Local artist creates mountain mural
Boone Goddard
Artist Rob Gunderson, right, and his sister, Sara Gunderson, install a mural Rob painted. The mountain and forest scene is part of a continuing effort to make downtown Polson more visually appealing.
Boone Goddard
The old Gambels building on Main Street was an eyesore for many years.
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POLSON — A mountain scene complete with pine trees stretches across the front of the old Gambles building on Main Street, concealing the building’s shabby visage.
Local artist Rob Gunderson painted the mural, and it’s huge — a dozen 4-foot by 8-foot panels.
He started the project around the New Year and painted on it all winter, and most of the summer. Gunderson used exterior house paint on Ace’s core colors and painted on signboard, special plywood covered with paper especially for doing signage. When he finished painting, Gunderson clear coated the piece with urethane to help it withstand weather.
“(The mural) has been a long process,” Gunderson said, adding that he worked for about 1,200 hours on the piece.
Renting “a pretty good-sized storage unit,” Gunderson built and painted the mural pieces there. The money he made for the piece paid for the storage shed and his supplies. But he didn’t make a penny on labor, Gunderson said.
“I did it for downtown,” Gunderson said. “Everyone is tired of looking at that crappy old building... It’s my hometown.”
The Polson Business Community commissioned the work and used funds raised at the Flathead Cherry Festival, according to Boone Goddard, a PBC member.
“The mural is part of the ongoing effort to beautify downtown Polson,” Goddard said.
Many downtown businesses, including Terrace Floral, Mission Mountain Natural Foods, The First Resort and Farm Bureau Insurance, have redone, refurbished and restored their store fronts. The flower baskets hanging on Main Street also make downtown lovelier.
“I’m happy to have it done,” Gunderson said, “and people seem to like (the mural).”
