{"id":566417,"date":"2026-08-12T04:52:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/566417\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T04:52:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:52:16","slug":"after-years-of-fighting-provocative-art-added-to-bend-pub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/566417\/","title":{"rendered":"After years of fighting, provocative art added to Bend pub"},"content":{"rendered":"

After years of fighting, provocative art added to Bend pub<\/p>\n

Published 2:21 pm Tuesday, August 11, 2026<\/p>\n

Roger Worthington, who owns Worthy Brewing in east Bend and a NW Brooks Street pub downtown, installed a vinyl piece of artwork to the wall of his Brooks Street building Friday.<\/p>\n

After nearly three years of back-and-forth with the city and neighbors about what artwork was allowed at that location, he put up a piece called \u201cThe Avengers\u201d by artist Matthias Petsche. It features a depiction of Mother Earth\u2019s revenge on an American robber baron with a \u201cmystic, fantasy\u201d vibe, Worthington told The Bulletin on Friday. Mother Earth rides a bison and is joined by various animals, including bald eagles and a bear. She holds a spear aloft.<\/p>\n

Worthington has been at odds with the city and a neighbor for over two years about art that would adorn the space. His first mural, titled \u201cReWild,\u201d featured a spotted owl, timber wolf, bald eagle, beaver and salmon. A neighbor objected, he said, and he was forced to take it down. A second mural, called \u201cCultivate Your Garden,\u201d featured hummingbirds, native wildflowers and butterflies. His neighbor again objected. The second mural was an artistic wooden sign, which the city said encroached into his neighbor\u2019s airspace, according to previous Bulletin reporting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In late 2025, Worthington decided to shelve plans for art on that wall, but he changed his mind and decided to put art up this summer because of the wildfires plaguing Central Oregon. The bare wall was a \u201ccontrast to the beauty of Bend,\u201d he said, and he wanted to fill it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf not now, when?\u201d Worthington said of his decision to hang the art. \u201cThe (federal) government has been ignoring the fires, but nature always wins. If the art can change one mind at a time, then mission accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has taken more than two years to put art on his own building, he said. People who walked by Friday morning congratulated him on the piece, he said.<\/p>\n


\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to work every option (with the city),\u201d Worthington said. \u201cI\u2019m not backing down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city of Bend said it is aware of the art and had not received any complaints about it as of Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally speaking, sign code violations are evaluated on a complaint basis,\u201d wrote Jacob Larsen, city communications manager, in an email. \u201cAt this time, there have been no formal complaints on this sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worthington took previous pieces of art that he had planned for the downtown pub to his east Bend building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After years of fighting, provocative art added to Bend pub Published 2:21 pm Tuesday, August 11, 2026 Roger…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-566417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}