BUTTE - Anyone passing through Butte’s historic Centerville neighborhood may not notice anything remarkable about the homes here, but for one creative person, they’re literally a work of art.
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“One day I was walking to my friend’s house in Walkerville, and just like every house was one I wanted to paint,” Artist Kelly Packer said.
She returned, took pictures of these humble abodes, and created paintings of them. They’re now part of an exhibit at the Butte Library’s Carle Gallery called A Memory of Sky in Linoleum.
She says there’s something special about this meek neighborhood.
“Each one has personality, and I don’t think that’s true everywhere. Like, each house having a personality; neighborhoods having a personality. It’s a uniquely Butte thing,” Packer said.
Centerville is a neighborhood that formed before 1900, mainly of Cornish and Irish immigrants who worked in the mines.
“Just tiny little houses that belonged to the mine workers and things like that. They’re not the big mansions on the hill; they were the average guy who went to the mine every day; that’s where he lived,” Butte Librarian Shari Curtis said.
Packer tried to capture the extraordinary when painting what many would think is ordinary.
“Like seeing your town in a slightly different light or from a different perspective can give you some appreciation for the beauty in everyday life,” Packer said.
Each painting comes with a short poem written by her husband, Adrian Kien. The exhibit runs until the end of August.
