‘Place of the Small Bull Trout’, A Mural by Aspen & Cameron Decker
Missoula’s new community resource center is coming to life and bursting with color. A project years in the making, The Watershed Navigation Center, aims to create a welcoming space for all through inclusive imagery.
Skye McGinty, former PHC Chief Staff and Patient Experience Officer, worked tirelessly across organizations to get the center up and running.
She said it was important for the space to reflect PHC’s values. “My work inside this building is to make it a culturally humble place for people accessing services, whether they’re Native or not, and a big piece of that is the literal, built environment of this space.”
The Navigation Center, near the Missoula County Detention Center, will house pre-release and re-entry programming, and be a resource center serving the community.
As seen from Mullan, the building, and the art inside, aim to inspire.
“We just want it to be a welcoming place where especially Native people can come and say ‘hey this reminds me of home or this reminds me of a piece of artwork in my grandma’s house, I am supposed to be here,’” Skye said.
One way she thought to do that, was to connect with a local artist.
“We wanted to get more color in here and make it culturally appropriate and welcoming,” she said.
A mural titled Nłʔaycčstm ‘Place of the Small Bull Trout’ will greet all who enter the space. It depicts a bright orange circle, a woman harvesting bitterroot, surrounded by flowing water, bull trout, red wing black birds, butterflies, and tipis.
The mural is a reminder to all who will enter the space about the history of the land and people in Missoula.
“This is a big step forward in getting to depict our stories, our place names,” said artist Aspen Decker.
Decker said the painting is a circle to represent her tribe’s seasonal rounds.
“Growing up in Arlee and being around all these different Selis and Kootenai Ksanka elders they told me all these different stories about our people throughout history. They are different from what we hear that’s published in books. A lot of my artwork is bringing out their stories.”
Aspen Decker is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (T̓ata̓yáqn, Ql̓isp̓é & Ksanka) and a speaker of her tribal language, Nsélišcn ‘Salish language’.
She said art is a way to document history and educate people who view it. “Artwork to me is definitely healing and it’s the way that we process and are able to remember these things.”
The woman in the mural is fashioned after a photograph Aspen’s husband, Cameron, took of her digging bitterroots.
Aspen’s grandmother used to dig roots in Missoula. “Some of our elders have said that the heart of the bitterroot is the heart of the Selis people.”
She said a lot of those areas her grandmother used to dig at are harder to access now. But she strives to carry on the tradition in her family, and share those traditions in her work.
“Through art this is our way of showing ‘this is what we’ve done here.’ And we continue to do that with our children,” Decker said.
Aspen said her art is also a great way for her to reflect on and share the elder stories she learned as a kid.
“Those types of stories were told to me growing up and they stuck with me, and I told them to my children.”
This mural was a first for the Deckers: the first mural they worked on as a team. Cameron said it was so fun to work with his wife on the project, and they spent a lot of time laughing together.
For curious onlookers, there will be a plaque nearby explaining the significance of the piece.
“Through art it’s powerful, because we’re able to depict the history,” she said. “I hope it inspires others to learn their language, culture, and ways of being.”
To read more about the artist and her work, visit www.sqelixw.art.
For more on the mural see Mural at Watershed Navigation Center Celebrates Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Missoula Valley’s Salish roots on display in couple’s mural.
