My name is Paul Noot. This piece was based off a painting I had originally done called The Path Follows the Heart. I thought it would be a good idea to turn it into a mural. I ended up making the state smaller than in my painting, and I also added more imagery. I have since made a print of the painting because folks were asking for it.

The piece evolved around North Dakota imagery, what the state’s known for, and some personal things about me and my background. My family’s Dutch, so our Dutch Reformed Church is here, as well as Dutch wooden shoes and Dutch designs. There’s Norwegian, German, and Native American designs on it representing people from our state. I went to school at UND, so that is included on the mural. NDSU is on it with the football. Dakota Maid Flour is featured and there’s a B-52 Bomber up in the sky. It’s basically the history of North Dakota.

Each county is painted brightly, in fauvism style. I colored the counties according to what their land was like, so there’s a lot more rustic oranges in the western part of the state, more grains and earth tones on the other side. The bison is the big, main center of the piece. The heart is read and you have colors that relate to that around it. There’s something for everyone.

We joked around because I was out here for about 40 days painting on it and people kept asking me when it was going to be done. I said, “when the kitchen sink is on there, you’ll know I’m done.” So there’s actually a little sink in the corner that’s on the wall. I also painted a little alley rat, mosquito, ladybug, and a bumblebee, imagery that makes you think of North Dakota. There’s dinosaurs on there and a lot of hidden things. You basically have to look inch-by-inch to see the hidden things. They are a nice surprise. There’s also the ten main religious symbols of the world on here.

There was a lot of space to fill, so sometimes it just became artistic elements like little dots or little shapes, triangles, or organic things to fill in space. There’s a tractor on here, a hot dog for Cloverdale, a turtle. It’s just loaded with imagery.

We were asked to paint the column on the right, so I asked three other artists to collaborate. Maria Witham created the bottom piece, the geese and wheat stalks. Ali LaRock created the little spray can guy in the middle. And then Bryan Crow did more of a space galaxy scene. I did elements to tie it all together.

I’m a member of the Bismarck Downtown Artist Cooperative in the old Tribune Building at 222 North 4th Street. I have prints there and mugs with this mural on it. If you want to see some of my art and others from the Art Alley, stop in and check it out.