The walls of the West Age Well Center in Boulder now carry a two-part mural painted by the people who use the building. Older adults who signed up for a fall 2026 Lifelong Learning program painted the panels section by section, and the finished work has been installed for permanent display, the City of Boulder announced on November 13.

Who was behind it

The project paired the city's Older Adult Services division with Street Wise Arts, a Boulder nonprofit that promotes artists and builds community through public art, events and education. Older Adult Services picked the lead artist from profiles Street Wise Arts shared: Lael Har, a Boulder painter who works mostly in acrylic and mixed media on contemporary landscapes, mentors other artists and founded Lael Gallery & Studios in Boulder. Allison Greene of Street Wise Arts worked alongside her.

Street Wise Arts paid for the work with funding from the city's Office of Arts and Culture.

How the design came together

Before any paint went on, Har and Greene sat down with members of the Age Well Advisory Committee to learn who comes to the West center and why. They asked what makes the place feel welcoming, which activities and friendships people remember, what they have gained from coming, what they want others to understand about aging, and which words describe the center. The answers became a word cloud, and the same themes kept coming up: community, friends, family, safety, warmth, vitality and the sense of a home away from home. Several people singled out the front desk staff.

Har then drew the panels, and participants painted them with her step-by-step guidance during the class sessions.

What the panels show

One panel is a valley at sunset under orange, pink and blue skies. In it, a person using a walker is being greeted, a child runs toward an adult with arms open, and three people plant a sapling, with red poppies, white daisies and purple lupine across the foreground.

The companion panel is a sunlit river valley with orange mountains, wildflowers and a winding yellow path. Children hold hands beside a dog, a painter works at an easel by the river, snowy peaks and autumn aspens rise behind, a guitarist plays for a person in a wheelchair, and two people dance on the path.

The sunset panel hangs above the reception area, and the pair is mounted high on a wall above a seating area in the center's open community space.

How to see it

The West Age Well Center is at 909 Arapahoe Ave., a short walk from the Boulder Public Library's main branch and Central Park along Boulder Creek. It is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the mural is on view whenever the building is open. Upcoming classes for older adults, including the Lifelong Learning series that produced the mural, are listed in the city's Let's Age Well program guide.

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