Hammond and Main streets in downtown Bangor will welcome three new pieces of art this summer.
Hammond Street Ground Mural
Local organizations Bangor Beautiful and Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness are teaming up to bring a mural to a strip of road shoulder along Hammond Street.
Aside from adding more color to downtown Bangor, the city’s first ground mural is designed to keep pedestrians safe by drawing attention to the sidewalk and crosswalks in that area. The paint won’t eliminate any parking and will leave a 10-foot travel lane for vehicles, making the road appear narrower, which naturally slows traffic.
The 3,400-square-foot mural will run along the road shoulder from the intersection of Central Street and end just after the U.S. Post Office. The art will also highlight existing crosswalks across Hammond Street and dip into Franklin Street to cover a crosswalk where those two streets meet.
Katahdin will be depicted in front of the U.S. Post Office, and a flowing water design, representing the Penobscot River, will be painted between Central and Franklin streets. Native fish and wildlife will be scattered throughout the mural, as well as a double curve design that Wabanaki tribes use to represent history, culture and artistry, according to Bangor Beautiful.
Bangor Beautiful volunteers and Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness staff will paint the mural over three to five days starting Saturday.
Main Street Storm Drain Art
The Maine Discovery Museum and Bangor Area Stormwater Group launched a contest for K-12 students to design a mural to go around a storm drain on the sidewalk outside the Main Street museum.
The mural contest is designed to coincide with the museum’s new exhibit, which shows how pollutants that flow into stormwater drains eventually wind up in the Penobscot River. Once there, the materials, such as road salt, litter and fertilizer, can disrupt the river’s ecosystem.
The period for students to submit their ideas ended Sunday, and a panel is now choosing designs that the public can vote on. The voting period will end on June 12, and the winner will be announced at an event for the museum’s “River in Our Backyard” exhibit.
The winning mural design should be eye-catching and show the connection between storm drains and the Penobscot River, according to the contest guidelines. The artwork should also remind the public that everyone plays a role in keeping waterways clean and healthy.
Spring Woods Mural
A two-story mural is coming to the side of 116 Hammond St. in Bangor, across from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.
Bangor Beautiful commissioned Jared Goulettethea, a professional mural artist known as “The Color Wizard” who uses vibrant colors and shading to show dimension, for the project.
The mural, funded by grants, sponsorships and donations, will show the Maine forest floor in spring, including a vernal pool and native flora and fauna, such as fiddleheads, according to the organization.
Once the mural is completed in July, Bangor Beautiful will hold a community celebration, artist talk and host an educational nature walk along the nearby Kenduskeag Stream Trail to teach participants about the local ecosystem depicted in the mural.
