MISSOULA — Monday, a celebration honored three Indigenous artists and their work on a new Downtown Missoula mural. The artwork is the first phase of a larger project, bringing beauty, accessible art and education to the walls of the NorthWestern Energy substation on Pattee Street.
The celebration, which coincided with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, marked the completion of the mural on the substation’s southeastern walls.
The work is an homage to buffalo made by three Salish artists. It features two poems, one by Debra Magpie Earling and another by Vic Charlo, translated into Salish by his daughter, April Charlo. A print from artist and educator Frank Finley intertwines the words.
“I hope people see that there's a connection here that we have with the place that we live. That there's a beauty even in taking out whatever's in nature and turning it into an abstract image that's sharp and clear and just really sticks in your mind, and reminds you of the places that you've been and the places you've visited, the places you’ve seen,” Finley said. “It brings knowledge of the Indigenous people to people that visit Missoula, people that live here, and I'm sure that there are people here that don't know that this is the homeland of a native peoples. To bring all that together. To bring it into a sharper focus.”
The mural is the first phase of the Downtown Riverside Art Walls, or DRAW, project. The artwork comes after years of collaboration on the project, sponsored by the Missoula Downtown Foundation and funded by many private donors. With more murals coming in the spring, the project will eventually cover 4,700 square-feet of substation wall.
“It's been a long road, but it's amazing to see all this stuff. It's just really amazing to see what's going on here,” Finley said.
