Discover Beautiful & Diverse Public Art in Chico

Chico is home to creators of all stripes, and nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in its robust public art scene. With local artists of all kinds crafting beautiful and diverse murals, sculptures, and other installations, Chico is a powerhouse of inspiration, and much of it can be enjoyed for free during your daily explorations.

Find beauty in various locations around Chico, like public parks, sidewalks, business facades, and more! Take a photo with your favorite art piece and tag @travelchico on social media for a chance to be featured in our feed! Visit every piece and become a real local arts aficionado!

Forge Your Own Public Art Path

Use the digital version of our Public Art Map, designed by local artist, Lauren Meichtry, to select which art pieces you want to visit on a personalized public art tour. Discover more about the artworks included in the map by clicking through the photographs below. 

Additionally, free public art walking tours are hosted by the Chico Arts & Culture Foundation during the warmer months; tour dates are available to view on their website and social media channels.

Learn More about the Arts & Culture Scene in Chico and Beyond

For additional information about Chico’s art scene, visit the following websites: Chico Arts & Culture Foundation and City of Chico. More information on public art throughout Butte County may be found on the Explore Butte County website, featuring art installed in the cities of Oroville and Paradise. 

Sculptures

Full of movement and grand in scale, gain perspective viewing these remarkable sculptures. Local sculptures showcase design inspiration like natural resources, cultural heritage, and musicality. Chico’s diverse history and creative energy is honored by these outstanding pieces. 

Chico Public Art: Colorful 3-D glass mosaic depicting a salmon-filled creek running from green mountains and lined with trees installed on an outdoor business facade with leaves from a nearby tree in the foreground.
“The Ascent,” Dan Evers, Chris Evers, Sheri Maxson Hopper, Leanna Lunsford, Phyllis Cutburth
An abstract, slightly rusted metal gate with two rectangular side panels containing colorful mosaic tiles depicting cultural symbols and a large circle that looks like a sanddollar at the center joining the two panels sits in a grassy park field under the shade of nearby green trees on a sunny day.
“Ancestor Gates,” Lead Artist: Jenny Hale. Artist Team: David Barta, Robin Indar, and Amaera Bay Laurel, Paul Krohn, Stan McKetchin
A tall steel sculpture sits in a rock garden with red brick buildings and green trees in the background. The sculpture depicts an abstract torch and flame.
“Chico State Flame,” Timothy Stewart
Oxidized green salmon sculptures spout water into a long rectangular fountain made of grey granite and colorful green, blue, and yellow tiles installed next to a busy city tree-lined street pictured on a sunny day.
“Dancing Trout,” Patrick Collentine and Susan Larsen
A tall metal sculpture stands at a sidewalk corner bordering a green park and residential houses. The sculpture works as a bike rider’s guide, depicting common local destinations and how many miles away they are. It has a bike gear shaped compass at the top.
“Decide and Ride,” Ed McLaughlin
Large bronze sculpture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. walking with two children standing at his sides and his hands on their backs as if guiding them forward sits atop a black pedestal with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech engraved on the front. The sculpture has benches surrounding it and stands in the middle of a green park field.
“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Monument ,” Donald L. Howard
Large sculpture of layered human profiles made of metal, visible only at a close vertical angle. The sculpture is embedded into a black brick wall on an outdoor facade adjacent to a city street, pictured on a sunny day.
“Facewall,” Marek Walczak and Wes Heiss
A giant marble sculpture of two open hands facing each other posed like a round ball exists between the hands. The sculpture is embedded into the sidewalk and the hands are designed with scenes of abstract waterways, trees, and houses embedded into the stone with light colored terrazzo tiles. Pictured on a sunny day in front of the City of Chico Municipal Building parking lot.
“Our Hands,” Donna Billick
Tall shiny silver metal sculpture made of four posts joined at the top in a tetrahedron shape with silhouettes of salmon attached to the top third of the sculpture. The piece stands in a public garden with green grassy shrubs and concrete spheres embedded into the sidewalk.
“Per I Figli Del Mio Cuore (Children of my Heart),” Owen Gabbert
A giant metal tetrahedron shape stands in the middle of a grassy field with many nearby green trees near residential homes. In the top point of the tetrahedron is a large metal windchime with a large abstract circle hanging down.
“Resonance Tetrahedron Windchimes,” Gregg Payne
In front of the Chico Regional Airport, in a grassy area, a shiny silver sculpture stands depicting an abstract plane shaped like a paper airplane flying through a circle.
“Soaring Star,” James Russell
Sparkly silver spiral sculpture sits in a green park field with trees in the background. The structure is covered in metal at the base and is exposed frame skeleton at the top third. A small lightbulb ornament hangs from the tip of the spiral.
“The Spiral,” Dave Brown
Large bronze full-body sculpture of General Vang Pao in full military uniform with a bronze waving American flay in the background pictured on a sunny day.
“General Vang Pao Memorial Monument,” Ray Thao, Jake Thao, Michael Lo, Wang Chong Vang, Francis Lor. Design: Cramer Monument. Fabricated: China
Three staggered concrete sculptures depict three women in long garments and long hair with slightly downcast eyes installed in a grassy quad on Chico State University campus among green deciduous trees.
“Three Sisters,” Deborah Masters
A giant metal xylophone with a curved red frame stands in the middle of a public park shaded by adjacent trees, with a playground in the background on a sunny day.
“Wildwood Park” Lead Artist: Cal Ling. Xylophone: Gregg Payne. Landscape Architect: Greg Melton w/Land Image

