(light music) - The Laramie Mural Project utilizes local artists to create one of a kind large scale murals that reflect Laramie's cultural assets.

Founded in 2011 as a collaboration between the University of Wyoming Art Museum, local Laramie artists, and the Laramie Main Street Alliance, the project is now co-hosted by Laramie Main Street and the Laramie Public Art Coalition.

The Laramie Mural Project, next on Wyoming Chronicle.

(uplifting music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is made possible in part by the Wyoming Humanities Council, helping Wyoming take a closer look at life through the humanities, thinkwy.org, and by the members of the WyomingPBS Foundation.

Thank you for your support.

- And as we begin this Wyoming Chronicle, it's my pleasure to be joined by Laura McDermit.

Laura is the Executive Director of the Laramie Public Art Coalition.

- That's right.

- Laura, welcome to Wyoming Chronicle.

And before we start to discuss the beautiful Laramie Mural Project, let's start by discussing what the Laramie Public Art Coalition is.

And what is your involvement with it?

- Sure, so the Laramie Public Art Coalition is a very new organization.

So, we were started in 2015, which is after the Mural Project started.

And we grew out of a public process, well a community informed process of how public art should be facilitated in the community.

So what the sort of administration of art projects from beginning to end would look like.

And so, consultants were hired, they came and worked with the community to create this master plan of how Laramie, the city, the county, everybody in this community, can work together on art projects moving forward that are in our public spaces.

So the Laramie Public Art Coalition was formed.

And we recently became a 501c3, a nonprofit organization in 2019.

And so we exist to make Laramie a more vibrant place through art in public places and helping organizations and individuals and businesses create artwork.

- I think in Wyoming, often this is not top of mind.

- Right.

- That maybe art in a public setting maybe isn't even necessary.

- Mm hm.

- And hasn't been experienced or isn't experienced often.

- Right.

- Have you noticed that maybe in Wyoming?

- You know, one of the things that drew me to this job and drew me to Laramie is that I saw when I came to visit an appetite for art and for creativity.

That was really exciting and really energizing.

And so, before I even took this role, I knew that this was a place that was excited and ready to maybe push the envelope even a little bit more than what has already been happening in Laramie, which is really wonderful stuff.

So, people really resonate and feel connected to the Mural Project and artwork in their community.

And they want more.

So the appetite in Laramie is here.

I will say that no matter where you go in the country, there is hesitancy or resistance sometimes to artwork in public spaces because often there is a sort of misconception on maybe how the artwork is being funded, or why are we paying for artwork and not road repairs?

Or things like that.

That I feel like is actually the main conversation that you would find not only in Wyoming, but in Pittsburgh.

(Laura laughing) - Mm hm.

- And that it's a good conversation to have, but it's also...

It's good to talk about it and be transparent about the process and why this money is going towards artwork and not fixing a pothole or whatever that may be.

Often, you're getting more artwork for your money than you would for potholes (laughing).

- [Craig] So, expand on that just a little bit.

- Yeah.

- And we're gonna talk a lot about the Laramie Mural Project here in just a minute.

- Yeah.

- But why is it important?

Why should we be concerned about it?

Whether I live in Laramie or Rock Springs or Riverton or Cody, why should public art means something or be important to me?

- I mean, it should exist because it is the manifestation, physical manifestation of the soul of a community, right?

It's something that people can rally around.

I gives community a voice in their space, which is so exciting.

And it creates moments of joy, of questioning, of living that just having a space with no art would not do.

So, there certainly are many, there are a lot of arguments for why art isn't important, but the most important argument for art is that it really makes life worth living, right?

So, we as artists and people in the community, to have things that are beautiful or tell a story, or people can look at and they feel represented in some way, that's incredible.

And that's a really amazing thing that work in public space can do, so.

- We want to learn as much as we can about the Laramie Mural Project.

- Mm hm, yeah.

- In fact, we're gonna talk to a couple of the artists who contributed to these wonderful works.

And there are 15, 20 of these beautiful murals in Laramie.

We're gonna show our viewers a lot of them throughout the broadcast today.

- Yeah.

- What's it's history?

This is almost a decade long project and going here.

- Yeah, so it was started in 2011, and it was actually sort of the brainchild of some artists in the community who were working together on what can we do to make the community more vibrant, bring some energy into downtown?

And Susan Moldenhauer, who was the Director of the University Art Museum at the time.

And Trey Sherwood, who is the current Director, still the Director of Laramie Main Street.

They sort of banded together to create this program, then the Laramie Mural Project, and give artists this authority to start to create in this downtown neighborhood.

And so, they got businesses together also to provide wall space and they just started creating ideas of what could live on these walls, and what that would look like, and what they wanted to represent.

How they wanted to represent Laramie through our work.

