Mural Being Placed Underneath Railroad Bridge On Bristol's Main Street

By Dean Wright, The Bristol Press

October 28, 2021

In partnership with RiseUP for Arts, CT Murals and the City of Bristol, a mural is being placed underneath a railroad bridge on Main Street.

According to City Arts and Culture Supervisor Lauren Bent, the mural was started around mid-October and is slated to have an official revealing ceremony to the public at 5 p.m. on Monday.

“Mural is funded and presented by the city’s Arts and Culture Commission,” said Bent. “The commission partnered with RiseUP, which is a public art organization for the state of Connecticut and a subset of that is CT Murals. They’re really focused on public art projects throughout the state.”

Bent said through the partnership the commission was able to pick Jillian as the mural artist.

“They allowed this to happen pretty fast which is wonderful because they’ve a big database of artists that they’re able to connect us with and the commission could trust the artist as someone reputable,” said Bent. “It was a great way to partner with them.”

The supervisor said that Goeler was able to work through the nicer weather of last week and only had a few more touches to add to the mural before its official unveiling.

“The commision had the option of a few different artists and Matt (Conway), who is our contact at RiseUP, came to the commission meeting and showed the commission the different artist options and the art they had done,” said Bent. “They really trended towards Jillian’s work. Once they picked her work, she presented three or four designs and the commission chose the design that went up with a few modfifications.”

On their respective sides of the street underneath the railroad bridge, one wall in bright flowers will also read “Bristol” and the other side in a similar motif will say “Bloom where you are planted.”

Connecticut Murals collaborates with organizations, communities and volunteers in its quest to bring art to streets, homes and public buildings. It focuses on inclusive art and was started in 2015. Over 25 murals have been completed through its initiatives in the greater Hartford area and it works with roughly 20 partners and around 15 artists, said CT Murals Executive Director Matt Conway at an Arts and Culture Commission meeting over the summer.

"I think in the past year the arts and culture commission has really brought a ton of murals and life to the city," said Bent. "I think that's the goal with these public art pieces, to be enjoyed. Anyone has access to them and it's the instigator to the spirit in the community that we're hoping to build in Bristol. We want to use it as a talking piece to bring people together and further community development."