Community mosaic on display at City Hall

A community mosaic art project featuring an iconic display of Glacier National Park is on display at Kalispell City Hall.

Liz Moss, executive director of the Hockaday Museum of Art, was the brains behind the idea, along with West Valley artist Nick Oberling. Moss got the idea from a similar project she participated in while living in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.

More than 100 local artists took part in the project, which required them to paint small squares.

More than 300 squares were painted based on a Bret Bouda photo of a red “jammer” bus traveling on Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park.

Columbia Falls resident Roy Whitworth of Wolf Creek Builders won a live auction for the mosaic at the Hockaday’s Artists in the Garden signature event in November.

Whitworth loaned the art project back to the museum for one year.

It was on display at Glacier Park International Airport during the summer and Kalispell Regional Medical Center last fall.

After a six-month stint at City Hall, it will head to Glacier Bank in Kalispell at 202 Main St.

“People who don’t even think they can make art can do this,” Moss said. Children, grandmothers and professional artists participated in the project, which includes two Indian-head nickels as bus headlights.

The Hockaday plans another community mosaic art project this spring featuring Hungry Horse News photographer Chris Peterson’s photo of three rams in Glacier National Park.

Those who want to participate can pick up a square for $2 beginning March 1 at the museum, which is located at 302 Second Ave. E.