DALLAS PLANTATION — An artistic duo spent most of the winter months in the basement level of the Maine Forestry Museum. While the world outside was draped in white, Sonja Johnson and Pam Nobbs, both of Rangeley, designed and created a colorful mural on the lower level of the Maine Forestry Museum.

The mural will be available for public viewing on the museum’s opening day, Wednesday, June 11.

In anticipation of the museum’s upcoming season, a sneak peek of the uncompleted work was offered on Thursday, May 8.

The colorful acrylic painting is meticulously detailed. Soaking in the minute features takes time. Every new glance at a section reveals new and unexpected elements. A prospector overlooks the topography from a ridge. A fiery sunset over a mountain reflects vibrantly in a body of water. A woman casts a fly line in a pristine river. A pair of intricately detailed draft horses skid logs out of a forest.

“We paint in different styles,” Johnson said. “I like color. Pam likes details. It is all coming together beautifully.”

Long-time museum board member Ron Haines talked about the project for many years, board president Kevin Cyr said.

“Ron asked and these wonderful artists agreed,” Cyr said.

Johnson, a well-known local artist, taught art at Rangeley Lakes Regional School for 32 years before retiring last year.

Nobbs is a self-described low-key artist. The private commissions she accepts are offered through word of mouth. She had completed a number of projects for Haines in the past, she said.

Johnson said, when first approached about the project, she did not know Nobbs. In fact, when Haines mentioned the project and vaguely referred to Pam, Johnson thought it was her close friend and fellow artist Pam Ellis.

“Pam Ellis didn’t know what I was talking about. I didn’t know what Ron was talking about because Pam didn’t know what I was talking about,” Johnson said with laughter. “The real gift of this project is that I have a new dear friend.”

Eventually, Johnson met the right Pam and the two got to work.

In October 2024, the artists met with the museum board to discuss the project. Board members listed several events, periods in history, and forestry artifacts they wanted to include in the project.

As they created the first concept, the artists realized they had created an artistic timeline. It was not the look they wanted.

They pared down the list and, over the winter holidays, they each worked independently on sketches.

In January, they came together and laid their sketches out side by side. Details were added and, once they settled on a draft, they got to work.

Throughout the winter and spring, Nobbs and Johnson worked continuously, making alterations and additions as their landscape progressed.

“We wanted to show how much we love the forest, how much it loves us back, and the importance of taking care of it,” Johnson said. “We wanted to include people, like the prospector, who used the land before us, took care of it, and left it for us today.”

The artists intentionally worked to move beyond forestry and logging equipment.

“That stuff can be found elsewhere in the museum,” Johnson said.

The characters portrayed in the landscape were purposefully created to be vaguely familiar but not based on specific people. The mannerisms, stances and facial features of these characters are simultaneously reminiscent of a variety of regional individuals and prominent people in Maine’s forestry history. Two viewers could interpret the portrayals differently, Johnson said.

Woven between the main themes and characters are renditions of artifacts, such as a pair of wooden snowshoes, that can be found in other parts of the museum.

The final step will be applying sealant to protect the artwork.

“Before we finish, we are going to tuck in surprises so kids can be involved,” Nobbs said.

Finding these added details, like a squirrel camped out on a pile of logs, will be a delightful treasure hunt, she added.

The Maine Forestry Museum, 221 Stratton Rd., opens for the summer season June 11. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. For more information, visit maineforestrymuseum.org.