POCATELLO — Community togetherness and companionship were the key themes of the evening at a recent ribbon-cutting celebration at The Martlet, which honored local artist Mark Daniels, whose colorful renditions of Gate City history and masterfully crafted murals line the walls and corridors of the popular pub.
For the last three years, Mark Daniels' Creative Chameleon has supplied Pocatello and the surrounding area with a wide gamut of specialty art services that include spray-paint murals, acrylic and oil paintings, art nights and other creative endeavors.
Area residents would be hard-pressed not to find a place where Daniels has made his mark. His impressive repertoire of artistry can be felt in nearly every corner, alley and business across Pocatello and Chubbuck.
From the Grateful Dead-inspired psychedelic bears that etch the walls at Fifth Street Bagelry's Chubbuck location, to Back to the Future- and Bigfoot-inspired murals in historic downtown, Creative Chameleon continues to flood the community with color.
To celebrate his accomplishments and his impact on making Pocatello a little more picturesque, the Pocatello-Chubbuck Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting celebration at The Martlet, 218 N Main St. in Historic Downtown Pocatello on Tuesday afternoon. Many in attendance were prominent business owners, professionals in their own right, who have felt the impact of Daniels' work and whom many call a friend.
"Creative Chameleon has developed into a lot of local support — helping people who are local to reach a vision artistically that maybe they don't have the skills to do, being able to get to know them and showcase what they do, visually, in a way that they aren't capable of themselves," Daniels said. "I've really enjoyed the community and the connections that I've been able to make and the friendships that have developed from that. I've got several people that are showing up tonight to support me and that's very humbling. It's a very cool experience."
While the Martlet bird mural that highlights a prominent wall of the eponymous brewery has been completed for several months, Daniels most recently finished a piece for Braise-Zen Pizza, which resides within the downtown brewery. The mural itself illustrates the artisanal and traditional ingredients and the care that goes into each and every pizza.
"LJ is super proud of her Neapolitan pizzas and the products that she gets for those pizzas — the quality and the craftsmanship behind it," Daniels said. "She wanted to showcase the Neapolitan style to Idaho. The flour she uses is actually flown in from Italy. The tomatoes, for example, come from the base of Mount Vesuvius."
Braise-Zen Pizza isn't the only food-focused fixture that Daniels has supported with his art. He also lent his style to popular food truck Beixy's Kitchen, which was on site providing free empanadas for the evening.
"It's a beautiful piece that ties together her native country of Venezuela," Daniels said. "The main colors on the truck are the main colors of the flag of Venezuela. It has the Pocatello flag symbol on it, but it also shows Lake Maracaibo — the lake in Venezuela that gets the most lightning of anywhere in the world. It has Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall anywhere in the world. It has some of the flora of Venezuela, and then of course it has her logo and her face on the other side of the truck, and 'not a taco truck,' in an almost graffiti font on the back, because they do empanadas."
In addition to his collaboration with area businesses, Daniels' work has often highlighted the rich and diverse history of the Gate City area. A series of colorful monochrome works, previously featured at The Martlet, now hang on the walls of the brewery.
"I wanted to showcase the different cultures that came into Pocatello during its birth when the railroad, the Oregon Short Line, came through," Daniels said. "Who were the railroad workers? Who owned the shops? How did the vibrancy of Pocatello start? That idea drove each piece. The colors aren't necessarily indicative of anything in particular, other than I wanted them to also be very colorful. But you have a Japanese shop owner, you have a Mexican farm worker, you have the Greek Orthodox Church represented. The vibrancy and the culture of Pocatello at its inception is reflected in the pieces."
Daniels primarily works from his home, so The Martlet — which houses many of his paintings and offers dedicated mural space — allows him to showcase his art in the absence of a permanent brick-and-mortar location.
"It was about time to have a little shindig get together," Daniels said of the ribbon-cutting event.
Throughout the years, Daniels' Creative Chameleon has engaged in a variety of trade work. While that was never the initial intention, Daniels said it developed naturally and it is one of his favorite aspects of collaboration.
"I've gone on a guided fishing trip," Daniels said. "I've gotten my RV taken care of and fixed by someone else here in town for doing their mural. It's been a lot of fun to be able to get more value and give more value because you don't calculate the money. It creates more friendship because it's not about the product as much as it is helping each other out and enjoying each other's company and expertise."
Looking ahead, Daniels' Creative Chameleon has no shortage of projects on the horizon. He is currently finishing a live painting purchased by the highest bidder at the Empty Bowls fundraiser, along with several other client commissions in progress.
Daniels is also eyeing a bigger change to his workspace, with hopes to eventually build a backyard studio that will provide him with a dedicated space for his craft, rather than splitting his work between rooms in his home.
One of his most anticipated upcoming projects is a mural for a new podcast studio opening on Main Street; the podcast will spotlight Pocatello's history and the people shaping its future. The concept sketch is finished, and the wall is being prepped for work on the mural to begin soon.
Reflecting on the community's support and the wide array of those who showed up to support him, an amalgam of colleagues, friends and well-wishers, Daniels said:
"There's no way for me to mention all the names of all the people in this community who've been supportive. It's super humbling to be able to participate here and be somewhat influential in the way this area looks. I'm very grateful."