MISSOULA — Watching paint dry is anything but boring in Downtown Missoula right now. Montana artist Madison Perrins is hard at work on a new mural, “Alive with the Land,” on the back wall of Worden’s Market.
“It's going to be a really cool interpretive landscape inspired by the mountains of Montana. I’m going to tie in some inspiration from Worden’s itself, which sells a lot of awesome wines,” Perrins said. “There'll be a figure on the side of the wall and she's going to be holding, I want to leave it open to interpretation, but a magic wine bottle that's spilling stars into the sky.”
The mural is coming to life thanks to the Missoula Downtown Foundation’s Arts and Culture Impact Grant, which has around new murals three years in a row. The Foundation partnered with Perrins and Worden’s Market to bring a splash of color to the wall.
“The support from the community is kind of unbelievable,” Perrins said.
Perrins graduated from Montana State University with a degree in photography. A switch to painting a few years ago grew into murals, which brighten walls in Bozeman, Butte and, now, Missoula. Perrin started painting at Worden’s last Thursday.
“Oh my gosh, people have been so excited. I can't believe it,” she said. “I almost can't get work done because everyone is so excited to chat about the mural and the concept and the colors.”
But, painting a 1,250 square-foot wall takes a lot of work. Perrins expects to be painting for the next two weeks.
“I honestly think there's two parts to it. There is the actual time when you're using that creative brain power and you create a beautiful image, and the process of turning that beautiful image into superimposing that on a wall is a whole different process,” she said.
For the next two weeks, you can watch as “Alive with the Land” comes alive on the wall. Perrins hopes the finished mural uplifts the community as much as painting it has uplifted her.
“Ultimately, I want them to feel kind of a grand sense of the landscape, because that's something that we all love and adore so much in Montana,” she said. “And, maybe just a little hint of magic in there as well.”
