Bismarck artist pieces together mosaic mural to be placed downtown

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - Cities across the country have worked to revitalize their downtowns.

That includes Bismarck; there have been new businesses open downtown and an increased focus on the arts.

That is evident in the city’s Art Alley, an alley filled with murals painted by local artists.

There will soon be another mural in downtown Bismarck, thanks to a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts.

This one will be unlike any other.

Dawn Kopp is piecing together something big; five feet by five feet, to be exact.

When finished, this mosaic mural will hang in downtown Bismarck, on the south side of Brick Oven Bakery.

“It’s one of Bismarck’s oldest existing buildings,” said Kopp.

Kopp is incorporating glass pieces that were taken off the building when it was restored.

“I’ll use the black in the butterfly,” she explained.

It’s only fitting because Kopp’s day job is CEO of the Bismarck Downtowners.

“I absolutely adore downtown,” she said.

The inspiration for this piece, titled “Lift” came from one of her projects with the Downtowners.

“I was really fortunate to be part of a collaborative group that started planting native pollinator planters in downtown Bismarck in 2020,” Kopp said.

She hopes this piece might lift visitors to Downtown Bismarck.

“Hopefully, people will come in and just enjoy the beauty of it and maybe take pictures with it,” she said.

Kopp isn’t doing this alone. She welcomes other artists, experienced and not, to help cut and place the glass tiles.

“I think it’ll be really great for some people to say, ‘Oh, I worked in this section’ or ‘I cut out that one’ or ‘this is my flower.’”

Piece by piece, she hopes this mural might help strengthen the community she loves so much.

Kopp hopes to finish the mural by late spring or early summer.

You can follow her progress on Instagram; just search “Dawn Kopp Art.”

Copyright 2022 KFYR. All rights reserved.