(Lander, WY) – Folks may have noticed the side of the Lander Bake Shop, aka the historic Bossert Building, becoming quite a bit more eye-catching over the past few months, as progress was made on the “Power, Life, Healing” mural, which celebrated a completion ceremony on Friday, August 19.
The mural was painted and designed by Colleen Friday, 2021 Native Art Fellowship recipient and enrolled Arapaho Tribe member; Talissa Abeyta, 2022 Native Art Fellowship recipient and descendent of the Easter Shoshone, Northern Arapaho and Paiute Tribes; and Adrienne Vetter, internationally celebrated artist and Arapahoe School teacher since 2019.
The project was coordinated by The Bossert Collective, a Lander-based non-profit founded in 2021 by Sophie Barksdale, Jen Pryor, and Stacy Stebner.
As the ceremony began, folks were treated with free food from Chingy’s Smoke N’ Grub and G&J Piccadilly snow cones, as well as entertainment from Native American Music Awards winning flute player Andrew Vasquez, and George Abeyta and the Eagle Spirit Dancers and Singers.
After the opening ceremony was completed, Stebner provided more history of the Bossert Collective, and introduced the speakers for the evening, which included: Barksdale, Ami Vincent of the LOR Foundation, Dr. Amanda LeClair-Diaz, Representative Andi LeBeau, and the artists themselves.
A running theme among all the speakers was the connectedness that comes with community art projects such as these.
Stebner later added that the Wyoming Humanities Council has also funded interpretive signs that will be mounted on the wall in the coming weeks, which will include explanations of the mural elements by Colleen and Talissa that will be translated into Arapahoe and Shoshone.
Stebner then thanked the following for providing the funding and resources to make the mural happen: Lander Community Foundation, Joe McGowan Fund, LOR Foundation, Wyoming Humanities Council, Wyoming Community Foundation, Wyoming Arts Council, Lander LIFT Committee, Fremont County MOVE, Fremont County Commissioners, Wyoming Outdoor Council, Jared Scott, Michelle Escudero, Lander Bake Shop, Hermann Global, Lander Art Center, Oakley Boycott, Ari Kamil, Wyoming Rents, Lander Lube and Wash, Fremont Music, Central Bank and Trust, James Whiting and Whiting Law.