And the result is, like you said, almost two dozen murals here in downtown that are just incredibly beautiful and have become so iconic for the people of Laramie, for visitors to Laramie.

They've created a background for living here, so.

- So, who created these ideas?

Because someone saw the blank wall- - Sure.

- And came up with an idea.

Someone had to say, that's a good idea.

- Yeah.

- And I like it.

Or you know what, let's think about this or that.

- Yeah.

- How did that process work?

- Sure, so I think, you know it was all a collaboration and I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for these first murals for this project, because I think it would have been so interesting to see how... Now we're 10 years into this and people have come to love them and appreciate them, but what sort of the back and forth would have been would be really, really interesting to me.

But yeah, business owners, artists, the Main Street Alliance, everybody around the table just going back and forth, kind of coming up with ideas.

That's sort of the beauty of art in public spaces always is that it's a collaborative process no matter what happens.

We always in LPAC, Laramie Public Art Coalition, as well as the Laramie Mural Project, which now is underneath the LPAC umbrella, we always advocate for artists and their ideas for artists to stay true to what they're envisioning as well, even when there are other voices at the table.

And while that can come into play and make some adjustments or some enhancements to their ideas, it's like their idea needs to shine, so.

- So, it wasn't free to do this?

There were in many cases lifts involved, there was paint involved.

- Right.

- In many cases, more paint than they originally thought about.

- Right.

- How is it funded?

- Sure, so this project was funded originally through, like I said, the University Art Museum had some grant funding and then they continued to fund the program through Kickstarter.

So, the public contributed.

The Wyoming Arts Council, the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, the Guthrie Family Foundation.

So multiple foundations within Wyoming funding the program, along with just individuals.

- Have you seen things like this in other communities?

I'm guessing they exist.

- Yes, they do exist.

So, being from Pennsylvania, there was a really robust mural program in Pittsburgh that was run by a foundation.

And I believe there was about 220 murals created for that program.

The sort of original mural arts program that is sort of heralded as like a gold standard is in Philadelphia, called Mural Arts.

And they have thousands of murals.

And they do multiple murals a year.

So, it's certainly a thing that communities, I think all over the country can rally behind because it really does create spaces that are beautiful and unique to the place that they're in.

- Laura, one of the things I've wondered about with murals like this that I've seen recently in the news, and I bet you have too, is that all of the sudden these walls can be made to be political statements.

- Mm hm.

- And there might be artists that may wanna come along and say, "Geez, I would like to do this right here, right now in this moment to make this statement."

- Right.

- And so what happens in Laramie perhaps- - Mm hm.

- When somebody has that idea?

How does that process get worked through?

- Sure, so each mural can be...

There's a different process for sort of every project that we do.

- Mm hm.

- And if an artist has an idea, we can certainly help the artist see that idea through.

Most of the time though, we're doing calls for artwork.

So artists would then apply.

And then through a process that happens with every project that we do if whether it's a mural, whether it's a sculpture, whatever that is, is that a committee of community representatives select the artist.

We never select the artist.

It is a very democratic process.

- Mm hm.

- To then do their idea.

So, I think it's really important.

And I think that that's something that we as an organization in the coming years will really want to address is how can we get different stories told than just maybe something that is really beautiful or nature-based or whatever that is.

Those are all very important, but also there's other narratives that can be worked in to artwork.

So sometimes it is making a statement or it is saying something more than just, this is a nice piece of artwork.

- Mm hm.

- So I think that's something that can be...

It would have definitely a different process than I think what the Mural Project has been to this point.

But we have done in the last year, some temporary mural projects at the WYO Theater, that's on fifth street, it's a theater that is being currently renovated.

And so there are some wood boards on the front.

So we've been able to do two different projects there, one with the university printmaking students, and they were able to make sort of more...

Statements as you will about current events through their temporary project, which was very exciting.

And then also the Laramie high school and March For Our Lives, which is an anti-gun violence organization, they just had a mural up there as well.

Again, making a statement, saying something about what they believe in.

And so those opportunities exist.

We also run what is called the Free Wall, and that is a wall that anybody can paint on at any time.

So if an artist really wants to say something at this moment, they can go paint on the Free Wall.

And so, that happens quite often as well.

So if people want to just go and paint something that's really on their mind, there was a beautiful project last year that multiple artists contributed to at the Free Wall, where they were painting animals with masks to say basically be like, "Wear your mask."

- Mm hm.

- For real, man.

So, I think there's lots of different opportunities for artists to share their work in sort of more informal ways.

And then also in more formal ways when projects come about and funding is available.

- Back to the Laramie Mural Project.

- Yeah.

- How were those artists selected?

Was it primarily the, "Hey, I want to participate.

how can I do it," type of thing?

