A Laramie artist recently completed a two-story mural that celebrates the Yellowstone cutthroat trout and its Snake River and Teton Range home.
Dan Toro’s work underscores the relationship of the environment to wildlife and humans through perceived layers that connect snowfall to runoff to fish and people. He completed the work on a cinderblock wall at the Snake River Brewery and Restaurant in Jackson last week.
The mural shows a colorful 20-foot Yellowstone cutthroat, caddis flies, mayflies, snowflakes, bubbles, the Teton skyline and a plan view of the Snake River, among other things. The palette contrasts blues with silver, white and cutthroat golds and reds.
Brewery workers primed and prepped the wall with exterior primer coated with Sherwin Williams super paint, Toro wrote in an email. The artist projected a portion of his conceptual sketch onto the wall to establish essential proportions of the work. “I really needed the Tetons and river to be accurate so that locals can identify them,” he wrote.
He sprayed Montana Gold acrylic paint on top of the base layers. It has lots of pigment, does well in the Wyoming climate and covers porous walls well.
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Toro collaborated with the nonprofit Jackson Hole Public Art and the nearby Anvil Hotel hosted him as an artist-in-residence.
What’s visible will be only half the show. Toro promises an upcoming digital surprise for viewers. “You will be able to hold your phone up and watch everything in the image move and change as a narrator explains the importance of water quality involving the Snake River,” he wrote. See more of his work on Instagram at ziggaziggah and at Global Street Art.