The Laramie Mural Project will celebrate its tenth public artwork with an outdoor party on Friday, June 13. The Mural Project is collaboration between artists, the University of Wyoming Art Museum and the Laramie Main Street Alliance. Since 2011, it has decorated the sides of downtown buildings with images ranging from migrant farm workers to prairie dogs.
Trey Sherwood, Executive Director of Laramie Main Street, says the new mural is the largest collaborative work to date, “and each of our nine artists are painting a fish that’s reflective of Laramie’s cultural assets or quality of life amenities, so something they love and cherish about the Laramie community. It may not be apparent in looking at that but there’s a deeper story in each little trout.”
Lindsey Olson, one of the artists working on the fish mural, spent a recent afternoon putting finishing touches on her trout. Working in the parking lot, she paints her pink and green fish on the rear wall of Altitude Chophouse and Brewery. Olson explains her fish isn’t really a fish at all:
“My fish is a windsock and so I tried to stick with some color schemes, but I totally exaggerated the mouth to make it look like a windsock, pay homage to the Wyoming wind. But all these little fine touches are really bringing the mural together.”
Olson says the little details reward viewers who take a closer look.
The mural project raised over eighteen thousand dollars through a Kickstarter campaign in 2013 and has also had financial support from the city of Laramie, the Guthrie Family Foundation, and the Wyoming Arts Council.
The so-called “Fishening” party takes place Friday from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the parking lot between First and Garfield streets. Local bands will provide entertainment, and other activities include making your own fish in sidewalk chalk and meeting all nine of the participating artists.
