BOZEMAN — There are new eye-popping colors at an intersection on Bozeman.
“You have people driving by and honking and excited for you. You have some naysayers,” says Artist, Feliesha Scherer.
The City of Bozeman, Gender Equality Montana, and Downtown Bozeman helped two artists from Dark Art Collective make the street mural a reality.
“I grew up in Bozeman- I was born and raised here so it's kind of like a right of passage almost it feels like,” says Artist Ivy Peapov.
At an intersection busy with people, bikes, and cars, the artwork is meant to be a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community while also intending to slow people down.
“It’s like within the streets, it’s something that you have to see when you drive,” says Scherer.
At the intersection of Babcock St and Black Ave, a pop of color appears in an otherwise dark and uniform color pallet. The two local artists make their mark on their hometown.
“[The City] helped us close down part of the intersection, and paint on the ground, which is an interesting way to paint because it’s not like a wall mural at all,” says Scherer.
The two artists and a team brought the colors of the rainbow to a blacktop downtown.
“Painting on a road is weird because there’s a lot of divots, holes, and cracks that you have to fill,” says Scherer.
The artwork has inclusivity in mind with some local flare.
“We are like a huge community, and we want to include everyone, so all the fish instead of just one section of the fish. That’s the main reason I did the fish and because it's Bozeman and people can adjust easier to a piece of artwork when it has something to with river fish the fish that they are constantly fishing around here,” says Scherer.
After a 10-hour day, the artists can look back at their art which is expected to last around five years.
“It's fun to see something that you worked on for about a week or two weeks beforehand and then to actually put it on the ground was super fun,” says Scherer.
The artists want people to be careful around their art. They ask residents not to vandalize the pieces. The city also has set up security cameras at the intersection.