- Yeah, so I think that was more grassroots, right?

Which is- - I could've painted the white on this wall.

- Oh, yeah (laughing).

- I think, maybe.

(both laughing) - I bet you could.

- Uh huh.

- Yeah, so it was more grassroots where this was like a collaborative group of artists that had banded together.

They started meeting and talking and figuring out where they can have spaces to create.

And yeah, it was that kind of fluid process.

And the Laramie Public Art Coalition came about multiple years later, sort of out of a need to think about how to maybe have a greater inclusivity in terms of reaching even more artists that can be part of projects as well.

- Mm hm, mm hm.

How much paint was involved with this wall?

Do we know.

(Laura laughing) - I don't know, a lot.

- A lot, yeah.

Yeah, I can imagine.

- A lot of paint I think.

So, this work we're sitting in front of is called Hollyhock Haven.

It's by an artist named Travis Ivey.

And this was, I think at the time maybe the biggest wall he had done.

He's done more since.

But yeah, I think this may be the biggest mural.

(Laura laughing) - Mm hm, mm hm.

- It's pretty big.

- And so, I mean, you have to get feedback from so many different folks.

- Yeah.

- From kids, from building owners, from people my age who are walking around, and I have to believe it's all great.

- Oh, yeah.

I think the Laramie Mural Project is the heart of Laramie.

This is what people think of when they think about what downtown looks like, which I think is really amazing.

I mean, it's become the backdrop for people and their lives in downtown.

And that's so important.

And I think kind of going back even to the idea of thinking about why something is important or like why spend money on art when you can maybe spend it elsewhere?

It's like, well, you spend money on art because look, 10 years later, we're still talking about these murals, and they're still the most central thing in people's minds of when they think about Laramie.

So, they're economic drivers for sure, they're tourism boosters, they just create this sense of pride of place in the community, which is really outstanding.

- One of the issues that I've thought about, and we've talked a little bit about off-camera is, is that there was support and money in place to make the murals.

- Mm hm.

- And now we are 10 years later and the buildings age and the murals age.

- Mm hm.

- [Craig] How are they maintained?

- Yeah, so currently there is not a maintenance program for the Laramie Mural Project.

LPAC, we are working to change that because it is really important to care for these cultural icons here in our community.

Now, anytime that we do a new project, we include maintenance in the plan because it's incredibly challenging to fundraise for maintenance.

It's not the most exciting thing for funders to fund in their eyes.

Although for the community, it would be very exciting to have this maintained- - Mm hm.

- And back to its original glory of 10 years ago.

So, it's kind of working backwards now in thinking about how we can create a sustainable maintenance program for these murals, that need a little bit of TLC for sure.

And that's gonna take, it's gonna take volunteer time to help paint some of the murals back.

It's gonna take funds obviously to do that.

There are some murals that might have to be replaced totally or redone.

And there are some murals that maybe their time has come and there might be another mural place there.

So those are things that we have to work through as we move forward.

'Cause there was never really a timeline either set for these pieces.

And that's something really important too in public art is setting sort of, not an expiration date, but a date that you can reassess and see if it's still relevant or maybe it's time for it to take a bow.

- One of the artists we're gonna talk to painted a mural that's not downtown.

- Mm hm.

- That we're gonna talk to him in just a little bit.

What's the vision for the Laramie Mural Project.

Again, it's a decade old.

- Yeah.

- [Craig] Hasn't been a new one in a while.

- Right.

- Is there still a vision?

- Absolutely.

So, I think there's a revision (laughing).

- [Craig] Okay.

- Of expanding the Mural Project beyond the bounds of downtown.

And like you said, Connor, who you used to speak with at the skate park, that is not a downtown mural.

And so, getting more art into more areas of the community is really important and really exciting 'cause we can see what the Mural Project has done to downtown and how it can continue to influence in other parts of Laramie is really exciting.

So, the goal now that LPAC is involved with the Mural Project is for us in the next couple of years to really shore up some good funding.

So we can both maintain the murals that we have and keep them beautiful, and then also start to commission new murals each year.

So, it can be a program that continues to build and we keep seeing more and more and more murals.

- Well, of viewers have seen the beautiful murals.

It is something that Laramie is very, very proud of.

Even with the trains blasting through- - Yes.

- During our interview here, Laura, but it's been a pleasure to visit with you.

- Yeah.

- And now we're gonna move on and talk to a couple of the artists who had an original hand in creating some of the beautiful murals.

So, I wanna thank you for joining us on Wyoming Chronicle and wish you the best of luck.

- Thank you so much, Craig.

- Yeah.

- Appreciate it.

(dramatic music) - I'm Connor Mullen, I'm an artist.

I live here in Laramie, Wyoming, and I'm also a community organizer and found my way to doing this mural behind us, through working with the Laramie Public Art Coalition, and a few organizations that surround the park here where the mural is.

