For the 19 years that Rick Bice has run his printing shop at the corner of Broadway and Higgins Avenue in downtown Missoula, he has wished for something different for the north side of the building.
Thousands of walkers and drivers look at its patchwork brown and gray paint every day. We could do better, Bice thought.
Then he met Missoula artist Hadley Ferguson, who has become known for her large paintings in public places. Bice especially likes her Sistine Chapel-like painting on the domed ceiling of his neighbor business Liquid Planet.
Now, with the city's help, it's the Allegra Print & Imaging building's turn. By summer's end, Ferguson will have transformed the industrial-theme wall into what may be the state's largest canvas with the Heart of Missoula Murals, seven paintings of historic Missoula.
"I'm excited about it," Bice told the board of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency at its Wednesday meeting. "People will stop and look at it Š I'm excited about it and passionate about it."
Board members of the MRA, Missoula's urban renewal agency, were too. They agreed to give $10,125, half the project's cost, to fund it. Bice is raising the other half by asking for private donations. He has only $4,000 to go.
The murals will belong to the city. Bice and the city's Public Art Committee will sign an agreement for private maintenance. The paintings will be on concrete panels that will be attached to the building wall with metal rails that will act as frames. They'll be coated to protect them from vandalism.
The space is 20 feet tall and 120 feet long.
"It'll be the biggest canvas in Montana," Bice said.
The sepia-toned historic paintings in the mural depict downtown Missoula in historic times. One group of five paintings shows a street scene, a trolley and historic businesses including Smith Drug. Another painting, tall and skinny, shows the clock on the sidewalk in front of Stoverud's Jewelers back when it was the Kohn clock. Others depict the Missoula Brewery and Highlander beer, the University of Montana campus in its early days, the Star Garage and the Milwaukee and Northern Pacific train depots. Another painting shows the Missoulian newspaper offices in three periods, beginning with a frontier-days office in 1870 and ending with a painting of a press and its operator in 1922.
Ferguson, who grew up in Missoula and earned an art degree at UM, plans to start the work next month and to finish by the end of the summer.
"To use my art degree and my public art background to benefit Missoula is really exciting," she said.
After she graduated from UM, Ferguson and her husband lived in Portland, Ore., for a few years. There she worked for a company that bought buildings, researched their histories and then painted them on the outside walls.
That work prepared her to work on her own after she and her husband returned to Missoula. She has painted the Grizzly football stadium scene in Paul's Pancake Parlor, the Liquid Planet ceiling and other work in Sean Kelly's pub, Sushi Hana and the Hob Nob restaurants and Sheehan Majestic. She has also painted murals in people's homes.
The Heart of Missoula Murals project came about through Missoula's Public Art Committee. Committee member Dana Boussard, a well-known artist with many large public commissions on her resume, acted as mentor in developing the project. Committee member David Nelson said projects such as this one show that a city is alive and dynamic.
"Great project," he said. "Good support. Good art."
The building's owner supports the project, and Bice's packet for the MRA board included other letters of support.
Public Art Committee member Joan Jonkel thanked the MRA board for its continued support of public art in Missoula. She likened the project to the Studebaker project downtown for its impact on the public viewscape.
"We're very enthusiastic about this project," she said. "It's an opportunity to get excellent public art."
Reporter Ginny Merriam can be reached at 523-5251 or gmerriam@missoulian.com
To help
The Heart of Missoula Murals project needs to raise about $4,000 to complete the funding. Contributions can be sent to Heart of Missoula Mural Fund, c/o Sterling Savings Bank, 1510 S. Reserve St., Missoula, MT 59801.