Art fans rejoice: two new murals are increasing town’s art vibe. Rising on the western side of town is a new mural outside the new Steamboat Basecamp mixed-use building at the crossroads of U.S. 40 and Elk River Road. Painted by Tucson, Ariz.-based artist Lindee Zimmer, the mural is big—several stories high, in fact—taking up the entire top half of the building’s west side. “It’s the biggest one I’ve done recently,” claims Zimmer, who loves painting community-based murals. Three years in the making and depicting a person immersed in the landscape, with a river traversing the entire painting, with it she hoped to capture the spirit of the valley, river and surrounding landscapes and “the human connection to the land.”
Bob Marley would be proud of mural number two: a new 144-foot-long painting along the bike path paralleling Fish Creek under US40 with the words, “One Love Steamboat.” The city teamed up with local middle and high school art instructors and local students to install the mural, which promotes a positive message while tying in the surrounding environment. And it includes a topcoat of protective, anti-graffiti coating to deter vandalism. “Art has the power to uplift us, inspire hope, bring visibility and make us think,” says Police Chief Mark Beckett. “This is transforming a space into something that we believe will do all of these things for the community every time you go by.”
