Lakers commission mural to honor beauty, culture of Flathead Lake
Karen Peterson
The artist of the Flathead Lake mural shares his work with children on Friday.
Karen Peterson
Photos by Karen Peterson / Valley Journal Children from the Boys and Girls Club study what the finished mural will look like to decide what they would like to draw on their own paper. Below: the artist adds the hand print to honor missing or murdered indigenous women.
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
POLSON – The Flathead Lakers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the lake, commissioned an artist to convey their message visually through a large mural painted last week on the outside of the Salish Building in Polson.
“This is a gift to the Flathead Lake Community,” said Flathead Lakers Executive Director Kate Sheridan.
The mural was painted on two concrete walls on the lower level the Salish Building between Riverside and Sacajawea parks, which is where the Flathead Lakers are now headquartered.
“The mural was designed to honor the natural beauty, tribal culture, history and wildlife of Flathead Lake, one of most pristine and scenic lakes of its size in the world,” Sheridan said. “We think the mural will be a highly visible reminder of the beauty and biological diversity of the lake and the importance of protecting it for future generations.”
The idea for the project began after the organization moved into their new location in the Salish Building back in mid-January. The Lakers office of 60 years was previously located at 213 First Street West.
“It was unfortunate that as an advocate for the lake, people couldn’t see the lake from the office,” Sheridan said. “As a nonprofit, I think we need to keep why we are doing what we are doing right in front of us to keep that passion going.”
Their new location is right next to the lake.
“It’s such a beautiful view,” Sheridan said.
The building has office space for staff members, a library, lobby and education room. “My hope is that we can eventually hold workshops in the space for the public,” she said.
The space was perfect for the folks working for clean water, a healthy ecosystem and lasting quality of life in the Flathead Watershed, but there was one small problem.
“When we were moving into the offices, it was said, ‘Wouldn’t it be incredible if we had a mural at the entrance instead of these ugly concrete walls? A staff member and I said we would love to have a mural and we mentioned it to the board,” Sheridan said.
The board approved the project and an artist who goes by the name of “Thievin’ Stephen” (or Stephen for short) flew in from Rochester, New York, to do the work. He is a street artist with a knack for murals and a preference for keeping his legal name separate from his artistic creations.
When he arrived in Montana, he was amazed. “I’ve never been here before,” he said. “It’s a beautiful place. I knew right away that I wanted to highlight the natural beauty here and the tribal culture.”
Stephen collaborated with Salish Kootenai College art faculty member Cameron Decker to design two walls, each measuring 30 feet long, ranging from four-to-nine-feet high. The two worked out a color scheme that resembles a Montana summer sunset. Three teepees are in the background with a red hand print on one of them to honor missing or murdered indigenous women.
In another section of the mural, a long train carrying oil reminds viewers that trains can derail and spill their contents into the lake, causing damage to the ecosystem.
Two canoe styles can be seen in the mural. In one of the canoes, two Salish women are rowing across the lake. “I used a historic photo to juxtapose the Salish people with the modern oil train. I wanted to create the natural world the Lakers are working to protect with what could happen with pollution.”
Several other natural elements in the mural include the Bitterroot flower, an eagle, a grizzly bear, native fish and a pintail duck. A bit of local lure was also added with the Flathead Lake Monster cresting the water’s surface.
Stephen started by sketching all the elements together, and then he used a computer program to make sure all the points on the Mission Mountain Range in the background were proportionate to the other land elements in the design. When everything was mapped out, he created stencils, collected the chosen colors and began layering the images on the concrete walls using spray paint.
“It took a lot of planning to get to this point,” he said standing in front of a group of children from the Boys and Girls Club of the Flathead Reservation and Lake County. The children traveled to the site on Friday to inspect the project and try painting mini-versions of their own on paper with watercolors and pastels.
Aden Aimsback, 14, said he thought the mural looked “good.” He was inspired to paint the mountain range on his paper. Mali Charlo, 8, said the mural was “very pretty.” Shaunna Runningrabbit, 8, said the people in the canoe were her favorite aspect of the mural.
Besides the mural, the Flathead Lakers are working on several projects, including looking at water clarity in the lake as an indicator of lake health, checking out the slimy stuff under the rocks as a way to determine water health, and having water samples analyzed.
“We have good water quality overall in the lake,” Sheridan said. “We are lucky to have a clean lake. Overall, our biggest concerns right now is the threat from septic systems, which is not a simple straight forward fix.”
She said that septic systems around the lake range in ages and are owned by different people. A septic system that gets regular maintenance and is fixed when needed isn’t a threat to the lake. The problem occurs when older systems are not fixed and they start leaking into the lake, which has an impact on the ecosystem in the lake and people swimming in the water.
She said the Flathead Lakers are working on many projects to help protect that lake and invites people to find out more on their website. She also invites people to check out the mural.
