Caught in the Act was created as part of ARtsway, a mural tech mentorship program for high school students. 2022 was our second year hosting an ARtsway cohort, and coincidentally, this was the second mural project in as many years where we partnered with our friends at Third Way Cafe.

Artist Jeremy Jarvis and his assistant Amanda Keeton absolutely crushed it - the program was a huge success, and the mural is excellent.

To prepare students for the realities of working with clients, Jeremy asked students to think about Third Way’s mission and ethos so they could help create a design fitting of the cafe’s future space. “Building community” was something students focused on, and in this vein, they decided they wanted to do something with cats, though they wanted the cats to be helping in an unexpected way.

Not unlike how Third Way has been building and strengthening community by not being afraid to do things differently, the cats in the mural are literally building community while their beneficiaries look on a little uneasily, all with downtown’s skyline in the background (correctly positioned as the viewer looks east, of course). The design also perfectly captures the curiosity of cats, making the viewer feel like they’re part of the mural.

We’re immensely grateful to Jeremy, Amanda, the students, and countless others for continuing to make ARtsway the awesome program it is.