Painted Rocks Are Being Left Around Boise - Here's Why

BOISE, ID — Each day in homes around Boise, family members sit around the dining room table painting river rocks. Totaling over 10,000 members, the group's completed works are not for display in a museum or for sale to collectors. These artists hide their masterpieces in and around Boise parks, outside local businesses, on benches for others to find and enjoy or to grab and hide in an alternative spot.

For artist Michelle Graff, the family activity started due to the pandemic and her family spending too much time in the house.

"We were looking for a fun family activity and this was low cost and fun," said Graff. "We also wanted to do something to bring some joy to others in the community."

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Rock painting has truly become a family activity. Graff and her son enjoy painting the rocks with her husband and younger daughter joining to hide and find others' rocks on jaunts around the community.

"Truly, the fun part is going out and hiding them," she said. "We enjoy going on hikes and recreating and just take our rocks with us to hide for others to find."

The majority of Graff's completed projects involve Harry Potter characters, Mario Brothers, and butterflies. As with most of the group's rocks, an uplifting or friendly verse is also included on Graff's rocks. Many of the rocks found a new spot around Boise. However, rocks painted and hid in Boise have found their way across the country.

Unlike other artists, rock painters put the work in only to give away their successes, most likely never to see them again.

"It is tough to give them away sometimes," said Graff. "We have ones we spent a lot of time on and then we just let them go. We use the hobby as a way for the whole family to de-stress."

Some Boise artists found their way into rock painting by chance. Amber Hein discovered the hobby while on the job.

"Someone had left a rock at my register at work and I cherished that rock. A couple of months later, I found another rock outside a grocery store," said Hein. "That is when I decided that rock painting was something I wanted to do. I painted my first rock that night. Three years later and thousands of dollars later, I am still at it."

For Hein, the hobby crosses generations. Her husband and his parents accompany her on walks to hide the rocks. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, her sister and nephews would gather to paint rocks.

"In many ways it has brought our family closer together," Hein said. "It allows us to do something together that does not involve electronics and it gets us outside."

Rocks have also brought Hein a new group of friends.

"The hobby brings people together," she said. "Since starting this, I have met so many people. Five of them have become my closest friends. We get together a couple times a month to paint rocks. Sometimes, we invite others to join us so that we can teach them new things. But as a community, we like making our neighbors happy one painted rock at a time."

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