TURNERS FALLS — RiverCulture Director Suzanne LoManto believes “good public art is a response by an artist to the times we live in and the people who make up a community.” The completion of the 3,200-square-foot mural on the exterior of the Shea Theater Arts Center on Avenue A serves as an example of that. North Carolina artist Darion Fleming finished the mural in less than two weeks, wrapping up early Monday morning.
Although the piece was not yet complete, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Saturday. LoManto thanked several people involved in the project and noted the value of public art in a community. “Public art is a collective expression,” LoManto said in her speech.
“It’s for everyone, because it’s by everyone.” The Montague Selectboard approved a $30,510 contract with Common Wealth Murals LLC, a Springfield-based nonprofit that is tasked with managing the project, in January, following a previous vote to allocate $25,000 of the town’s American Rescue Plan Act funding toward the project. Of the $30,510, Fleming is being paid $15,000 for the mural, with the rest of the funds covering supplies, travel and lodging expenses.
To select an artist, theme and design for the mural, an eight-person steering group was formed. After being chosen from 354 applicants, Fleming used 13 pages worth of community input to submit designs for consideration. The chosen design depicts two figures, pictured from behind, embracing one another.
While the figure on the left shows human characteristics, the silhouette on the right depicts trees. Director of Common Wealth Murals Britt Ruhe said she enjoys the mural for the painting styles. Article continues after.
.. Cross|Word Flipart Typeshift SpellTower Really Bad Chess “I find it so intriguing,” Ruhe said.
Referencing the two figures in the mural, she added, “It allows you to put your own emotion into it as well as your own person, because the figures are anonymous. It can be anyone or anything.” During her speech, Ruhe explained that the community feedback lent itself to a design that focused on a collective love and appreciation for the Turners Falls community.
She said residents who offered feedback wanted to see a mural that reflected this collective spirit rather than a single individual, which has been the focus of other mural input sessions Common Wealth Murals has been involved with. “What many people said was, ‘We are a community here and we celebrate the togetherness. We are more of a we than a me, and we want that communicated in the mural,’” Ruhe said of the input.
“I think Darion [Fleming] did an amazing job.” Speaking about the design, Fleming noted the other portion of community input related to the town’s natural beauty, which he wanted to reflect in the design as well. The figure made up of trees was inspired by a forest photo taken by local nature photographer Patrick Zephyr.
Although the photo depicts northern hardwood trees in Vermont, the same variety of trees is also found in the Montague Plains Wildlife Management Area. “The nature and people’s connection with nature in this area is what I hoped [the mural] would showcase,” Fleming said during the ceremony. When asked about the process and community feedback, Fleming said he felt the public reception was positive and “everyone seems to really enjoy it.
” He said he would typically encounter around 20 to 30 onlookers each day he was painting who wanted to see the work in progress. “I’ll be up there and I’ll turn around for a second, and I’ll just see four or five people standing there watching,” he said, “which is really cool.” In a follow-up email, Montague Town Planner Maureen Pollock thanked the steering group, Common Wealth Murals and her “professional partner-in-crime” LoManto for their work on the project.
She added that now that the mural is complete, she wants to see what can be done to engage the community with the mural going forward. “I often hear public art can be a catalyst to activate spaces, create unique experiences, and make places more vibrant and inclusive,” Pollock said, issuing a call for feedback on what could be done to make the space community-oriented. “The sky is the limit.
If you would like to explore this idea together, please reach out. More dreaming and discussions to come.” Pollock can be reached at mpollock@montague-ma.
gov. Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at [email protected].
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