Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A F A L L | 2 0 1 4 8 Gal How did you get your first mural gig? One day, my husband, John, brought home an article about a company called McMenamin's. They are a massive expanse of hotels, breweries, pubs, and the- aters; the article was about the team of artists Mike McMenamin had working for him at the time. I was not a painter, I was a sculptor, but they hired me. Working for McMenamin's was a pivotal time for me. I was paid to learn how to paint and realized I liked painting and wasn't that bad at it. I slowly started to develop a color palette and style. I learned business skills and started to develop a sense of what it could be like to work as a self-employed freelance artist. When you create a mural, you're combining someone else's vision with your own. What's that like? It's a challenge. I may not know anything about the subject I'm painting so I have to learn about it and feel connected to it. You work with a whole new group of people every time and you learn new information and you develop relationships. I wish people could see all the people involved in a project. It's like 20 minds working together. How do you narrow down what details go into the mural? Usually people sit down with me and say, 'You need to get this in and this in and this in." The list of many things can be overwhelming. So I say, "Okay." But then I ask to hear the stories behind their vision. And usually the stories will start to fill in the list of facts and make them more colorful and meaningful. You want the mural to have feeling to it and you can't feel it if you're just illustrating the facts. You spent time in New York City when you were little. How did that inspire you? My mom and I spent hours at the museums. I would sit and stare at paintings and study how the brush strokes were assembled and color was used to create the beautiful illusions in front of me. I marveled at how someone could create such realistic forms on a flat piece of canvas. erika frederickson is the arts editor at the Missoula Independent, plus a bookworm and cinephile. She was born and raised in the laid-back valley of Missoula, but cultivated her love for adventure and art while living in Portland, Chicago, San Francisco, and Italy where she spent a brief time as a shepherdess. "The Heart of Missoula" Local people are featured in this mural for Missoula's popular Rhino bar. CATHRINE L. WALTERS

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