*All photos courtesy of author, Anna Burgett.*
Art lives all over Laramie; it’s in the architecture, various sculptures, traditional paintings on the University campus, and on the very walls of the town. For a place with such a bleak winter, this humble Wyoming town is booming with artistic color. Finding a piece that speaks to you individually is easy. Just walk around for a bit and you’re bound to find something. Personally, I’ve found myself gawking at many pieces as I make my way around town and since fall is making a brief appearance with all of its snazzy fashion trends, I figure I might as well find some picture-worthy murals. Thus, I dragged my roommate and dear friend out of our apartment and made the rare leisure trip to downtown Laramie, Wyoming. In search of stunning, interesting art that would work well in photos.
1. Gill Street – Various
Alright, this first mural is massive. And I don’t mean that lightly. The piece depicts multiple fish in varying styles and stretches across an amazing amount of building. While this mural seems busy for an aesthetic photo at first, the grand scale and diverse styles of Gill Street allow you to pick and choose which part you like best. In this piece there are cool tones as well as warm tones and a fish for literally anybody. Wood fish, rockfish, galaxy fish, eyeball fish. The artists of Gill Street have provided you with whatever sort of fish your heart desires.
2. Many Hands– Meghan Meier
This one is a blast to look at. The cool colors and rounder shapes next to the straighter, brighter rainbows really takes your eyes for a ride. I like this mural in particular as a backdrop because of its light blues and the pair of tall vertical hands. Posing next to this portion of the mural could lend for a lovely vertical image in contrast to a lot of the other murals on this list, which ends up encouraging horizontal images. And if none of the fish in Gill Street suited you, there’s a few more on this mural for you to mime shaking hands with.
3. Rollin’ In the Sun– Adam Skedsen
This mural was extremely eye-catching as I turned around the block. I was immediately drawn to the vibrant colors and, of course, the enormous butterfly. Now, I’m not usually the sort of girl to run up to an insect of unusual size, but I had to have a picture with this guy. The bright white to the left of the mural is gracefully linked to the black portion of the mural by the orange sun and butterflies in a way that makes my eyes follow every detail. Overall, This piece is stunning and 10/10 would recommend sitting on the concrete in front of Rollin’ In the Sun to catch a bit of the mural’s radiance.
4. Built the Dream– a Talal Cockar
This mural is beautiful for its lack of color. Without vibrant colors to draw in eyes, Built the Dream uses detail and interesting perspective to tell viewers what they are meant to look at. For those who wear brighter, more visible clothes, this mural would allow for your outfit to stand out more than some of the brighter murals nearby would. In addition, the perspective of the train allows for more interesting poses which actively include the mural, adding interest to your picture.
5. Grainery Grove– Meghan Meier
This is another piece that took me by surprise as I peeked around the corner. Grainery Grove has a similar appeal to Meier’s other piece, Many Hands. Cool colors and vertical shapes allow for fall colored outfits to stand out and encourages a vertical composition. The green half circles also provide a sort of frame and extra area of interest. Besides this, I found the simplicity of an aspen grove to be very fitting for Wyoming. Finding this mural reminded me of all the times I’ve turned around a bend while hiking and found myself amongst a little group of aspen trees. It was as if I found a bit of Wyoming nature on that brick wall.
These were some of the pieces that stood out to me as backdrops for pictures specifically, but they are far from the only options in downtown Laramie. Just by walking aimlessly I managed to find tons of art, murals and otherwise, and I’m certain I missed most of it. My friend and I both agreed that looking for these murals felt refreshing. As we walked into allies we’d ignored previously and scanned buildings in search of art, we found shops we hadn’t noticed before and found ourselves becoming excited to see what we’d come across next. Much of the art we found was amazing to see. The amount of time and skill in these large installments gave me a sense of awe. Even something as simple as a painted shadow ended up being exciting. By the time the setting sun brought us back home, we both seemed lighter than when we started our adventure. Looking for these murals made me realize how freeing art can be. Just looking at these pieces changed my attitude for the better; the exam nerves I had earlier seemed to settle with every new detail I noticed painted onto the wall. I highly recommend an art hunt for anyone who needs to clear their mind; these murals are far more mind-blowing in person. With that, here are some honorary mentions. Happy mural hunting, folks!
Here are some additional murals that you can find around downtown!
Antelope Hiding Behind a Tree
Prairie Dog Town– Jeff Hubbell and Lindsay Olson
Hollyhock Haven– Travis Ivey
Tierra y Libertad– Talal Cockar
All photos courtesy of author, Anna Burgett.