Kids Unlimited’s latest gift to the Liberty Park neighborhood is a custom mural on its newest building.
Xavi Panneton, who specializes in painting edifices, completed a kaleidoscope-themed mural in November on KU’s Carrico 
Building. An Ashland resident, Panneton previously installed the wrap-around exterior painting that the local community now associates with KU’s Medford headquarters, KU Academy public charter school and Pre-KU Early Learning Center.
“I just wanted to give the people of this area something kind of above and beyond what we usually get,” said Panneton of his first project for KU that spanned 2019 and 2020. “I would describe it less as a mural and more like architectural painting.
“The new one I did is more of a ‘quote’ mural,” said Panneton. “I’ve had the local people in the neighborhood … all yelling out the window … saying they love it.”
The work adorning KU’s Carrico Building on Niantic Street also can be viewed as a blossoming flower, said Panneton, explaining that it loosely represents unity of the family and community. Panneton’s primary medium is latex house paint, also known as architectural coating.
Most of Panneton’s work can be seen outside Southern Oregon in larger American and international cities. KU’s “360-degree reenvisioning” was his first big project in the region. Most recently, he was commissioned to paint the exterior of Ashland’s Gambrel Annex, a large gallery space on East Main Street. The work is part of Schneider Museum of Art’s exhibition “Art Beyond.”
Panneton connected to KU through a friend working for the nonprofit youth development organization. He said his inspiration was the potential for, in turn, inspiring KU participants and KUA students.
“Can you imagine if you’re a little kid, and you see this building?”
Liberty Park was notorious throughout the state for its rates of crime, drug use and poverty when KU brought its youth center to the neighborhood two decades ago. Completed in 2023, the two-story Carrico building replaced a blighted residence on a 10,000-square-foot parcel. Inside are KU’s administrative services and community meeting spaces.
