Artist Julie Engelmann swiftly moves her hand across a wall, spraying pale yellow paint to make blond bangs. She’s working on Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu’s signature dyed hair from 40 feet in the air, at the top of a construction lift outside the Oakland Ice Center. 

Engelmann is transforming what was a pretty plain white wall outside Liu’s practice ice into a mural that will show Liu in her gold medal skating performance alongside 1992 Olympic figure skating gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi. 

“There are two Olympic gold medal figure skaters that came from this area, and that should be celebrated,” Engelmann, who grew up in the Bay Area and worked in an Oakland art studio for several years, told The Oaklandside. “Both are also Asian American, and both wore gold.”

The mural will be completed in about four weeks, she said (we’ll update this story with new photos when it is), but it’s already attracted attention, including from students at Oakland School for the Arts, which Liu attended for a short time, across the street. Some wave to Engelmann from the upper floor windows and others have been taking in-progress photos of her work.

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The Oakland Ice Center is where Liu first learned to skate. She joined a “Learn to Skate” program when she was around five years old, and soon started taking private lessons at the rink, which opened in 1995 and is now owned by Sharks Ice, according to Oakland Ice Center’s general manager, Glenn Martin.

Liu practicing at the Oakland Ice Center in May 2025. Credit: Estefany Gonzalez for The Oaklandside

Engelmann works on Liu’s gold dress. Credit: Momo Chang for The Oaklandside

Liu still skates and trains there, and belongs to St. Moritz Ice Skating Club, one of the oldest ice skating clubs on the West Coast, founded in 1931 in Oakland.

On any given day, the center, which has one Olympic size rink and one National Hockey League regulation rink, attracts a mix of figure skaters and hockey players. Yesterday afternoon, Liu’s coaches, Massimo Scali and Phillip DiGuglielmo, were working with other skaters, including a few high level Olympic competitors. 

“We have Olympians here,” Martin said casually. Martin tells me that the Learn to Skate programs for children and adult learners averages anywhere from 400 to 700 students participating at a time, with more interest following each winter Olympics. “We’ll see a spike of all new skaters giving it a try,” Martin said.

The massive mural takes shape. Engelmann expects it to take a month to complete. Credit: Momo Chang for The Oaklandside

Engelmann, who figure skated as a kid, reached out to the Oakland Ice Center soon after she watched Liu’s Olympic free skate performance and pitched the idea, and Martin commissioned it, with the help of a group of sponsors. Yamaguchi has her own history with the Oakland Ice Center, according to Martin, who said she skated there after turning pro. 

The rink was immediately on board, he said, but they wanted to take time to make sure both Liu and Yamaguchi had signed off on the design. 

Martin reached out to Liu and Yamaguchi’s shared agent and got their blessing. “They both love the idea,” Martin said.

Two gold dresses

Oakland already has at least two other murals of Liu, including one that went up shortly after her Olympic victory by The Illuminaries graffiti crew in Temescal, in which Liu is holding up her gold medal and making a “thizz face,” and another one at Oakland’s Providence Athletic Club, which shows her grinning as she holds up her medal. 

This one by Engelmann will be a little different – with an elegant twist — as it shows the skaters in action. She’s done other large scale murals, most of them historical, which can be seen in Colma, Pacifica, Half Moon Bay, and Daly City.

The mural depicts both skaters in the gold dresses they wore in their free skates that led to gold medals. On the left side of the mural will be Yamaguchi in a spiral, a move where the skater balances on one leg while gliding, with their other leg lifted high behind them. Yamaguchi’s arms are outstretched and she’s smiling. Underneath is “1992” for the year she won Olympic gold. 

On the right side are two images of Liu – one from her short skate program, where she’s wearing a white and silver outfit and skating to Laufey’s “Promise,” and a larger one depicting her skating in the gold dress to Donna Summers’ “MacArthur Park.” Underneath is “2026.” In the middle, there’s the center’s logo and the words “Sharks Ice Oakland.” Swirls will represent the marks left on the rink by their skates and the movement of the figure skaters, and bubbles of light will represent the “magic” of their performances and of the ice center itself, Engelmann said.

Prior to the mural, the wall was mostly blank, except the words “Ice Center.” Several banners also hung there, which have now been moved indoors.

“I wanted to reflect the sport itself and the history of the place,” Engelmann said.

Engelmann traced her design at night before she began to paint. Credit: Courtesy of Glenn Martin

The artist, who is now based in Half Moon Bay, also paints surfboards (and surfs), but she learned the craft of mural art in Oakland’s Fruitvale district. She was an assistant to Filipina American artist Allison Torneros, who goes by the moniker “Hueman” and worked in the Oakland studio. That time helped launch what is now her full-time art career, Engelman said.

Engelmann started painting the mural Monday, next to the center’s front entrance on 18th Street, on a wall she estimates is about 100 feet wide. Last week, she used a projector at night to trace a stencil of the design with the help of a few assistants.

While the painting is going on outside, there’s another art show tucked away inside. In the upstairs gallery, about 50 pieces of artwork are on display by over 30 members of the ice skating community. There are large sculptures made of old hockey nets, paintings and drawings, and more. 

Called “Edgework,” a reference to edges of skate blades, the exhibition opened in February and has been extended at least through April 18. The show was curated by Mia Feuer, who is a professor at California College of the Arts – and also plays hockey in an adult league at the ice center. It’s the center’s first art show, and she’s already thinking of another for next year. Feuer said Liu herself wants to participate in the exhibit next time.

“This whole show is full of art made by the same people that share the ice with Alysa Liu, and it’s a real community art project,” Feuer said. “[The ice center is] magnetic and brings out the best in people.” 

As for the large mural outside, Glenn said they plan to hold a celebration when the two skaters’ schedules align; Liu is currently touring with Stars on Ice until June.

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