598 - Nicole Gagner - Community Mural Prairie Threads

Nicole Gagner is a Bismarck-based artist whose work celebrates textures, saturated color, and expressive form. She creates vibrant, expressive paintings inspired by everyday life, and, yes, her grandmother’s pickles. Her Community Mural Prairie Threads in the Mandan Art Alley reflects her love of color, brushwork, and the connections that make a place feel like home.

For me, Prairie Threads is kind of a bookend, or maybe another bookmark, in public art. In 2016, I painted a piece in the Bismarck Art Alley inspired by my grandmother and her tradition of preserving food. This time, I wanted to honor not just my grandma, but the matriarchal lineage of making things beautiful on the prairie.

This mural was a true community project. It was pieced together with Poly Tab, painted off-site, and then installed in the alley. Hundreds of helping hands contributed to five-foot panels, which were carefully aligned and over-painted by me to form the complete mural. That felt really appropriate because the work itself reflects quilting, embroidery, and stitching, bringing individual pieces together to create something whole and beautiful.

I learned this process from Greta McLain, who was trained by other artists–so there’s a lineage of artists teaching one another, just like quilting or embroidery traditions passed down through grandmothers, mothers, and communities. Painting with the community adds its own character. Even if pieces don’t line up perfectly or someone misreads a paint-by-number section, I get to over-paint and bring it all together. It ends up richer and more alive because of it.

I love painting flowers. They’re special to me because every flower in my yard was given to me by friends or family, and they survive despite our busy lives. I also incorporated embroidery-inspired patterns and, for the first time, pasanki egg-dyeing techniques I learned from a friend. They allowed me to include chickens, honoring my great-grandma, who raised them to make pocket money during tough times.

Watching the mural come together, seeing people’s excitement, and the alley transformation was so rewarding. It’s inspiring to think about what else we can bring to walls, to make public spaces more colorful, walkable, and inviting. I’m deeply grateful to the community and everyone who helped me make this vision a reality. Please follow along at @PainterNicole on Instagram and Facebook, or at painternicole.com, for more art and adventures.