Unlikely artist wins mural contest, paints local landmarks in downtown Rexburg

REXBURG — Twyla Mahelona never saw herself as an artist. Growing up, she was much more interested in more practical pursuits, and planned to work in the medical field.

“Teenage Twyla was going to be an adolescent pediatrician — definitely a doctor,” Mahelona says. “I was really, really nerdy. I loved science. I still love science. I can still geek out all day long about rocks and nerdy things. Never, ever, ever would I have thought I was an artist.”

But life has a funny way of not going as planned, and the work of the unlikely artist is now prominently featured in a new mural in downtown Rexburg. Mahelona’s concentric wreath depicting Rexburg and the surrounding natural attractions was chosen by Grifols Biomat USA, which sponsored a mural contest and provided the wall space.

“We had a big, blank wall that we wanted to beautify to benefit downtown Rexburg,” says Grifols Donor Services Representative Noel Arellano. “We chose Twyla as our artist because her mural emulated the beauty of Rexburg and the surrounding area. Her submission depicted the beauty of eastern Idaho in a unique way.”

Creating beautiful paintings like the one now featured at Grifols has been a long process for Mahelona, who began her college career as a medical assisting major and always planned to work in medicine. The fateful switch happened when her husband encouraged her to take a watercolor class, something that she says was far outside her strengths at the time.

“I couldn’t even draw a stick figure,” she says. “I couldn’t conceptualize how you could make your stick figure walk or sit or catch a frisbee. Why would I be an artist?”

But Mahelona took the class. She says most people assume that this is the part of the story where she learns that she has undiscovered artistic talent.

“That’s not how the story went. I was terrible,” she says.

Creating art did not come naturally, but even so, she felt inspired to keep learning.

“It pushed me into something I didn’t know I needed,” she says. “I liked it so much that I switched my major, and when I got to the art department, the art teachers, then, were like, ‘You do not belong here. This is not your thing. Are you sure you don’t want to switch back majors? You will not be able to support your family in this.’”

She responded by inviting her art teachers at Brigham Young University-Idaho to accept the challenge. She told them, “I’m probably the most blank canvas you’ll ever teach. Just teach me.”

And they did, she says.

“There was lots of realistic feedback about my skills not being great, but it continued to become something I was passionate about and enjoyed doing,” Mahelona says. “I tell people this story, I guess, not because I have any hard feelings or anything, but because I want it to inspire people to feel like they can create.”

Mahelona continued to build her skills through college, and eventually landed her first paid gig — at her parents’ house.

“My parents professionally hired me,” she says. “My dad researched the going rate for muralists and he hired me to design and mural his entire upstairs.”

Her painted scenes featured the forest to outer space and everywhere in between, and Mahelona’s parents paid her $3,000 to do it.

“My dad just said, ‘Honey, you’re an artist now. This is what you’re worth,” Mahelona says.

As a new artist, she was eager to share the joy she had found in art with her own children and with her Snohomish, Washington community, where the family lived at the time.

“I would paint a painting at home and sell it, and the money earned from the sale I would use to create a project for my kids’ classes,” she says. “Since the schools couldn’t afford art, this was my way of bringing art into their schools.”

Mahelona went on to teach classes and private lessons through the Snohomish County library system, and now, as a resident of Rexburg, she teaches privately and through the Rexburg Cultural Arts Department.

“I feel passionate about giving people a safe place to explore their creativity in a positive environment, and to explore different kinds of creativity without feeling like they have to accomplish anything other than to feel joy about what they are doing,” she says.

That joy of creating is what led Mahelona to create the painting, called “Come Home Here,” that was eventually chosen by Grifols to adorn their building in downtown Rexburg. She originally created the painting for the East Idaho Art Market, which was held in August in Rexburg. She wanted to make something that community members would connect with.

The center of the wreath features prominent buildings across Rexburg, including many historic structures like the Romance Theater, the Rexburg Tabernacle, and the old carousel that’s still in use in Porter Park. She also wanted to highlight Rexburg’s agricultural industry, so she included the Valley Ag building, and she brought in the city’s modern growth by including Hemming Village, a mixed residential and commercial development built more recently.

The wreath’s outer circle includes natural wonders within a couple hour’s drive of Rexburg, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, Mesa Falls, and the St. Anthony Sand Dunes. It also features the Idaho state bird, the mountain bluebird, and the state flower, the syringa.

One special touch is a small yellow airplane, familiar to many Rexburg residents, especially those who live near the Rexburg Madison County Airport, like Mahelona does. She was enjoying her hammock in her backyard one day when the plane flew over.

“A lot of people think it’s a crop duster, but it’s actually one of the historic planes that flies out of the Museum of Flight,” Mahelona says. “I feel like the old-timers, they connect with that. And as it flew overhead, I was like, ‘That’s perfect.’”

The mural took 80 hours over two weeks to complete. Arellano says Twyla’s creation was exactly what Grifols was looking for when they decided to beautify their building.

“We are thrilled with Twyla’s artistic abilities and excited for the community to see her design on a bigger canvas,” Arellano says. “This mural is a way for us to thank the local community, in particular our loyal donors for their commitment to donating plasma and helping save lives.”

Grifols is a global healthcare company focused on producing life-saving medicines out of plasma, Arellano says.

“To collect plasma for its medicines, Grifols operates the largest plasma donation network of centers, including our Biomat USA center, right here in Rexburg.”

To learn more about Grifols, visit their website.

To connect with Mahelona and see more of her work, check her out on Instagram. To sign up for her classes through the Rexburg Cultural Arts Department, visit their website.