figcaption>Roxy Dyson and John Pugh put up a sign at the Sept. 4 preview showing of the mural. Art Van Kraft photo</figcaption></figure>Not all of the acknowledgements are from Native American history. The Ashland Elks Club’s famous member Teddy will be immortalized as well. Pugh has included him in a section of the mural with other native wildlife. Teddy the Elk is the name of the resident taxidermy elk that watches over the library at the lodge. Pugh said the mural has several themes, not the least of which is a broader look at the human connection to the world we live in now.“In order to restore or reclaim our planet we need to think of things in these terms,” Pugh said. Twenty-two thousand years of wisdom without cell phones is really showing us a way to live with the Earth.”<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2kgOTW_1F0NkNje00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2kgOTW_1F0NkNje00" width="900" height="522" ><figcaption>An artist’s rendition of how the mural will look when it is placed on the Elks Lodge building. The elk on the left represents Teddy, the taxidermy elk that looks upon the library at the Elks Lodge.</figcaption></figure>“Where the Crow Lights” is a translation of the name of an Indigenous Shasta village that existed near the site of the present Ashland Plaza and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The mural pays tribute to Ashland’s Indigenous history and natural beauty, as well as its theater.“One of the biggest blessings that I’ve had with this project, is that at a later stage, and after I’ve actually become friends with some of these Native elders, is for one of them to say, ‘Hey, that makes me feel like I’m home,'” Pugh said.“We might have come in and stampeded over the Indigenous people, but they’re still here and we can try to bring this wisdom back,” Pugh said. “It’s an honor to work alongside so many people who understand this. It’s a great gift to me to be a part of this whole thing.”Art Van Kraft is an artist living in Ashland and a former broadcast journalist and news director of a Los Angeles-area National Public Radio affiliate. Email him at [email protected].One last viewing for mural before it moves to downtown Ashland (Sept. 2, 2026)Ashland mural honoring Native American culture $45K short of fundraising goal (June 7, 2026)$50,000 gift will help bring a new Ashland landmark to life (April 21, 2026)New Ashland mural to highlight Native American history and culture (March 16, 2026)Unveiled: Mural depicting Ashland’s past and present (Sept. 8, 2024)Art reaching for greater heights in Ashland (Sept. 14, 2023)</div></body>

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‘Where the Crow Lights’ honors Ashland’s Indigenous roots as well as its theater; a reception gave guests a look at the nearly finished artwork. The downtown Ashland mural project is expected to head out the door of Big Dog Studio in three weeks. Local residents gathered at the Helman Street studio last Friday to get a final preview look at the 100-foot mural “Where the Crow Lights.”

Mural will soon step out from studio to Main Street

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‘Where the Crow Lights’ honors Ashland’s Indigenous roots as well as its theater; a reception gave guests a look at the nearly finished artwork. The downto

Mural will soon step out from studio to Main Street

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