Murals

Eye-catching, bright, and photogenic, these murals make Downtown Chico stand out. These giant paintings bring to light Chico’s past and present. Look closely and find special details like real railroad artifacts embedded in the Salem Street Art Walls. 

A mural is painted on two sides of a Mexican restaurant called “La Cocina Economica” depicting triangles and dots in bright colors and colorful airbrushed-looking tropical flowers along with two women’s faces looking at a profile view looking forward. The background of the mural is dark red and black abstract flowers that look airbrushed. The building is lined with shrubs and has a sidewalk nearby with a patch of grass lining the street.
“La Cocina Economica,” Shane Grammer
A vibrant mural on the side of a business facade depicts three large hands signing the word “bloom” in American Sign Language. The hands are painted ombre blue and the mural background includes wavy light pink lines and light orange flower outlines. The right side of the mural is cut into the wall and displays the sentence, “If everyone learned sign language, we would be happier” written in pink sans serif font with the teal blue background color.
“Bloom,” Valerie Rose
A tryptic mural in arch shapes shows a faded mural of the former Chico Flour Mills industrial building, a handful of men leaning on a nearby wooden fence, and horses and trees in the distance. The mural is painted on the side of the Chico History Museum, where three arch windows used to exist. The museum building is tan with clay tile roofing and shrubs and trees surrounding it.
“Normal Street & Bidwell Flour Mills,” Scott Teeple
Abstract mural of a phoenix painted in ombre rainbow colors on top of a white painted brick wall. There is a seed of life symbol at the center of the phoenix. The mural is painted on a brick business facade with windows on the top level above the artwork.
“Phoenix Reset,” William EverOne
Discover Beautiful & Diverse Public Art in Chico 20
“Peace and Harmony,” Shepard Fairey, Von Zombo, Luka Densmore, Robert Zagula
An abstract mural made of fiberglass and painted over in acrylics depicts waterways, green landscapes, and tools. The mural is blocked into rectangles of varying shades of the same earth tone blues, greens, and yellows. The artwork is embedded into a brick parking garage wall and exists on a tree lined street.
“Salem Street Art Walls,” Dayton Claudio
A mural on the side of a Chico State University building shows an optical illusion of a broken concrete wall revealing white Greek pedestals at the entrance of a dark abyss. The mural’s illusion includes a painted on door, iron rebar, and a fallen concrete slab. The painting is completely smooth and the outer wall is painted a terra cotta orange. The mural wall exists near a grassy quad.
“Academe,” John Pugh
A mural is painted on the side of an elevated retaining wall. The artwork depicts colorful symbols in their own contained rectangles, reimagined with faces, including from left to right, a raindrop, the sun, a peace sign, a tree, and the wind. The mural background color is a faded jade green and a surrounding flower bed with red rock roses has the words “Peaces of Chico” painted on the outside in all caps, san serif font. Large green trees stand in the back of the retaining wall on a sunny day.
“Peaces of Chico,” Gregg Payne and Youth Nexus students
On the right side of the local 1078 art gallery and Equilateral coffee shop, a mural shows native flowers painted onto an orange background and two yellow bistro chairs with a table sit in front of the wall. On the adjacent wall around the corner facing the tree-lined street, is another mural depicting the words “You Are Loved” and bright shapes with names written on them memorializing folks in the community who have passed away.
“You are Loved/Housing Justice” by Siana Sonoquie & “Endangered and Threatened Botanical Species Endemic to Butte County” by Serena Richelle
A mural painted on an outdoor wall facing a parking lot depicts the word “Unity” in cursive font with a background of horizontal stripes in various rainbow colors out of sequence. The word “Unity” is painted to look metallic and shiny with a shadow as if the word is raised from the wall surface.
“Unity,” Jed Speer

