Amherst’s Public Art Brings Delight

Amherst History Month by Month

Public Art in Amherst is the topic for my October feature as I have been going about in search of some solace. What could possibly make sense in the world of historic preservation news in the context of other strained public discourses in our town or the bedlam of our national news cycles? There is pressure to raise all boats, although given the amount of rain we have had, perhaps that should not be as hard as it feels?

Sticking with the water theme, I was swimming at the Middle School pool where Amherst’s Department of Recreation offices are also located, and the answer came to me. Let me explain.. I noticed the logo for the town’s youth swim team – the Amherst Tritons – which is way cool.

Tritons were ancient Greek river and sea gods (like Ariel’s dad in The Little Mermaid). Then I saw the school’s logo for the Amherst Hurricanes above the shallow end represented by a wind-swept tree standing tall in the strong winds. Painted in the same colors and style as the large mural of Puffers Pond on the adjoining wall, these paintings really caught my attention. I live in a town that has fantastic public art murals (that are worthy of preservation). 

The mural paintings (mural, from the Latin word ‘mur‘ meaning wall, denotes a wall painting often using specific techniques) realistically depict Puffers pond, one of several special conservation areas in Amherst.  As you look closely it feels like you are there, swimming by the trees and its sandy beaches. While I can’t seem to find out much, sadly, about the artist, William Rathbun, I was touched by seeing Puffers Pond represented, as it was not officially open for swimming much of the summer due to the presence of E. coli bacteria. And it felt all the more wonderful that Amherst Recreation has made it possible to have the middle school pool open to the community through the fall.*

I learned this past week that Amherst was the second town in Massachusetts to set up a stream of public funding dedicated for local art projects, after Cambridge had done so in 1979.  It is true that in our country some cities are famed for their support of publicly accessible arts and architecture: in particular, Chicago, Seattle, New York, and San Francisco. Of course, many other cities and towns have significant architectural and artistic treasures. 

Our Public Art Commission here has supported an incredible range of arts programming and art projects in town, and murals are one of the most visible outcomes of the 0.5% art policy. When our town government was run by Town Meeting and a Select Board instead of Town Council, in 2017, this public art policy was adopted. It was controversial but was voted 4 to 1 in favor which as Jim Wald, at the time, said, reflected Amherst’s values and “commitment to the enhancement of public life.”  “People come to Amherst because they find something vibrant about our downtown.”

The commission has helped to fund the teen mural by the Youth Action Coalition that is located by the driveway at St. Brigid’s Church, and the mural opposite the entrance to the Bangs Community Center of the Peace Pagoda designed by Eve Christoph. 

It has also helped to fund several brick tile (terracotta) murals on Main Street, near the Bangs Center, and near Mexcalito that were created by Judith Ingalese and Helen Dooley Mehta. More recently, the exterior of the RISE cannabis dispensary in North Amherst, formerly  used for auctions, was transformed by a Seattle artist called Zaeos with paintings of a ladybug, mayflowers, chickadees and a blue heron set against a background of purple, orange, and red stripes.

But the most famous of our town murals is the one by West Cemetery designed by David Fichter, which enlivens this historic cemetery and tells an inclusive story about Amherst’s history. Our town’s electricity boxes around Kendrick Park and in Amherst Center have also been creatively painted so it is not just walls that can be painted.

Projects like this tend to inspire others in town to follow suit. In 2017, Amherst College made a series of collaborative interior wall murals in the Mead Art Museum. 

In Amherst art is all around us.

* Amherst has a six-lane pool on the second floor of the Amherst Regional Middle School (ARMS). Park at far end of building near tennis courts and enter building through doors labeled Amherst Recreation. Second floor also accessible via elevator. Location: 170 Chestnut St. Open Sundays, 12-2 through the fall.