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Art Class Teams with Local Group on
Public Projects
Last spring, professor Mark
Wethli’s Public Art class
collaborated with Susan Weems
of the recently-formed Brunswick
Public Art Group to submit
proposals for art installations at
several Brunswick locations.
As a result, Hannaford
supermarket, Mid Coast Hospital,
and the new Harriet Beecher Stowe
Elementary School will each feature
works by Bowdoin students. First
on the list is an installation of a
design consisting of four to six,
exchangeable vertical banners by
Tariq Haq ’12 on the exterior of the
Hannaford building.
“We wanted the Hannaford wall
to be first [on the agenda] because
it’s a big splash,” said Weems. “It’s
facing the new Brunswick station,
and we wanted to have it up when
the first train pulled into town.”
16 BOWDOIN SUMMER 2011
Mid Coast Hospital
selected a piece by
Lucy Walker ’13,
“Meetings on the
Mall,” to be installed in
the entrance foyer and
waiting area of the new
outpatient clinic at the
station. Walker’s piece
provides a panoramic
view of the Brunswick
Town Mall through the
four seasons.
In a separate
project, Wethli’s
students proposed
designs for various
spaces in the new
Harriet Beecher
Stowe Elementary
School. The school’s
architect remarked
to Wethli that many
of the students’ proposals were
superior to those they received
from professional artists, and the
school chose another design by
Haq, a series of three tiled mosaic
murals for the cafeteria. With their
representation of earth, water, and
fire (see photo at left), the piece fit
into the school’s commitment to
sustainability and nature, said Nancy
Gray, chair of the school’s Percent
for Art Committee.
While the Hannaford and Mid
Coast installations are fully funded,
Wethli hopes to secure a grant
for Haq’s work in the elementary
school.