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Culture
Artist Creates Airport Mural Chronicling the Magic Valley's People and Events
A mural at the Twin Falls airport is a work in progress by artist Gary Stone.
Travelers coming to Twin Falls to learn about the Oregon Trail don’t have very far to go – they can start their experience before they leave the airport.
Thanks to the efforts of artist Gary Stone‚ over the past 11 years the airport’s domed ceiling space has become a colorful monument to the area’s past‚ chronicling the Oregon Trail’s route through the area‚ as well as other significant events in Idaho and the Pacific Northwest. Along the way‚ Stone has added some high-profile historical personalities‚ a little aviation history and hidden a few names and objects in the ongoing project.
For Stone‚ who launched his art career in 1970 after breaking both legs and enduring a two-year recuperation‚ the mural is the latest in a long line of artistic endeavors‚ many of which have been collaborations with his wife‚ Bev‚ a well-known newspaper columnist and author of children’s books.
“When I started out‚ there were virtually no art galleries in Idaho‚” Stone says. “Since then‚ Bev and I have been able to help start a lot of things. With the mural‚ the idea was just to depict the history of the Magic Valley‚ looking at transportation from the Indian trails up through modern jets.”
The mural features airlines‚ pilots and even the names of some Chinese visitors to the area‚ who were so taken with being included that they spread word of the mural in their native land‚ making it a sometime stop on U.S. visits.
“I just add people and events and businesses‚ historical things I want to do‚” Stone says.
Even as the airport mural continues to spread through the facility‚ the Stones keep busy with a multitude of other projects‚ including his series of paintings chronicling the Oregon Trail‚ which has been exhibited in the U.S. Senate’s Russell Rotunda‚ and a series of historical articles‚ columns and books on the trail and other notable events in the area’s history.
The two also have been active in getting two new Oregon Trail interpretive centers off the ground‚ one along the Snake River and the other on Bear Lake near Montpelier.
And next up at the airport? The lobby.
“I want to extend it around the corner into there‚ about another 18 feet‚ and include a memorial for all of the kids from Idaho who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan‚” Stone says. “I want to do something like that for them‚ so I think it’ll be a good project.”
Stone jokes that the mural project represents “the twilight of my art career‚” but don’t be fooled. When he puts down his brushes‚ he just walks across the tarmac to his new hobby‚ flying ultralight airplanes.
“It’s really a ball‚” he says.
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Brian McCord
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