Mural for the Downtown?

A five-member committee of local artists, historians, and teachers has selected a muralist after a six-month search, hoping selectmen and the community will eventually approve a design for the 300-foot upper south wall of the Route 106 underpass. The mural could include a depiction of Mansfield's famous marching geese and ducks - a tradition in the early part of the 1900's, when thousands of them would be offloaded at the train station every year and would make their way on webbed feet to the East Mansfield poultry farm that was counted as one of the largest in the country.

But some board members appeared to shy away from the idea, saying a busy mural scene, no matter how well planned, could prove a ready palette for graffiti artists, and end up an eyesore instead of an attraction.

Scott Brigante of Webster Street, the director of visual arts for the Mansfield Schools, told selectmen the Mansfield mural committee, a subset of Keep Mansfield Beautiful, had finally found a mural artist for the task. A plus is that the artist, Ian Gaudreau, is a Mansfield native and an MHS grad.

The group had issued a request for proposals back in December, but had no applicants for the big undertaking. After resubmitting the RFP, a number of proposals came in and Gaudreau, a University of Massachusetts graduate, was selected. They also received a $500 grant from the Mansfield Cultural Council for design assistance and the selection of the muralist.

The artist, Brigante said, has completed a number of murals, and brought a preliminary design to the committee that incorporated several themes the group thought would be important to the finished work. He operates his own company, IMG Designs.

Among the themes Brigante mentioned was the central role the train station played in a time when everything traveled by rail. Trains brought everything from poultry to automobiles, taking passengers to all destinations in every direction. A good number of Mansfield residents were train station employees, conductors, and maintenance staff.

Brigante also said education and sports might be part of the final design. Residents will see the first draft within the next several weeks, and he emphasized input from the whole town will be an integral part of the process.

"The project needs broad-based community support," he said, adding residents will have a chance to comment on the theme and bring in suggestions of their own, as the committee creates and distributes a survey that will be available in local newspapers, the library, Council on Aging, and on the cable access channels.

Board member George Dentino said he had heard from constituents who had different takes on the idea.

"This would have to be done well," he said. "We can't be repairing it constantly - painting (graffiti) out would destroy part of the mural." He also said he had noticed places where rust from rebar and snap ties was already bleeding through the new paint.

"We have to be careful not to make the mural too busy," he said. "It's a 300-foot wall. It would tend to look like you were driving through the Bronx."

Brigante said new technology allows "fly-through animation," where the audience can actually see what the mural would look like to a passenger in a vehicle driving by.

Doug Annino said, "I would want it to be very professionally done," emphasizing the sheer length of the surface was a huge canvas for any design. "I'm not sold on the whole concept," he said, pointing out someone will have to maintain the mural over time.

Brigante said newer processes for murals make it possible to paint the mural on a surface that then adheres to the concrete and can be removed easily. He added protective coatings can be applied to the paint to prevent graffiti from adhering.

Kevin Moran said he sees the blank wall and the whole look of that part of town as needing improvement. "If they only knew in the 50's what we know now," he said. "This (wall) is ugly. We need to keep it sleek and minimalized."

Brigante agreed. "It's a concrete canyon," he said. "We hope people will say, 'This is how I'd make it better.' It will be a challenge - we would very much like to give it a try."

Mural committee members include Brigante, teachers Nancy Wall and Kristi Johnson, MMAS president Ken Butler, and Kevin McNatt of the historical society.