ArtFest MONTANA is underway in downtown Great Falls for its fifth year.

Cameron Moberg, an internationally known muralist, is curating the festival again this year with 10 other artists installing at least nine new murals throughout downtown.

It’s Moberg’s sixth year in Great Falls helping recruit local, national and international artists for the local mural festival.

This year, he said he’s excited to be bringing La Morena, an artist from Arizona who designed the Super Bowl LVII theme art this year.

Commission approves downtown group funding request for operations, murals

Moberg said quite a few people follow her work and he’s heard from people in Billings and Missoula who are making the trip to Great Falls to see her for ArtsFest.

San Francisco based artist Ian Ross travels the world raking sand into designs that he photographs aerially, in additional to his abstract mural work.

“It’s incredible,” Moberg said of Ross’ work.

Great Falls mural named among top 100 worldwide

Moberg met Ratur years ago in San Francisco but is excited to curate the French artist who’s based in Vancouver.

Moberg hasn’t worked with all of these year’s artists previously, but is always on the lookout for artists who will be a good fit for the Great Falls festival.

He watches their social media and has conversations with them to learn their artistic processes and character.

BID seeking walls for 2023 mural festival

The muralists have artistic freedom on the walls for the festival, outside of some rules, and Moberg looks for artists who will build the Great Falls mural collection.

This year, Max Sansing will be painting a wall at Special Olympics.

Sansing arrives Aug. 11 and will be meeting with the athletes and staff at Special Olympics to “have a deeper connection with them” as he prepares to start work on the building.

Commission approves TIF funding for downtown mural lighting

Building owners contribute financially to the festival to have their walls included but agree to allow the artists freedom.

“By allowing freedom, it’s allowing a deeper narrative and a deeper connection with the community,” Moberg said.

Each artists approaches their walls differently.

Moberg said the bigger names often paint whatever they will paint and because of their large followings, it brings people to the community to see them work during the festival or view the murals later.

Murals spark conversations about public spaces, growth [2022]

Some artists will chat with building owners to get a feel for the them and the businesses they house to draw inspiration.

Moberg said the goal is to create a diverse collection of murals in the downtown area. Some people won’t like some pieces but will like others, much like visiting an art gallery, he said.

“We’re getting people to be critical thinkers,” Moberg said.

A diverse collection of murals will draw broader audiences to Great Falls, with a growing economic impact, he said, since everyone wants to see something different.

ArtsFest highlighting local vibrancy, ideas in action [2021]

His job as curator, in collaboration with the Great Falls Business Improvement District, is to create more conversation pieces that bring people downtown and create a more interesting walk from piece to piece, Moberg said.

Each year, interest in the mural festival grows, he said, which he sees in people walking downtown to watch them work and building owners offering buildings, as well as through local sponsorships to support the festival.

Throughout the festival, artists work downtown and will often stop to talk to passersby about their work or life in general.

ArtsFest MONTANA 2020 kicks off in Great Falls

Moberg arrived on Aug. 9 and said he’s already had good conversations with locals, some housed, some transient.

There’s a number of people down on their luck in all the communities they visit, and Moberg said he’s seen the frustration in the community with some of those associated issues.

He said it might be easier to have compassion for those situations since he doesn’t live here, but he always tries to have conversations with anyone he meets and get to know them and “take the opportunity to say you have a purpose in this world.”

One of his favorite things about coming back to Great Falls each year is to see “the friendship group we have here.”

As a muralist and festival curator, Moberg said he has friends all over and each year, “I long to see them.”

ArtsFest MONTANA 2019 photo gallery

This year’s ArtsFest runs through Aug. 18.

Moberg, Fasm, Louis Still Smoking and Tana Murray are returning this year.

Joining them are La Morena, Sansing, Ross, Joseph Toney, Ratur, EverydayResearch and Rilie Tane, a Billings artist.

Sister’s United has supported ArtsFest again this year to bring two indigenous artists to contribute their work: Still Smoking from the Blackfeet Nation and La Morea representing Apache and Yaqui.

Great Falls’ first ArtsFest kicks off this weekend [2019]

Sister’s United was founded by Candice English of Farmer’s Daughters Fibers in 2019 with the goal to “help support the healing of indigenous women, children and community” that’s often related to art and its healing aspects.

This year, a new text to talk tour has been launched. Look for stickers on the sidewalks near the downtown murals for instructions on how to get to the digital tour, which is still being developed.

This year’s ArtsFest also includes a live art demonstration on stage at the Aug. 16 Downtown Summer Jam concert beginning at 5 p.m. with a chance for the audience to bid on up to four pieces of work created during the opening acts of the concert.

On Aug. 17, the Great Falls Business Improvement District is hosting an artist reception on 5th Street South at 5 p.m. where artists will be painting live and interacting with guests, followed by a live auction. The Montana Multicultural Fair will also be that night and anyone at the multicultural fair has access to the artist reception to meet the artists and bid on the artwork created that night.

For more information, follow on social media for updates throughout the week.

This year’s mural locations are:

Rilie Tane: 501 Central Ave. alley

La Morena: 600 block of Central alley

Ratur: 600 block of Central, top of the building

Max Sansing: Special Olympics, alley by City Bar

Fasm: Runway Salon, parking lot across from Lifestyles Realty on the 700 block

Ian Ross: Burger Bunker on 1st Avenue South

EverydayResearch: Snits on Central Avenue

Joseph Toney: The Commons, 100 block of Central Avenue, near the Park Manor

Louis Still Smoking: 2nd Street South near Real Deals

Tana Murray: parking lot of Stockman Bank on 5th Street and 1st Avenue North

Camer1sf (Cameron Moberg): Hoglunds, alley