SANDPOINT — Harold’s IGA grocery store closed in 2005, but continues to hold a warm and enduring place in history and many hearts and minds in the area.

Local artist Gail Lyster captured some of those memories in her paintings, which are now on permanent exhibit as wraps on the utility boxes located near the former store site on Oak Street.

Lyster specializes in exquisite, plein air paintings on tile. She moved to Sandpoint with her husband in 1979, after which she acquired a tile painting business. In addition to the successful studio, she also offering watercolor instruction. Past commissions include 25 pieces for the Coeur d’Alene Cultural Center and paintings of botanically correct wild flowers in 45 cabins at the Grand Teton National Park. Six of her original paintings are on the walls of Bonner General Health.

Lyster learned and refined her talent after college and is inspired by everything her eyes can take in, beginning with the woods, birds, and trees as a child in Putnam County, New York, and currently with the landscape and nature around Sandpoint and the region. Gail’s many forms of artwork are widely known and valued in our community. Giclee prints are available from this series as well. Gail can be reached at finearttile@gmail.com.

The Sandpoint Arts Commission and Historic Preservation Commission, with funding from the STCU, are collaborating on a project to beautify Sandpoint and highlight local artists and Sandpoint’s history by wrapping utility boxes with artwork and historic photos. The historic photos are provided by the Bonner County Historical Society and the boxes are being wrapped by Busy Beaver Graphics.