Connecting through color: Local schools, nonprofit unite for community mural

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) -A collaboration between local students and artists is bringing fresh color and community spirit to one Bangor elementary school.

Paintbrush in hand, second graders at Fruit Street School are turning lessons learned inside the classroom into public art.

“We’re just painting the mural, and I just like painting so much because it is so much fun,” said Fruit Street second grader Olivia.

The initiative took root last year when students created hundreds of drawings inspired by their curriculum on pollinator gardens and apple trees.

Local muralist Peter Walls, working alongside the nonprofit Bangor Beautiful, wove those individual sketches into a single, cohesive composition stretched across cut panels.

“They created drawings, probably 300 or so, that I was handed off and created a larger composition,” Walls said. “Then we cut these panels, and we create these outlines to make it easier for the pre-K through third graders.”

To help complete the large-scale work, high schoolers from the Bangor High School Arts Academy stepped in alongside the younger children to mentor them and fine-tune the details.

“Being that cool, artsy teenager that kids look up to feels good and being able to show that you can do so many other things with art to kids,” said Bangor High junior Angelina Baston. “You can express yourself and be with your community.”

Organizers plan to hang the finished panels on the far side of the school building Sunday, giving students their first look at the completed mural when they arrive for classes Monday morning.