A Bangor High School student’s artwork depicting one of Maine’s native plants is on display as the city’s newest mural.
Jaeda Grosjean, 17, is the artist and Bangor High School student whose design was made into a mural last week on the backside of One Lupine, a yarn shop at 170 Park St. The mural can be seen from Center Street.
Bangor Beautiful, a nonprofit aimed at beautifying the city through public art, trees and gardens, sought submissions from Bangor and Brewer high school students. The group used donations from its public art fund to cover project costs.
Board members wanted to create a mural depicting Sundial lupine, or Lupinus perennis, which is native to Maine but considered to be extinct, according to the National Park Service. More commonly seen throughout the state is Bigleaf lupine, or Lupinus polyphyllus, which originated in the western U.S. and grew out of control when it was introduced in Maine decades ago.
The new artwork is Bangor Beautiful’s second permanent mural in the city, and it is the first featuring a local student’s design. Board members and a handful of Bangor and Brewer student-artists, including Grosjean, painted it in three days.
“Human nature needs to see art, and people need to express themselves,” Grosjean said. “Living in a city with no visual art is kind of a nightmare. I think spreading that kind of community is very important.”
Earlier this year, Bangor Beautiful commissioned artist Matthew Willey to paint a bee mural on the building at 49 Park St. in Bangor. It is part of his Good of the Hive project, which features murals across the country that raise awareness about pollinators like honeybees and the interconnectedness of living things.
While moving Grosjean’s design from a small sheet of paper to a two-story building, Bangor Beautiful relied on techniques inspired by Willey, said Susan Bryand, who is one of the group’s directors and a visual arts teacher at Bangor High School.
Annette Sohns-Dodd, the group’s president, used the design, a photo of the brick building and Photoshop to “work her magic,” and stretch the lupine to the appropriate size, Grosjean said. A hummingbird that appears in her original design was left out of the mural because it would have muddied up the design and clashed with other elements, she said.
Grosjean and Sohns-Dodd freehanded the design with chalk and tape before a larger group collaborated to paint the mural, she said.
“I think the graphic nature of this one and the beautiful line work is what really appealed to us,” said Bryand, who is Grosjean’s teacher but did not select her entry as the winning design.
As Bangor Beautiful’s work continues, the group hopes to create scholarships for students who deserve to be paid for their work and time, Bryand said.
Jodi Clayton, who owns One Lupine, agreed to have the mural painted on her building, and she did not seek out the project. When she started her business 20 years ago, her first product was a felting kit for children because she wanted them to put more art into the world. Having a student’s design on display now “is like coming full circle,” she said.
Grosjean, who is Bangor High School’s Art Club president, will graduate next year. She is still finding herself as an artist, she said, and considering her plans for the future. She is interested in studying anthropology and art.
“This is art that everyone sees,” Bryand said about her student’s design, which made her proud. “You don’t have to pay admission. It is there for everyone. I think it also makes it more pleasant to be downtown.”
