If you've driven around Bangor much, you're probably familiar with the old red building on the corner of Union Street and 2nd Street. It's part of the home of the Together Place, a housing cooperative in Bangor that offers affordable housing to adults with mental health challenges. Well, in the last few days, the outside of the building has gotten quite the face lift.

Bangor artist Liam Reading, 21, has done a gorgeous mural on the walls facing 2nd Street and Union Street. It features renderings of famous and influential Mainers from our history such as Stephen King, Dorothea Dix, Joshua Chamberlain, Patty Griffin, Winslow Homer, Ian Crocker, Joan Benoit Samuelson, and Louis Sockalexis. According to a piece from WABI TV5, Reading chose these images because,

It's like an ode to the people from Maine who are influential and inspiring, and being right across from the Y and being at the Together Place, you know just a little bit of color and inspiration for people walking by.

Check out some of these images. So cool!!!

Photo: J Stew
Photo: J Stew
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Photo: J Stew
Photo: J Stew
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Sean Faircloth of Maine Mental Health Connections,  which runs Together Place, is the one who discovered Reading and asked him to take on the project, according to WABI.

You're taking a risk when you hand something to an artist and say go for it, but I feel like Liam did a fantastic job and all credit goes to him for that because I said all right, here's some names of people, go for it, and he went for it, and I think the color, the aspiration, the brightness of what our facility hopes to do is kind of captured by his art in a really fantastic way.

But honestly, my photos aren't really doing it any justice. You could very easily check it out while you drive by, or take a walk over so you can really get a good look at it. And trust me, it's worth it. I only had a quick minute to snap a couple photos and boogie back to the office, but I intend to make some time to get over for a better look.

So it looks like the arts are alive and well here in Bangor. And thanks to guys like Liam Reading, it proves that art can be gorgeous, but also tell a story about the people who helped make this state what it is.

Thanks for that, Liam.

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