My thinking when I painted the mural was that I wanted to assist with a piece of public art that brought the public further into the process of designing and creating the mural.

To do that, I worked with Laura McDermit at Laramie Public Art Coalition, and members of a few community organizations that are surrounding LaBonte park here, including Laramie Interfaith, Feeding Laramie Valley, Laramie Youth Crisis Center, and Friends of the Laramie Skate Park.

What I wanted to portray with this work was what do members of the community that surround the park, what do they love about the park?

And what kinds of memories do they have here?

What do they enjoy doing with their time when they're in LaBonte park?

And then also what do those community organizations bring to the table surrounding the park?

So you'll notice those two hands that are featured in the mural.

For me, that was a piece of imagery that was inspired by Laramie Interfaith's mission, which is neighbors helping neighbors.

And of course, while I was working on the mural, we were in the midst of a global pandemic.

And so, we were quarantined, we were isolated within our houses, our businesses.

And I think a lot of people felt lonely in that, felt isolated in that and wanted to reach out to each other.

And in Laramie, we had a lot of neighbors helping neighbors, especially through organizations like Laramie Interfaith, like Feeding Laramie Valley.

I found my way to working as a community organizer through the arts.

So the mural here is in a lot of ways, a culmination of both my journey as an artist, as well as a community organizer.

- I'm Chelsea Lowery, and I got involved with the Mural Project basically through some connections with friends.

And I had somebody approach me about possibly doing a mural on a building we owned and I thought, "Oh, what is this project?

I wanna know more," and started going to meetings and then realized I could contribute as an artist as well.

So, following that, I went to meetings and started getting in on designs and started painting.

I think the Mural Project and public art is really important because it engages the community so much more than gallery art or installations.

It's just really great to see how excited the community is about art.

And it's probably the easiest kind of art to get community support from in some ways, because it's so present and it's not just good for people's feelings and enjoying the space, but it brings people to town.

It brings economic vitality.

I think it's just a great thing.

As a Laramie resident, I started as a student and kind of evolved from there, but I'm definitely now just a rooted member of the community, I would say, part of which being getting involved with the Mural Project and getting to enjoy that part of the community, but it kinda gave me a place which I've stuck with.

I'd never done anything like this before, not at this scale.

And I found it to be challenging, as well as really exciting.

For me painting, the one fish that I painted, we had to get a giant lift for it.

So I was 30 feet up in the air painting and figuring out not just how to run this piece of equipment I'd never even seen, let alone driven before, but also figuring out how to paint and deal with those challenges, as well as navigating the weather every day.

(Chelsea laughing) So this scale and definitely being outside was a unique challenge that I really found rewarding, I guess, at the end of it.

It was also fun to be up painting and having people walk by walking their dogs, going to lunch, and having folks cheer from the sidewalk 30 feet below you 'cause you're painting.

They're just so excited about what's going on.

So the scale definitely engaged the community in a different way and was a fun challenge for me.

When I first designed the fish that I wanted to paint and initially started looking at this project and what we wanted to do, I had a very specific idea of how it was gonna look and that changed and evolved quite a bit once it was actually on the wall.

The actual surface and texture of the wall changes how it takes paint and how you actually paint on it.

But also, it's one thing to plan something out on a small piece of paper, but it's different to then put it on the side of a building and have that scale change.

We actually put one fish on the wall, outlined it, ready to paint it, and then realized that we had to come in and come up with a design for it on the spot.

So that was something fun that I got to do.

'Cause I had finished my one fish early.

And so ended up painting your second fish on the spot with whatever paint was left over from everybody else, because we realized we had miscalculated what we needed.

And so I think that's just a really cool part of this process is you're not just exposed to the basic materials you might have in your studio space or something like that.

You're dealing with the weather, you're dealing with difference of wall textures, you're dealing with a shortened timeline usually because you have to kind of fit again within the weather or in my case fit within the week that I had to rent this lift to paint a fish on the third story of the building.

Lots of different changes that had to kind of happen on the spot.

I think people of all ages react to the mural very similarly, and that they all get excited.

That creativity being so present and in their face is just exciting for people.

As well, I think you see adults kind of transition to being a little more childlike in their appreciation of bright colors and big shapes and something different.

But kids love the murals.

That's probably one of the best parts about painting outside and being very exposed to people walking by and not knowing what they're gonna find when they come around the corner and all of a sudden there's this big, colorful, unique, giant piece of artwork that they can kind of get submersed in.

(uplifting music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is made possible in part by the Wyoming Humanities Council, helping Wyoming take a closer look at life through the humanities, thinkwy.org, and by the members of the WyomingPBS Foundation.

Thank you for your support.