The "Keep On The Sunnyside" mural along Southeast 30th Avenue at Belmont Street. (Dave Killen/Staff)

A fresh coat of paint and a new look have come to the "Keep on the Sunnyside" mural.

The mural, at Southeast 30th Avenue and Southeast Belmont Street, celebrates the history and character of Southeast Portland's Sunnyside neighborhood. But the mural's 10 panels, first painted in 1996, faded over the years from multiple power washings, time and neglect. The Portland Street Art Alliance, which promotes the work of muralists and other street artists in Portland, gained permission from the original muralist, Jennifer "Jenny" Joyce, to re-paint the mural.

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A panel of the "Keep On The Sunnyside" mural along Southeast 30th Avenue at Belmont Street. (Dave Killen/Staff)

One of its panels features the Thaddeus Fisher House and the house that is home to the Pied Cow Coffeehouse, both Victorians listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Portraits of people, and a dog, meant to represent those who live in Sunnyside, populate another panel.

The street art alliance celebrated the mural's completion in January. It is one of dozens of murals that have been painted in Portland in the last five years. One can hardly drive down Southeast Stark Street or through other parts of Portland without seeing murals on the walls of businesses and other buildings.

That's because as art galleries in Portland are closing due to rising rents, murals have become a way for Portland artists to continue working in the city. In the process, they've brought art to all Portlanders, whether they were looking for it or not.

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"Women Making History in Portland," a mural on North Clark Avenue in Portland. (Beth Nakamura/Staff)

Traditionally, murals portray a scene or person evocative of the history of a place. "Women Making History in Portland," a mural painted in 2007 at 2335 N. Clark Ave., celebrates women who have made political and social contributions to Oregon. Another mural, on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, commemorates "Working" Kirk Reeves, a street performer who entertained countless motorists and passers-by on the Hawthorne Bridge before his death in 2012.

But the murals being painted in Portland now show an eclectic range of style and bring contemporary art to the streets.

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A mural near Southeast Stark Street and 11th Avenue in Portland. (Mark Graves/Staff)

One shows a Cheshire Cat-like monster, smile stretching across the entire wall. On another, a fox looks back at a rabbit, both leaping in mid-air. The words "nothing good comes easy" are interspersed through the scene. Cheerful robots that adorn one wall alongside Southeast Stark are accompanied with the question, "What brings you joy?" On a wall of the Academy Theater in the Montavilla neighborhood, an outstretched hand catches drops of rainwater.

Tiffany Conklin, co-founder and co-director of the Portland Street Art Alliance, says that murals of contemporary art give artists more autonomy and allow for greater artistic expression. "Artists are coming up with conceptual and abstract designs, playing around with designs," she says.

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A mural near 2735 E. Burnside St., Portland. (Mark Graves/Staff)

Gage Hamilton, a founder of the public art nonprofit Forest for the Trees, which brings muralists from around the world to Portland, says traditional murals can be "really limiting" and that murals with a wider range of style can convey different messages, whether they be political, emotional, or critical of the mural's subject. Or, he says, they can simply bring "beauty or joy" to someone's day.

Many of Portland's new murals are due to the work of Forest For The Trees. Hamilton and Matt Wagner, the owner of Hellion Gallery in Northwest Portland, founded the organization five years ago with the goal of bringing contemporary public art work to Portland and ensuring "that the creative community was still strong and has a place in the visual landscape of the city," Hamilton says.

"We feel that people's visual surroundings make a big difference in how they feel about their identity, the city's identity," Hamilton says. "And people should have access to that, rather than having things hidden in galleries and institutions."

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A mural titled "Soul" by artist Paola Delfín on the Lovejoy Medical Building at 525 N.W. Lovejoy St. in Portland. (Drew Vattiat/Staff)

Each August, Forest For the Trees hosts a weeklong event that brings close to two dozen artists to the city to work on murals. Since the organization's founding, it has sponsored the creation of 75 murals in Portland.

When Forest For the Trees first started, Hamilton walked along Southeast Stark Street, which is close to where he lives, asking permission of building owners to paint murals. Now, he says, there is a "market demand" from business owners and neighborhood associations to have murals painted.

"It activates an area that was maybe neglected before," Hamilton says. "It just draws more attention."

For emerging artists, murals have become a way of expanding their repertoire and building their portfolios.

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The "Other Hand" mural at 7818 S.E. Stark St., Portland. (Mark Graves/Staff)

"Other Hand," the mural on the Academy Theater's wall, is the first mural that Olivia Knapp, a Seattle-based artist, has painted. Knapp, who primarily does commercial commissions for advertising agencies, got the mural commission from Wagner, the gallery owner, who knew of her work.

Without the connection, Knapp doubts she would have been able to work on the project. "I know firsthand that most people will not commission you to do work unless there's proof that you've done that work before," she says.

Conklin agrees, adding that many emerging artists resort to "working in the streets illegally to build a portfolio."

Painting a mural takes a tremendous amount of time - Knapp worked 12 hours each day for 12 days to paint "Other Hand." The "Keep on the Sunnyside" mural took more than 300 hours over six months to paint.

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A mural near 1005 S.E. Stark St., Portland. Mark Graves/Staff

Murals can also be quite expensive, costing upwards of $10,000 in labor and materials. Funding for the $4,800 budget for repainting "Keep on the Sunnyside" came from the community nonprofit Southeast Uplift, the neighborhood association and a fundraising campaign.

Conklin and Hamilton say their organizations can help artists with fundraising and other logistics. For "Keep on Sunnyside," the Portland Street Art Alliance also spent hours researching the Sunnyside neighborhood's history at the Oregon Historical Society and Architectural Heritage Center, as well as gathering oral histories from longtime Sunnyside residents.

Conklin says those interested in the mural, its history and the neighborhood's history can visit the website keeponthesunnyside.org, and she hopes that anyone who sees the newly redone mural will appreciate the history of the neighborhood, painted "in a fresh, cool way."

For locations of murals painted by Forest For the Trees, visit forestforthetreesnw.com.