Missoula Downtown Foundation Launches Downtown Mural Project in Partnership with Jennie Yonce and Local Artist Lillian Nelson
MISSOULA DOWNTOWN FOUNDATION LAUNCHES DOWNTOWN MURAL PROJECT
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH JENNIE YONCE AND LOCAL ARTIST LILLIAN NELSON
For the fourth year in a row and with a focus on arts and culture and a desire to activate alleys, the Missoula Downtown Foundation has partnered with local Missoula Artist, Lillian Nelson and downtown property owner Jennie Yonce to create a large art mural on the building occupied by Leaf + Quiet at 235 N 1st St W.
Funded by the Foundation’s Arts & Culture Impact Grants program, the Joy Blooms mural will cover roughly 750 square feet of the southeast corner of the building with native Montana wildflowers and pollinators. The artwork will depict various flora, including Bitterroot, Lupine, Arrowleaf balsamroot, Arnica, Yarrow, Wild Rose, Glacier lily, and fauna, including a bat, field mouse, bees, swallowtail butterfly, snails, caterpillars, and moths.
Nelson is a Montana native and 2007 fine arts graduate of the University of Montana. She is an experienced local artist with prior works displayed across town on multiple art projects across Missoula, including traffic signal boxes, on dumpster wraps behind the Confluence Center, and upon the 113-foot mural at the Van Buren Street underpass. Nelson is a second-time MDF grant recipient, having received funds in 2024 to complete The Dorothy Dragon mural at 131 W Alder St.
“Lilli is a rockstar,” said Hailey Kern, President of the Missoula Downtown Foundation. “Our Board and staff members are excited to work with Lilli for a second time through this program and watch one of her brilliant works come to life. We are also glad to support bringing a new splash of color to the northside and join in the efforts of business and property owners to make that Missoula neighborhood livelier and more welcoming.”
Nelson will begin work on the project this week and will look to complete the piece by September 30.
“The purpose of this mural is to bring beauty to a vital neighborhood of Missoula’s northside and to help further commemorate Northside Third Spaces’ efforts to make the neighborhood and entire Northside area a vibrant area once again,” said artist Lillian Nelson. “Joy Blooms is primarily located on the edge of the railroad tracks making the future mural not only highly visible to the neighborhood but also from Downtown Missoula a short distance across the tracks. It is my hope that the mural will draw much-needed attention to the Northside again and hopefully attract more visitors. The choice of Montana wildflowers and pollinators is not only meant to be eye candy but also serves as a reminder of our natural landscape and heritage of this beautiful state.”
The Arts & Culture Impact Grants Program was created in 2023 with the intent to partner artists with building owners and funding to create destination artwork and implement goals of the Downtown Master Plan and its subsets, including more art, placemaking projects, alley activation projects, and gateway improvements. The Foundation will be funding two projects this year, with a second piece to begin at the Montana Natural History Center at 120 Hickory Street in September.
“I can’t begin to express enough just how excited I am to bring color to the Northside,” said Jennie Yonce, property and business owner of Leaf + Quiet. “Nor can I express how honored I am to be a benefactor of this grant and to be able to work with an artist of such high caliber as Lilli. I can’t wait to watch the mural come to life this August and to share in the excitement with the Missoula community.”
These projects are made possible in part due to generous gifts from Missoula Downtown Foundation donors. Folks interested in supporting the Arts & Culture Impact Grants Program are encouraged to donate online at donations.missouladowntown.com.
For more information about the Missoula Downtown Foundation, visit missouladowntown.com/missoula-downtown-foundation/ or reach out to the staff via phone (406-543-4238) or email ([email protected]).