Community Mural is Now on Display in Town Hall

Submitted by Sylvia Mallory on Behalf of the Bedford Cultural District Partnership

Sarah Scoville, right, displays the finished version of Saturday’s community-created three-panel painting. Staff photo by Wayne Braverman

If you attended the Bedford Cultural District’s Music and Arts Festival at First Parish on a rainy Saturday in June, you may have observed the creation of a colorful mural. Maybe you even tried your hand at painting part of it. Led by artist Sarah Scoville, the mural painting brought together people of all ages to celebrate Bedford’s tradition in the arts.

The completed mural-depicting a lively landscape-is now on display. You may view it in the Town Manager’s office in the Town Hall, where it documents a happy town celebration.

Everyone was invited to add their artist touch to a community mural painted at the Bedford Cultural District’s Music and Arts Festival in June. Photo by Christine Wojnar

Sarah is a champion of public art projects such as the mural. An admirer of the painted utility box at the corner of South Road and Railroad Avenue that K-12 art director Sean Hagan had spearheaded with Bedford High students, Sarah explored the painting of other boxes in town. The resulting Bedford Utility Box Project, funded by grants from the Bedford Cultural Council, has expanded over the past three years. Now six boxes, designed and painted by various artists, brighten corners and intersections around town.

The idea for the mural painting sprang from Sarah’s experience in a collaborative painting activity where the project leader taped off a simple image on a canvas and invited people to paint on the canvas and the tape. When the canvas was covered with the participants’ imaginative designs and bold brushstrokes, the tape was removed to reveal a striking painting.

The mission of the Bedford Cultural District Partnership is the creation of a strong cultural identity for Bedford’s cultural, artistic, and creative business communities. The Cultural District seeks to cultivate and sustain a thriving art-making and small business scene with activated public spaces, rotating temporary art exhibits, and additional spaces for performances and art displays.

The district also serves as a bridge to Bedford’s strong life science and technology base through the synergies created by STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) initiatives.

For more information on the district, visit www.bedfordma.gov/437/Bedford-Cultural-District.