‘Take up space’: Park City artist to lead countywide mural project

Anna Nizhoni’s mural features a mountain lion and cubs against a mountain landscape, blending wildlife, public art and a sense of place. Photo: Anna Nizhoni

Anna Nizhoni's Leadership Park City proposal invites residents to help paint murals reflecting Summit County's values

PARK CITY, Utah — When Anna Nizhoni stood in front of her Leadership Park City classmates in March to pitch a countywide mural project, she had 5 minutes to explain a vision she had been carrying largely on her own.

The idea was the Summit County Mural Project: a community-driven mural series meant to reflect local values, highlight nonprofit work, and make public art more accessible across the county.

Nizhoni, a Park City artist and member of Leadership Park City Class 32, developed the proposal quietly before presenting it to the class at the Park City Library. Two other proposals were also considered: one focused on affordable housing and the other on an Olympics ambassadorship program.

After presentations, questions, and an open-house-style review, class members voted by placing stickers next to the project they wanted to pursue. As the stickers gathered beside the mural project, Nizhoni said she had to look away.

“It started becoming apparent that it was gonna win,” Nizhoni said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s really happening.'”

For Nizhoni, the moment carried more than the satisfaction of a project being selected. It was a public affirmation of her voice, her work, and the kind of space she hopes art can create for others.

Nizhoni, who said she is a survivor of domestic violence, described much of her early life as shaped by people who made her feel small or discouraged her from speaking freely. Murals, she said, offer a completely different experience.

“The appeal of public art and murals for me is that it’s this opportunity to not feel small and to really take up space for the first time in my life,” Nizhoni said. “To share my voice loudly and share my visions in this bright, big, beautiful way.”

The class project, she said, is meant to extend that same invitation to the broader community.

The Summit County Mural Project is now collecting public input on the values residents want reflected in the murals, along with suggestions for nonprofits, wall partners, and locations that could participate. Nizhoni said the goal is to keep the process as collaborative as possible, from early public feedback through volunteer painting days.

The first phase is expected to include three to five murals, with sites chosen based on visibility, accessibility, size, and partner interest. Interior murals have not been ruled out, Nizhoni said, because the class wants to create as many meaningful opportunities for participation as possible.

Class 32 is expected to finalize wall selections during its city tour trip to Colorado in late May. From there, the class will work on mural designs, approvals, contracts, and painting schedules. The first tentative painting day is July 11, with additional painting days expected every other week through early September.

Nizhoni will lead the design work, with input from classmates and wall partners. The murals will be designed in a “giant paint-by-number” format so volunteers of any skill level can participate.

“We want it to be a community project,” Nizhoni said. “We want to get as many volunteers from the community as possible to come and paint with us.”

Public art, she said, can turn ordinary spaces into places of connection.

“It makes art accessible to anybody,” Nizhoni said. “It turns everyday life into an art gallery.”

Nizhoni has been making art for as long as she can remember, working in charcoal, beadwork, and other media. She began painting murals about a year ago and described the experience as transformative.

“I’ve become very passionate about murals and public art,” she said.

Her work has become increasingly visible in the Park City arts community. TownLift previously reported on Nizhoni’s involvement with CREATE PC, a program of the Arts Council of Park City & Summit County, where she described finding an artistic home after leaving a job in Tesla’s AI and robotics department. She was also recently selected to create a live mural during Kimball Art Center’s Art Soirée; her work draws on traditional Navajo themes while connecting to nature, the universe, and scale.

Nizhoni said the Arts Council of Park City & Summit County, Kimball Art Center, and the Park City Artists Association helped support the mural proposal in its early stages and have been instrumental in both the project and her development as an artist.

“I wouldn’t be here without any of them,” she said.

Scott van Hartesvelt, who leads Leadership Park City, said class projects often reflect the class’s character. This year’s project, he said, does that.

“It is rooted in something deeply personal but with broad resonance across the community,” van Hartesvelt said.

He said the early response has already been strong.

“From the moment that the class announced it, my phone’s been ringing from people interested in participating or supporting the project,” van Hartesvelt said.

Art and culture have been consistent topics throughout this year’s class, he said, making the project especially fitting.

“I think it’s fitting for the class to bring forward a project grounded in public art at a time when the sector is top of mind for so many people in our community,” van Hartesvelt said. “Not only is it timely, but the quality of the art is something that we all can treasure for years to come. Anna is a remarkable talent.”

For Nizhoni, the project is both personal and civic — a way to make art visible, shared, and participatory. She said she hopes the murals will reflect the values of Summit County while giving residents a direct role in creating something lasting.

“I felt supported and seen and cared about,” Nizhoni said of the class vote. “I was just so moved that everybody was in favor of this vision I have for our county.”