Today’s mural comes to us from Katlyn Hubner, an artist and painter based in the Seattle area, whose work hangs on the façade of Doghouse Leathers. After nine years at their 14th and E Pine location, the “daddy of Capitol Hill kink shops” moved further down the street to its present space about a year ago, after a 16 month long renovation of the 108 year old building. Sandwiched in between St. John’s and Babeland, Doghouse is prime mural real estate along one of the neighborhood’s busiest thoroughfares that I drag my weary body down, hungry for art on the way to the grocery store.
When I first walked past the shop a month or so ago, I remember, definitely, seeing the mural; the bright red background sticks out even among the colorful murals that line the storefronts along the street. But the subject—leather puppy hoods that, in The Before, you’d see some people wearing around the neighborhood—and the mural’s perfect placement over the front windows made it seem like the painting had been part of the store since forever. It adds welcome character to the street while also remaining relevant to the spirit of the business it adorns. I know we’re all eager to see our neighborhoods and streets return back to “normal,” but there’s part of me that wishes Hubner’s mural would hang on Doghouse Leather’s windows far into The After, whatever that entails. Check out more of Hubner’s work here.