Benches

Take a seat on a gorgeous bench with a friend and chat about all things art between your art tour stops. The Luminary Bench art series was completed by various local artists with the intent of representing the city’s local legends and communities. Fun fact: Jackson Pollock briefly lived in Chico during his childhood. Consider which other local artists may live up to his legacy.

A public bench sits embedded into the sidewalk and shows a Chinese dragon breathing fire made out of mosaic tiles and pieces of mirror. The mosaic background color is black and the dragon is majority tan with small green and purple marble dots and a green and blue belly. The dragon claws and back ridge are mirrors.
“Chinese Luminary Bench,” Christen Derr
A public bench sits on the sidewalk near a city street lined with parked cars. The bench is covered in mosaic tiles emulating the painting style of Jackson Pollock, with abstract lines in red, yellow, and black on a white background. The bench also includes a tile with Jackson Pollock in the process of painting on the right and leftmost sides.
“Jackson Pollock Luminary Bench,” Robin Indar

Pedestals

Shop around and take a breather resting on these artistic pedestals. Located in Downtown Chico, these solid seats offer respite from the hustle and bustle and offer a great perch for people watching. Fun fact: the Music and Farmers Market pedestals were created with the help of local elementary school students. 

Three staggered pedestals sit on the sidewalk next to a city street where cars and motorcycles are parked in the distance. The pedestals are made of concrete and show 3-D Greek statue style heads stacked on top of each other, all the size of softballs. The top of the pedestal is smooth and flat to sit and the sides are bumpy with the heads contours.
“Greek Heads Pedestal,” Matt Auvinen
A mosaic pedestal sits on the sidewalk of a city street, in front of a local coffee shop where patrons are eating outside on bistro tables. The pedestal is covered in colorful tiles showing different fruit and vegetables like cherries and peppers, all organized by the colors red, purple, green, and orange. The Music Pedestal is visible in the background.
“Farmers Market Pedestal,” Kari Zigan and 6th Grade Chico Country Day students
A mosaic pedestal sits on the sidewalk of a city street, in front of a local coffee shop. The pedestal is covered in mosaic tiles depicting various musical symbols like music notes, guitars, and sheet music, all in bright colors on a black background. A few abstract spirals fill in the art space. The symbols are mainly yellow, red, white, and purple.
“Music Pedestal,” Kari Zigan and 6th Grade Chico Country Day School students

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