Women of the West Museum: The LoDo Mural Project

The LoDo Mural

The LoDo Mural Project is an exhibit produced by the Women of the West Museum for a site in Lower Downtown ('LoDo') Denver. Installed from January through September 2000, along a construction barricade at 16 Market Street, the exhibit celebrated the many and diverse contributions of women to the history of Colorado. Some of these women are well known (like Margaret "Molly" Brown) while others have remained anonymous.

The project features eleven paintings, original works of art by Denver artists Tony Ortega and Sylvia Montero. Each panel is painted on a 4-by-8-foot sheet of plywood and each superimposes the image of a single woman over a group activity. The individual portraits reveal eleven women who have contributed to the history of Colorado. We know their names and their accomplishments. The images of group activities are based on historic photographs and they remind us that women have always participated in all aspects of Colorado's history. Each panel commemorates a different part of the state's past and present. For example, one panel superimposes the outline of Mary Rippon (the first woman on the faculty of the University of Colorado) over the image of a young woman teaching in a remote one-room schoolhouse. The point is made: women have always been integral to the education of Colorado's young people.

We invite you to learn more about the women featured in this project here in our gallery.