New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Mayor Jon Mitchell and the members of the New Bedford Public Art Committee will celebrate the installation of a new public mural on a Belleville Avenue overpass on Tuesday, July 29, 2014 at 11:30 AM. The mural is the first public art project spearheaded by the New Bedford Public Art Committee, a group of artists and organizations established as an extension of the Mitchell Administration’s graffiti prevention program, Graffiti Free NB. While Graffiti Free NB deters graffiti vandalism by making reporting options easier for citizens, it also seeks to engage local artists and encourage the appropriate use of public space for artwork.
Earlier this year, the Committee invited local artists to submit their original design proposals for the project. The winning design was created by New Bedford artist Alex Jardin, a 2007 graduate of New Bedford High School who also earned a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2013.
The design, entitled “School of Cod”, features a colorful school of Cod and Blue Fin Tuna swimming through a sea of Elm trees. Each fish was painted using a technique described as a “heavy build up of colorful paints, handstyle letterings and random designs, reminiscent of years of graffiti build up.”
