UWyo Magazine Art for Communitys Sake

January 2016 | Vol. 17, No. 2

ART for Community’s Sake

Prairie Dog Town by Jeff Hubbell and Lindsay Olson, 2013. Photo by BHP Imaging


The Laramie Mural Project brings a valuable sense of pride and beauty to downtown Laramie.

By Jeff Tatay

There is something about Laramie—a humble little city on the high plains—that calls on the traveler, prospective student, faculty or company looking to expand its business. Whether driving into the valley and watching the Gem City twinkle or coming over the Snowy Range Road bridge and seeing historic downtown aglow with the setting sun, something about the beauty of a place draws people in.

In the summer of 2011, the Laramie Mural Project saw its first mural go up on the north façade of the Big Hollow Food Co-Op. The mural, by Talal Cockar titled Tierra y Libertad, is visible when entering Laramie from the west on Snowy Range Road.

“It was great because [the mural] was big and really visible from the perspective of driving over the bridge,” says Susan Moldenhauer, director and chief curator of University of Wyoming Art Museum. “We began to realize that it became kind of a marker for people coming in from the west side and, if you looked in, you might say, ‘what else is there in downtown Laramie? We need to go down and see it.’ ”

The project is a collaboration among the UW Art Museum, Laramie Main Street Alliance, local artists and downtown business and building owners that has grown since the first mural in 2011 to more than a dozen murals in 2016. The most recent phase of the project includes a series of murals based on prominent figures from Wyoming’s history and can be found in the alleyway between Second and Third streets.

“I think part of the idea of doing murals in the alleys was to help beautify them,” Moldenhauer says. “If business owners know that people are going to be walking through the alleys and seeing the back of their businesses, then maybe they will start making sure it is a little bit cleaner and it’s kept up a little bit better—I think it instills pride.”

Although practicality may not be the first thing that comes to mind, Trey Sherwood, executive director of the Laramie Main Street Alliance, says that art has a way of making practical things happen. The beautification that the project adds to downtown Laramie has an allure that leads to action.

“We know that it’s easier to recruit faculty, staff, students and businesses if your community looks good outwardly,” Sherwood says. “There is an economic impact to how the downtown looks and feels, and this correlates to how much time people want to spend down here and, ultimately, to the money spent in our many shops and restaurants.”

The project’s potential to create positive change within the community can be seen in the collaborative bonds being made between the university and downtown Laramie, as well as in the space it opens up for a discourse on what it means to come together and create a culturally rich and vibrant community.

“I love any project that brings the community and the university together and, especially, when it brings the university downtown,” says Jeff Hubbell, who with Lindsay Olson created the mural Prairie Dog Town in the alley between First and Second streets. “I think there’s a lot of positive energy through the Main Street Alliance, the community and the university just in the way that people’s habits are beginning to change.”

“There are plans for additional historic figures to be added to the alley, which will be developed over the winter,” Moldenhauer says. “There are also discussions about new murals that will help advance the new Laramie Public Art Plan.”

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