In Brunswick, just a walk down Maine Street can bring artistic inspiration.

The summer months feature the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and local artists visit and sell their works in Maine Street stores all year long. However, from the paintings on local shop entrances to the large murals hanging on the side of the Fort Andross Mill and on Pleasant Street, some of the most long-lasting and storied pieces of art in Brunswick are its murals.

Isa Cruz

Lisa Alonzo, a local artist and wife of Dog Bar Jim owner Ben Gatchell, has commissioned several pieces for the coffee shop. She finds that, especially in Brunswick, public art is incredibly important to building community.

“Here in Brunswick it can feel like a monoculture, and most people probably don’t seek out art in their daily lives,” Alonzo wrote in an email to the Orient. “By curating a different selection of artists, people are exposed to different aesthetics, viewpoints [and] cultures…. It’s all positive. More art everywhere is good.”

Alonzo also invited a visiting artist from Mexico City named Atentamente Una Fresa to assist her for this year’s Analog Alley project off Union Street by Dog Bar Jim. Alonzo has also found artistic connection and inspiration near and far—from San Francisco to her own Brunswick neighbors. However, when commissioning murals, the largest challenge for Alonzo and Gatchell has been fundraising.

Isa Cruz

“We have to fundraise through applying for grants and also seek funding from local businesses in our community. Getting the money is the hardest part, but obviously the most important, and we want to be sure to pay the artists for their time and work,” Alonzo wrote.

Still, despite difficulties with the commissioning process, Alonzo remains motivated to add beauty to Brunswick through public art.

“I think street art makes places feel more alive.… Public art can be tricky because often it is selected by a committee, so usually the safest and often the most boring idea gets greenlit. So we are trying to add work that is unlike what you usually find in commissioned public art and more like what you’d find as street art in cities like [San Francisco], [New York City] or Berlin,” Alonzo wrote.

Like Alonzo, Hannah Josselyn, the owner of Reverie Coffee House, finds the creativity public art can inspire to be extremely important. Josselyn commissioned Portland artist ​​Victoria Hanrahan to paint both the interior mural and the outdoor decor. Hanrahan also regularly repaints the cafe’s wall menus during seasonal changes.

Isa Cruz

“We’re all creative in our own way,” Josselyn said. “For me, coffee is the vessel. But it’s more so for the human and bringing artists and other people together. I feel like having a space where some of these artists are able to showcase [their work] is very important.”

Josselyn also hopes that the presence of murals in Reverie will spread joy.

“I think [art] just makes you feel good,” Josselyn said. “All the colors and then the plants that have just come to life in here just coexist so lovely. The colors, like the greens and the oranges [and] the earthy tones, just calm me and make me feel so happy.”

The newer murals build on a tradition of public art in Brunswick. Alonzo herself admires the murals “Many Stitches,” which is on the side of Fort Andross Mill, and “Dance of Two Cultures,” which is displayed on Pleasant Street—both products of husband and wife artists Chris Cart and Jen Greta Cart.

Alonzo emphasized the importance of reaching towards art, both in creation and inspiration.

“I really want people to realize that they have the power to create. There is a lot of focus on destruction—of ideas we don’t like, things that are wrong with our society. No time in history has ever been perfect. One thing being an artist and business owner has taught me, you realize you can just do things. In times of destruction, be a creator,” Alonzo wrote.