If you’ve visited Gou-wen-out-wuk since the summer, the UIHS rehabilitation facility in Eureka, you’ve probably noticed a striking mural in the training room.  A 30-foot wide mural, impressively and thoughtfully depicting a traditionally made basket, so well crafted it seems like you could reach out and feel the texture. The mural was created along a wall in a room where UIHS clients rehabilitate and exercise and it pays homage to the traditional art of basket weaving. To the artist however, the work is also representative of the healing that happens in the space it occupies.

The mural, named One Step at a Time,  was completed one brush stroke at a time. 44,100 strokes to be exact, which appear to weave together like an actual basket, forming a friendship pattern.

“People are familiar with baskets. People like baskets,” explained mural creator David Mata. “I don’t know how familiar people are with their meaning and the particular culture. Those things are personal for me. It was significant enough that I wanted to paint it.”

Based in Eureka, and born and raised in Arcata, Mata is a self-taught muralist of Karuk, Yokuts, and Chumash descent. His work is also displayed in the Gathering Room at UIHS’s Potawot Health Village and he has completed murals at the Arcata Library, Trinidad Rancheria, Eureka High School and McKinleyville Family Resource Center.

The basket pattern at Gou-wen-out-wuk runs the entire length of the wall.  It’s painted in traditional colors with some colors added in that are personal to Mata. But as you get closer to the mural, you see the precise brush strokes that build the image, and it becomes clear how much work went into it’s completion. 

“The design is common. The colors are a little less common,” Mata says.  “The red is less common, but when looking at baskets that had been done in my family in the past, they had used that. And so, I wanted to put a little of myself into it as well.”

David’s understanding of basket making isn’t the only experience that shaped his work at Go wen-out-wuk. He also went through physical therapy to recover from injury. 

“This is all related to physical therapy. When you’re injured, when you’re hurt, there is an overwhelming feeling to face. Loss of job, loss of career. How am I going to take care of my family? Am I going to be able to (be active) ever again? A lot of worries, a lot of hurt that goes with that, and it can be overwhelming. But when you come up close, I want people to see one… step… at… a… time.”

“And so, when they come up close to go, oh my gosh. That’s a lot. I wanted them to see that, but I also want them to see that they can do things one step at a time and get it done.”

David’s process in completing the mural was intended to mirror the process of the basket maker. “I think it’s fairly common knowledge that basket weavers have a clear mind when they do their craft,” he said. “So, when I did this, I would remember that. And I slowed down, and I did my best to isolate from everyone. I didn’t talk to anybody for the ten days that I was doing this as much as I could. I had a few interruptions here and there, which I had to move on from. But during that process, as you’re moving on from stroke to stroke to stroke like this, you do get into, or I do get into a zone. I did get to where I was clear and working.

“Art makes you feel like you’re home.” 

– Elizabeth Lara O’Rourke

When Elizabeth Lara-O’Rourke, UIHS’ CEO who took part in arranging Mata’s work to be done at Gou-wen-out-wuk was asked why art was so important to UIHS she responded simply, “Art makes you feel like you’re home.”

Mata’s mural, One Step at a Time stands as more than a visual centerpiece in the rehabilitation room, it serves as a reminder that healing, like weaving, is a deliberate and patient act. Each brush stroke mirrors the steps clients take on their own recovery journeys, guided by tradition, strength, and the supportive environment UIHS strives to create. As staff and clients move through the space, the mural quietly reinforces what Mata and UIHS hope all who enter will feel: that this is a place of care, culture, and belonging—a place that feels like home.

If you would like to contact David for art, murals or questions, he can be reached at:

David Mata

ipakarts@gmail.com

(707)499-4331

-Ípak Arts