The window art piece now includes more than 200 faces.

A display on a downtown Astoria storefront is winning hearts and smiles on social media.

On Commercial Street, a growing portrait collection of passersby on the shop window at Sleeper Coffee, by Autumn Eve Montgomery Hurd, has delighted Astorians and visitors since late November.

Inspired by Bee Betwee, another artist who draws faces of passersby on shopfronts in San Francisco, Hurd, who goes by Autumn Eve in their art practice, issued an invitation to Astoria businesses to host a similar face-drawing performance.

Sleeper Coffee responded and hosted the shop window mural drawing on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, coinciding with the city’s annual downtown winter window display contest.

An online call for faces turned up dozens of people, with unsuspecting passersby joining in as well.

“It was a really beautiful experience,” Hurd said. Two minutes is what it took for the connection between the two strangers separated by a pane of glass to hold but, the artist added, “They were pouring their joy into this, grinning and connecting on a human level.”

Hurd drew some 50 portraits in white pen that day. In a video of the performance on social media platforms, they called it “the most beautiful and joy-filled day” of their career. “Days like this remind me of why I make art,” they added. “I left that window with tears of joy.”

What happened next was entirely unexpected.

Within days, Hurd’s project gained millions of views across TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

Never posting online with the goal to amass views, “because it takes the joy out of art,” Hurd said the video took off on social media within a day.

Soon, media companies reposted it to their followers, and the videos have now shared a slice of Astoria’s art community with people around the world. “It’s been insane,” Hurd said. “Nothing I’ve ever posted has gone viral close to this at all.”

The response has been overwhelmingly positive. “Everybody has been so nice,” Hurd said, with people saying “just how wholesome it is and they have joy from it and faith in humanity.”

Many people also invited businesses in their communities across the United States to follow the Astoria example. “It’s incredible what something so simple can do,” Hurd said.

“The people featured in the video are part of this community, we have relationships with each other, and you can really see the connection (and) the joy on everyone’s faces,” Hurd said. It seems positive content can win on social media after all.

Roxy Ficken-Jones, who co-owns Sleeper Coffee with Pete Ficken, hopes the project will result in more collaborations with local artists. “We hope there will be a lot more of these types of community-centered events and projects in the future,” Ficken-Jones said. “There’s certainly no shortage of talent in Astoria.”

The video’s success has boosted Hurd’s art career as well. They believe the success will have a lasting effect, particularly in getting their art into more communities.

Hurd multiplied their social media following and received invitations from other businesses to replicate the performance on their windows. Painting and traveling, they said, “is my dream.”

A queer multimedia artist and fifth-generation Astorian, in their art practice Hurd centers “queer representation, love for the beauty of the Oregon Coast and social justice.”

They began drawing portraits during the coronavirus pandemic and soon transitioned into painting signs and typography on windows, mirrors and walls as well as digital portraits.

Hurd’s signs and murals can also be found at Frite & Scoop, Xanadu Astoria and other businesses around Astoria and across the region.

The storefront gallery is up to more than 200 faces. The display isn’t permanent but Ficken-Jones said it will remain at Sleeper Coffee at least through the end of the year.

“We would love to keep the mural up for as long as it will withstand the elements,” Ficken-Jones said. “It has brought a lot of warmth to our community, so we hope it will withstand the condensation long enough to keep us warm all winter.”

See the artwork

See the artwork

“A Toast to Astoria” is displayed on the windows of Sleeper Coffee, 1332 Commercial St., Astoria

See the performance at @autumnevesart on TikTok and Instagram