BISMARCK, ND (KXNET) — What was once a bleak, bland tunnel, has now turned into a vibrant, color-popping masterpiece. It all started with one artist, wanting to make an impact for her community.
“Once you paint one mural, you start seeing other walls that could use some color, and this is a beautiful path that every time I rode my bike through or walked through, I thought, you know the gray wall, the graffiti isn’t as inviting as the rest of this path is,” said Nicole Gagner, the lead artist on the mural. “It’s such a beautiful natural path.”
The path Gagner is talking about is a pedestrian path that starts in Sertoma park, and if you walk about half a mile towards Riverwood golf course, you’ll come across this now eye-popping tunnel with art from end to end. Hundreds of hours were poured into this work.
“Really quickly became obvious that it’s going to be a bigger lift than one artist alone,” Gagner said. She continued to say, “So that’s when we started talking with Katie Johnke from Burleigh County Public Health. And she was the one that administrated and wrote the grant for AARP, which was able to bring in a lot more artists and a lot more community involvement.”
The project was led by Gagner alongside her mosaic artist, Molly McLain. 688 other community artists all had a hand to make this project possible.
McLain shared her experience: “We came and installed it over three long weekends with a seven-person artist team. So I can’t count the hours on my hands, but there were a few. And just a lot of camaraderie with the community and then with the artist team working together.”
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As mentioned by both artists, a lot of help was needed to make this beautification possible. Specifically, Katie Johnke and Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health were a major reason for executing such a large-scale mural, and they are hoping this is just the start for similar projects across Bismarck.
“I think this is a catalyst for change across our community,” Johnke emphasized. “Of course, there’s always funding that ties into it and the importance with that as it supports projects. But I think it can really jumpstart how we view our communities. And what are the other opportunities we see across the neighborhoods, the places, the spaces that we’re in? And is there a way we can incorporate art into that?”
The public feedback for this project — even in the early stages — was nothing shy of an outpour of support, making this a really special opportunity, according to McLain.
“To hear their comments — them not knowing people were here working — saying ‘wow, who needs an art gallery?'” McLain said. “I feel like I’m in an art gallery, and I love art galleries too. But that’s exactly what public art is meant to do. Bring art to people in public. So, it’s been really special.”
Gagner, McLain, and countless other community artists who have put in tons of hours into the mural, can now sit back and be proud of their work, knowing that people passing through this tunnel can appreciate their art for years to come.
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