More Of Bangor’s Blank Spaces To Get Mural Makeover

Over the past few years, art installations have been popping up around the City of Bangor. Some of them are small pieces...

...others are larger.

Most of them have highlighted local aspects of the city or the state of Maine.

Within the next two months, folks in Bangor can expect the production of a couple of other large murals in the downtown area.

One of them will be Bangor's first Spray Paint installation of " the Maine forest in springtime" and they've tapped the talent of Maine-based artist Jared Goulette, known as The Color Wizard, to put that together.

The second one won't be on a wall, or on a building, but beneath their feet.

It's a joint effort put forth by a couple of local non-profit organizations.

Bangor Beautiful and Wabanaki Public Health & Wellness (through $10,000 worth of grants and donations for high-quality bio-based, water-soluble traffic paint, and maintenance costs for the next couple of years) have put together a plan for something big!

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This piece will be both interesting to look at and also have a function.

Organizers say the mural will span a large portion (3400 square feet) of the unused shoulders of Hammond Street, from Main St. to Franklin St.

Bangor Beautiful says the installation will serve several purposes, not the least of which will be to increase safety by discouraging speeding, as studies have shown similar installations have been successful elsewhere.

"The mural will increase the perceived size of the sidewalks and crosswalks, causing drivers to slow down."

The mural will depict multiple aspects of Maine wildlife from the landscape to native animals and plants.

"The mural’s theme will revolve around water and earth, depicted with blue swirls flowing downhill toward the Kenduskeag Stream and Penobscot River and a representation of Mount Katahdin. It will also feature water and land animals and native sources of food such as fiddleheads and the Three Sisters (corn, beans, squash)."

The large picture window of the Wabanaki Youth & Cultural Center (WYCC), which used to hold colorful merchandise displays for Epic Sports when they were set up there, will now be used as an extension of the new art piece and display descriptions of the project's meaning.

Local Wabanki artists are working in conjunction with the artist to tie it all together.

Lisa Sockabasin, Co–CEO of Wabanaki Public Health & Wellness says, “This visually stunning piece of art will tell the vital story about our connection to the earth and river. We hope to merge creativity with community, illustrating our shared responsibility to honor and protect our environment by beautifying our streets."

Organizers estimate that work on the mural will begin in either late May or early June, and will minimally impact traffic in the area.

Hammond Street is scheduled to be repaved in 2026, so the piece will be maintained yearly until then, according to Bangor Beautiful.

Want to check out some of The Color Wizard's previous work?