HELENA — A mural honoring Montana women as community builders was unveiled on the third floor of the state Capitol on Wednesday.
Called “Women Build Montana,” the mural with two panels was revealed in a ceremony with hundreds of onlookers.
Former state Sen. Lynda Moss, who spoke at the event, said she began introducing a bill to sanction the artwork in 2005. The bill co-sponsored by Sen. Diane Sands passed with bipartisan support in 2011.
Moss said her vision came when she noticed women weren’t well represented in Capitol artwork.
“There were stories missing,” she said.
Missoula artist Hadley Ferguson won the mural contract in a competitive process in late 2013. Project officials said Wednesday that funding for her work was raised privately.
Ferguson collaborated with Montana historians to determine the murals’ subjects and kept with the overall theme of historic art in the Capitol.
The first panel shows Native American women at a homestead trading goods in the late 19th century. The second, set in an eastern Montana town, marks the 10th anniversary of Montana women’s suffrage in 1924 and the year Native women gained citizenship and the right to participate in formal state politics.
Additionally, four vignettes in each panel show Montana women’s cultural, social and economic contributions to their communities and depict women and children in labor — paid and unpaid.
“Look at these images,” Ferguson told the crowd. “I hope you see a little bit of yourself in them.”
Debby Barrett, the first female president of the state Senate, said at the event that women’s issues aren’t political.
“I think we can all agree Montana would not be nearly what it is today without the hard work of women,” she said.