Helena Women's Mural
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Helena Women's Mural, installed in 1979
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Conceived and installed in 1979, the Women's Mural is perhaps the most photographed piece of public art in the Helena community. Painted by Montana artists Delores Dinsmore, Ann Appleby and Marilyn Sternberg, with the assistance of other community members, it represents the role women have held in Helena’s history. This mural is the largest thematic art installation of its kind in the community.
The women who created this mural have beautifully told all our personal histories from a feminine point of view. The next time you pass by, perhaps you will be compelled to stop and reflect on the lives of some of the women represented in the mural, or women you have known who have personally touched you. While the subjects of the mural are loosely tied to Helena, the analogy reaches much further. These extraordinary women - brilliant, clever, known and unknown, even a little wicked - have counterparts in towns across our state. As their diverse lives converged and continue to unfold beneath the big sky, they color the work in progress under the great umbrella that is Montana’s history.
The Women's Mural on the south face of the Livestock Building (on the north block of Helena's Downtown Walking Mall) was restored in 2005 by Joe Thielen.
Helena Women's Mural
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The Old Woman and Young Girl - west side of mural
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The old woman isn’t anyone in particular. She represents the true pioneer as well as time and change in Montana. The clouds reinforce the importance of memory. The school teacher and the lady in the bonnet are the many courageous women who came west into an unknown wilderness, leaving their families and civilization behind to begin a new life. These are the women who brought education and culture to the far reaches of the frontier. But they also brought stability, and they put down roots, creating a network of support for themselves and newcomers.
The little girl is the old woman, reflecting on her life. She represents time and change in Montana. The clouds to her left reinforce the idea of memory and early pioneers who grew up here in the Prickly Pear valley, free and hunting rabbits with a faithful dog at their sides.
Fanny Sperry Steele, bronc-buster
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Fanny Sperry Steele - the famous bronc-buster on her favorite pinto, stands for independence, grit, courage, determination and the freedom to be what you want to be even if it is unconventional. She represents all women like Maria Dean and Ella Knowles in non-traditional roles.
Suffragettes, Ladies of the Evening, Housewife and the Arts
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The suffragettes—or suffragists, as some insisted on being called—stand for the recognition of women like Belle Winestine, Jeannette Rankin, and Freida Fligelman and their right to vote and to participate.
The ladies of the evening - who for a time were an important part of the frontier economy and a fixture in almost every community. Ida Levy, Big Dorothy, Chicago Joe and the women who worked for them fit this mold. A transition occurs here, and the woman in the window next to the painted ladies is a modern housewife, gazing out the window while her husband watches the tube, drinking beer. In the window next to her are two women musicians a testament to the fact that the arts had been established in Helena in 1979. The guitarist is M J Williams.
Sleeping Mother and Baby - East side of mural
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The sleeping mother with her newborn baby is Helenan Debi Corcoran and her son Eli who was born as the mural was being designed. This panel symbolizes life and new potential wrapped in the quilt of the past. The quilt embodies childhood memories, women’s social gatherings, family history, heirlooms and the importance of handing these things down.
Native American, Nature and Solar Eclipse
In 1979, as the mural was underway, there was a dramatic eclipse of the sun. It was such a profound experience that the designers included it, changing the last third of the mural to include the phenomenon. The panel represents a way of life that existed for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. One way of life was then eclipsed by another. The old woman reflects on ther childhood and that of her ancestors, looking back on a life that is no more.
This last panel illustrates nature and the unspoiled wilderness of Montana, the pristine country that all people who have lived here have loved. While planning the mural, the designers knew a tree would be planted in this spot and so they tied it into the landscape. The other trees that now obscure some of the mural serve as a link between the past and the present.