A Grant-based Mural Program

In 2018, Butte-based artist and sign painter, BT Livermore, received a grant from Butte-Silver Bow's SARTA program. SARTA, or Superfund Advisory and Redevelopment Trust Authority, distributes grant money to projects that develop and improve the area of Butte most impacted by mining in the early to mid 20th Century. The focus of the grant BT received was to improve and refresh the aesthetic lanscape of Butte through the hiring of srtists to create a small number of murals in Butte's historic Uptown district.

Upon receiving the grant, the initial work was begun to collect ideas of mural themes and concepts from the Butte public, as well as locate suitable mural locations, with receptive property owners. Due to Butte's designation as a National Historic District, all murals and locations would also need to meet the approval of Butte's Historic Preservation Council, whose concern was to make sure the murals were able to integrate into Butte's historic architectural landscape, and that they would live peacfully amidst Butte's famous ghost signs.

This initial process took time, and eventually ran up against 2020's COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed the painting of the first mural until summer of 2022. Three more murals were painted in late summer and fall of 2022, with a fifth and final mural painted in late spring of 2023.

Butte's Historic Ghost Signs

In Butte's heyday of the early 1900s, the walls of the thriving metropolis were covered in large-scale advertising for local businesses. There was no vinyl, or computers, so talented sign painters, most likely hanging off the side of multi-story buildings, would paint beautiful lettering and pictorial ads all over town. At the time, these would not necessarily have been recognized as art; it would've simply been part of the visual landscape of any city at the time, ready to be covered up and repainted whenever a new paying customer came along.

In the roughly 100 years since many of these advertisements were painted, the cool and dry climate of Butte has preserved a large number of them, and they have become art through the context of history. Almost none of the businesses advertised still exist, and yet we still look to the upper stories of buildings to see what they have to say. They have become an integral and protected part of Butte's National Historic District designtation, and many residents have opinions on what do do with the ghost signs as the years stretch on: keep them as they are, some kind of protective clear coat, or even repainting. It is my hope that through the creation of the murals in this program, we can show that modern murals can share Butte's walls, and live alongside these historic pieces of art well into the future.