New murals are the latest addition to artwork created by one of the fitness center’s longest-tenured employees
If you’ve been to the Logan Health Medical Fitness Center recently, you’ve probably noticed three new landscape murals lining the walls along the indoor track. Featuring scenes inspired by northwest Montana, the artwork brings a sense of adventure and color to the space that hundreds of members pass through each day. What many may not realize, however, is that the artist behind the murals is also one of the fitness center’s longest-tenured employees.
Lovie Englishbee, who has worked at the facility for over 30 years, spent more than 70 hours in December 2025 painting the murals. And while these murals are new, they’re far from Lovie’s first creative mark on the building and the organization, rather the newest in a visual history she’s been shaping for decades.
Lovie was one of the founding employees when the Fitness Center opened in January 1996. She began teaching swimming lessons at the facility and quickly became a familiar face to families across the Flathead Valley, working with schools to provide swim instruction for their students. Over the years, she expanded her role to include aqua aerobics and specialized exercise programs, leading classes for seniors and members managing joint pain and mobility challenges.
Outside of work, Lovie has always been a lifelong artist, painting in a variety of forms. With her husband working at a sawmill, she had access to old saw blades, which she began transforming into painted works of art and selling at shows around the Flathead Valley. As her creative talent became more widely known, colleagues started asking her to bring that same artistic touch into their workspaces. Her first project at the Fitness Center was a tranquil landscape painted on the walls of the massage therapy office, offering co-workers an early glimpse of the talent she would continue to share throughout the facility.
After the facility’s first year, she was approached by management to see if she’d be interested in a large-scale project. When the pool was built, there had been a plastic image installed, but the humidity had caused it to turn filmy white. Now they needed to find a better option and turned to Lovie for help. “I told them just give me some paint and I’ll paint something.” Lovie recalled. “I figured everyone needs a beach in the winter time, so I painted Whitefish City Beach” With limited paint colors, she created a summer beach scene with Big Mountain overlooking Whitefish Lake. That mural — now nearly 30 years later — still overlooks the pool.
About ten years after the first mural, Lovie was asked to paint the other side of the pool. This time, with a larger space and more color variety, she painted a landscape of the Flathead River winding through the East Valley into Bad Rock Canyon with the snow-capped Swan Range overlooking it. She also added more detail, including a train, the ALERT helicopter and an airplane, as well as a variety of wildlife. She and her aquatics colleagues even used the mural as a part of their swimming lessons, with the various wildlife representing the different swimming levels that they taught.
Over the next few decades, Lovie went on to paint various other spots including the rehab unit and the OB waiting room in the hospital, the fitness center’s cardiac rehab area and other projects that came up both at work and around town.
In late 2025, Lovie was approached by Jonnette Sibson, director of the Logan Health Medical Fitness Center, with a large-scale mural project. Jonnette had identified three wall spaces along the indoor running track for landscape murals.
“From the very beginning, Lovie’s artwork has been a part of this place,” Jonnette said. “Her murals aren’t just decoration they create energy and a welcoming environment for everyone to enjoy. When we started talking about refreshing these spaces, Lovie’s murals were the first thing that came to mind.”
Later, two additional locations were identified at the Logan Health Medical Fitness Center in Polson by Robert Shafer, maintenance supervisor, and Linda Sappington, fitness supervisor at the Polson facility. Lovie agreed to take on all five murals.
After reviewing several western Montana landscape options, Lovie and the team selected five mural concepts that best fit their respective locations. She began the first two in November 2025 at the Polson location, both depicting Flathead Lake to reflect that community. An aerial mountain view of the lake was painted behind the front desk, while a dock-view lake scene was added to the studio area.
The three murals in Kalispell were all completed in December, with Lovie finishing the final piece on New Year’s Eve. At the corner near the indoor rock wall, she painted a wraparound mural of a Glacier National Park trail complete with a mountain goat — a fitting companion to the climbing wall. Along the stretch between the turf and basketball court, she created a scene from Lake McDonald. Lastly, near the pool, she painted a view of Flathead Lake, tying the new artwork back to the area’s most well-known spot.
“They turned out beautifully,” Jonnette continued. “These murals have brought warmth and a new sense of life to the building. Members pass by them every day and we hear all the time about how much brighter the space is because of them.”
Outside of work, Lovie continues to paint in her free time, taking on projects both in her own home and for others. But for many members and staff, her most familiar work will always be woven into the walls of the fitness center itself. Over the last 30 years, Lovie has helped shape not just how the space looks, but how it feels — creating scenes that inspire movement, calm and connection. And as new members walk the track beneath her latest murals, her impact on the fitness center continues, just as it has since the very beginning.
Lovie occasionally takes on painting projects from the community. If interested in requesting an opportunity, reach out to her at beelinesfineart@gmail.com.
