ARTICLE BY JULIA BAYLY

When it comes to accessible public art, few things beat a mural.

As an art form it’s stood the test of time going back tens of thousands of years to the earliest known cave wall paintings in France. Those primitive works are at least 300,000 years old. The artists are of course long gone as are any indications of their muse or motivations. But it stands to reason the paintings were created in a public place to be seen by others.

Since then, the early Egyptians, Romans, Medieval, Renaissance, and Victorian artists right up through present day creators have worked to create murals on blank walls.

Over the last several years, Bangor has joined the mural world with large scale paintings showing up on the sides of buildings and roads.

“I strongly believe that art and trees and place-making makes you happier in general,” said Annette Dodd, president of Bangor Beautiful. “It makes [Bangor] a more interesting place to be.”

Bangor Beautiful was created two years ago by artists and citizens of Bangor who are passionate about making our community a more beautiful place through public art, trees, gardens, and other beautification efforts.

The downtown murals are a big part of those efforts.

“When a building has a huge wall it’s like a blank canvas,” Dodd said. “We want to do things to make it look better.”

So far the non-profit has supported the design and creation of six large murals around downtown showcasing native plants, trees, wildlife, aquatic species, insects, and culture.

Lupine Love

A mural on Park Street depicts the sundial lupine, which is the only native lupine species in Maine. The more familiar bigleaf lupine has pushed that species to extinction, so the “One Native Lupine Mural” gives passersby a chance to see what the plant looks like. The mural was created last year by Bangor High School student Jaeda Grosjean.

Dripping with Honey

Not far away, New York-based muralist Matthew Willey spent about a month painting a bee-themed mural on the side of the building at 47 Park St., which houses Pepino’s Mexican Restaurant.

Covering the entire three-story exterior wall of the building, the mural is dripping with honey as healthy working bees are shown buzzing around delivering pollen and nectar to their hive.

The mural is part of Willey’s long-running project The Good of the Hive, a 20-year effort to paint 50,000 honeybees — the average number of bees in a healthy hive — in murals across the nation and the world. Willey said on his website that his goal for the project is to spur conversations and action around conservation, nature, and the interconnectedness of all things.

Kenduskeag Homage

Just below the U.S. Post Office and facing Franklin Street is a mural paying homage to the wildlife and plantlife of the nearby Kenduskeag Stream.

The vibrantly colored mural transformed once-gray supporting walls along the back exit of the Bangor Post Office and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office. Painted an array of blues, oranges, greens, and yellows, and studded with intricately detailed images of fish, birds, turtles, insects, and other creatures, it connects the art with the ecosystem of the Kenduskeag. 

New This Year

Two new murals joined the downtown art scene this summer with completion of a two-story mural on the side of a Hammond Street building, across from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office. The mural, created using spray paint, shows Maine’s forest floor in spring, with a vernal pool and native flora and fauna, and was designed to educate people about the area’s natural ecosystem and environment. That’s why fiddleheads, serviceberry branches, and a wood frog are included.

This spring, Bangor Beautiful planted 17 serviceberry trees at the intersection of Hammond and Ohio streets. Vernal pools are critical to wood frogs that lay their eggs in them, so both elements appear in the mural.

Just down the hill is the city’s only ground mural that runs along the road shoulder on Hammond Street from the intersection of Central Street and stretches uphill, ending just after the U.S. Post Office.

In addition to being art for arts’ sake, the ground mural serves a very practical safety purpose.

The display is designed to make the road appear narrower and slow traffic as it turns from Central Street onto Hammond.

Both of these murals were a collaboration between Bangor Beautiful and Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness.

The nature-themed murals showcase a unique feature of downtown, Dodd said.

“In Bangor, you can go from downtown to a walk on the Kenduskeag Stream Trail,” she said. “In less than 10 minutes, you’re surrounded by nature, and that’s pretty amazing.”

Dodd is also the artist who painted two of the city’s first murals — the Greetings from Bangor mural at the intersection of Main and Union streets and the Paul Bunyon mural on Central Street.

This year, the nonprofit is expanding into publishing with a planned coloring book featuring the murals. The project is a collaboration with art students at Bangor High School.

In another collaboration, the group is working with art and ecology students at the University of Maine to create a mural for the pump station building on the corner of Broad and Water streets planned for next spring.

Costs of the murals are covered through successful grant applications, business sponsorships, and private donations.

“The response to the murals has been fantastic,” Dodd said.

And neither she nor Bangor Beautiful are anywhere near done yet. There are still a lot of blank walls out there.

“Murals can make a city so unique and fun,” Dodd said. “I just love public art in general, and [murals] are something where everybody who is downtown can enjoy and hopefully makes their day better.”

More Murals Around Maine 

Bangor is not alone in sprucing up the sides of buildings with colorful murals. From the St. John Valley to southern Maine, murals around the state greet visitors and tell the stories of the communities in which they are painted.

In Fort Kent, a large mural on the side of a building on West Main Street shows off one of the town’s signature events: the Can Am Crown International Sled Dog Race. It also gives a nod to other winter sports like nordic skiing and biathlon.

Over on East Main Street a second mural honors the boats and those who operated them, ferrying people and goods across the St. John River, before any bridges connected Maine and Canada in the area.

Far to the south in Brunswick, colorful depictions of the old Cabot Mill and Dam and the First Parish Church are part of that city’s “Art Around Town” public art display.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Rockland — well known for its galleries and museums — took the opportunity to extend an existing mural on Oak Street onto the pavement. 

Murals cover several exterior walls in Belfast. One of the newest is a 34-foot mural on the waterfront featuring an Atlantic sturgeon as its centerpiece.

A person could spend a good chunk of time searching out these and the scores of other murals around the state. Frankly, what could be a better adventure right here in our own backyard?