MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho — Several community members in Mountain Home are sprucing up the city with dozens of murals by local artists. While the city may not be known for public art, a group of inspired creators is looking to change that.
The mural, entitled Community Canvas, is a collection of more than 160 murals that a group of artists has spent five years creating.
The project coordinator and artist Brenda Raub believes Mountain Home is a town that is seeing a lot of change, from growing businesses and a growing population. These factors make the timing for more public art perfect,
"When I went on a trip to Denver, I saw all the beautiful public art and I came back and went to my visual arts guild in town, and told them, 'I think Mountain Home could use some public art,' and so we got busy and had a meeting," Raub said. "Once we had that meeting we were going. We've painted for five years and it's been a very exciting venture of different groups of artists, as well as business owners and community members coming together to make this happen."
One of the artists involved in Community Canvas is 17-year-old Eva Valderrama, who began painting for the project at the age of 12.
"Be your own star, no matter what anyone says," she said. "Just do what you want as long as you're happy about it."
Claudia DavilaZapata is another creator who wants to convey the message that life is beautiful through her artwork.
"It came as a way to convey and kind of go against what the world gives us, you know?" she said. "The bad news all the time but then people stand in front of something that says in big letters 'Life is beautified'. Makes you think about it because it is."
Becky Young participated in Community Canvas for three of the five years and said it was the biggest canvas she has ever worked with. She decided to take it as an opportunity to represent the military.
"It's not often that artists get such a big canvas to send a message or represent something that they're interested in and it was a really nice opportunity," she said. "I've heard a lot of appreciation from military members for this mural. It's just something to show my appreciation for them and everything that they do."
Candace Futch-Harrison decided to embody a simple message in her artwork: Be happy, be kind.
"It's been really fun to be a part of. Got lots of talented people, all kinds of artwork, a little bit of everything," she said. "But it's brought a lot of people to Mountain Home to cruise the alleys."
Community Canvas has been going on for about six years in Mountain Home. It typically begins every year early in the summer. Artists spend a week or two working on their murals.
Each piece usually costs around $250 to create and local businesses typically pay for them.
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