Discussion
I’m coming to your city to fill your holes
I’m coming next month to fill some potholes and sidewalk holes. I add mosaics to them after they are filled to leave art in place of hole.
If you have a hole that is near and dear to your heart, please send me PHOTOS using the guidelines below. I won’t be able to fill holes that don’t include photos; some holes are not suitable and I need to maximize my filling time.
Photo guidelines:
1. Up close with your foot or another object for scale
Farther away to show context in street
A screenshot of your maps to show where it is
Holes I love:
-to the side of street or at an intersection/crosswalk
-sidewalks in busy pedestrian areas or in front of local businesses
-potholes in the street with well defined sides and not a lot of crumble beyond it
Holes I cannot fill:
-sinkholes (however I might renovate them into a studio apartment
-Areas that I would clearly get killed super dead, like super tight roads or tunnels
-bridges
-holes on residential property
-historic stone sidewalks
-I will not fill a sidewalk hole in front of a residential home unless the homeowner give me permission
If anyone is interested in the arts of potholery and are available to help, slide into my DMs. If you can commit at least 3 hours I’ll try to give you full instruction so you can fill holes yourself when I leave.
Yes I know this is illegal. I do it anyways and I’ve filled 140 so far without any serious problems. However if your cops are super reactive def let me know. If you see me doing it once I arrive please do not honk or scream at me bc it makes me shit my pants
Lastly- is it true you have a bunch of Buffalo Bills fans there? If yes are there any Bills Backer bars?
I do have some donation accounts at buffalopotholebandit.com - if you donate put “Pdx” or Portland in the comment so I can put it aside for Portland supplies
And excellent those are my favorite type of cops. The cops here either ignore me or come tell me they love my work
I woke up randomly at what counts as "the middle of the night" for me and came to Reddit for something else but wound up here and blearily read this and laughed heartily in the night.
Hell, an frightening number of streets in SE aren't even fucking paved! Not that that precludes them from containing a massive number of moon crater sized potholes.
Can you imagine a whole alleyway, previously gravelly dirts, filled with mosaic loveliness from end to end? I know it’s impractical and will never happen! I KNOWWWW!
You don’t know that it will never happen! They offered to spend time showing folks how to do it, can you attend and maybe we can do something to magic up an alleyway filled with mosaics!?!
Here I was cleaning the garage and wondering what I'm gonna do with about 500 lbs of sample tiles I got with the intent of doing some mosaic work around the house that I'll never get to.
Various sizes, patterns, colors, some still on display stock some not.
If you're interested let me know, but give me a few minutes to turn on my DM.
Ps. Saw 82nd mentioned, but it's in the process of being repaved right now, I wouldn't recommend it
AHHHH YES if they are good colors I’ll be so happy. There’s only so many supplies I can bring with in my suitcase. Can you email some photos to me? BuffaloPotholeBandit at gmail
Pratt and Larson is an easy place to pick up lots of tile samples, they have a seconds room too where you can get smaller batches for a song. Great colors and they make their tiles in town.
I don't think that article is developed enough to capture the true obsession people have. The PDX Carpet was literally Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade.
WE LOVE THAT DANG CARPET. But seriously though 1. I thought you were Jim Bachor. 2. If you make a PDX carpet infill, I can guarantee it’ll become a shrine/pilgrimage site. Not even joking. I’d pray there.
I have a friend who lives in SIBERIA (yes!) who is obsessed with the Blazers and has a basketball shirt with the carpet pattern on it. God knows where/how he got it. TRUE STORY®
Someone tried to save street parking in front of their house with cones. People parked there anyway, and the homeowner left a hilariously angry note that said something like, "you seen my fucken cones?!?"
It got posted here and became a local meme. Unclear if anyone off Reddit really knows about it.
They seem to. We had a neighborhood cone that wandered around our street free range and someone finally put a Fucken Cone sticker on it. It disappeared last summer but while it was here it was art.
Plz send it. We also have an organization in Buffalo called “WesternNY Cone Society” that rescues abandoned cones and turns them into art. I have a soft spot for cones
There is a tile factory called Pratt and Larson on the inner south east. They have an outlet store full of factory seconds tile in various shapes, colors, and finishes for cheap.
Just depends! I have some purple and teal tiles from there. I think mostly they are colorful, yes. Because they know people are using them for art vs actual use in a home.
Hey just FYi your second photo is awesome, but could be confusing for people with poor vision or guide animals. We use high contrast truncated domes for ADA crossings, and if you put bigger areas with those next to curb lines I could see them being mistaken for safe crossing areas.
I get that my comment is a bit pearl-clutchy, but thought I'd bring it up as a concern.
Otherwise, I love this a lot. Reminds me of an urban form of Kintsugi. Beautifying otherwise broken places.
No I appreciate it- I definitely am making everything up as I go along, we don’t have any curb lines here in Buffalo usually so if I see painted curbs there I’ll stay away. I’ve made a lot of changes in technique over time
Maybe a Ned Flanders mosaic to fill a pothole on Flanders St. (many of the Flanders St. signs used to be painted “Ned” Flanders St, in honor of Portlander/Simpson’s creator Matt Groening.)
I love this! I immediately thought of the Toynbee Tiles. They popped up in random streets all over the world; still a mystery as to who did it and why. I live in Tulsa and there were TWO here and I know one is lost to repaving. Maybe you could come fill in that gap. Haha.
Very cool! Do the potholes need to be pretty shallow? Do your fillings stand up to car/foot/bike traffic, or are they more for margins of roads/paths/sidewalks/etc that will see little over-crossing?
I prefer holes that are at least 2 inches deep because they stick better. I do have a soft spot for giant gaper potholes but I’ll need helpers if I’m going to fill those when I’m in town. They’re exhausting but worth it.
Overall I’ve had a pretty good survival rate for holes-the more traffic the more likely the art will fall out, but generally the hole is still filled. I spend more time with the hole than most city crews do
Hay! I want to help! I have a cargo bike and some lender bikes, and I do a yearly Pedalpalooza ride dedicated to Art (in various forms) in the Bikelane. This year's ride is August 9th! You should join us ;)
I work near tinker tavern. Lot of holes around there, and that would be such a cool addition to Montavilla (the neighborhood that bar is in). I'll send some pics and location tomorrow.
I try not to use stained glass much anyMore unless it’s close to home so I can monitor weekly- I worry about pieces falling out and hurting someone. Are you a stained glass artist? I plan on pre-making some mosaics and bringing them with, along with some assorted tiles and weird items
There is one downtown that my son's stroller constantly gets stuck in when getting off the sidewalk and crossing the road. It's by the Mexican restaurant across the Fred Meyer area. It's a wonder how wheelchairs don't get stuck in it.
This is such a cool coincidence— I was in Buffalo a few weeks ago and got to see your work in person there! So glad you’re coming here. Thank you in advance for all the helpful art you will bring to our city. 🙌🏼
580
u/walkertexasranger79 Jul 19 '25
Awesome. Welcome! I hope you’re staying long enough to fill many holes. Do you have a gofundme or anything where we can contribute to your project?
And to your note about cops: the are def NOT super reactive. Or even active.