Portland, ME
Greetings from Portland, Maine. It’s only right we complete all the ordinal states in America after our previous murals in Alaska (Northwest), Florida (Southeast) and California (Southwest.) Thank you to our community partners at Chase for supporting our most “Northeast” mural finally covering all corners of this country!
Victor: Back in 2014, Lisa and I took one our first road trips together up to Portland when we started dating. This was before the “Greetings Tour“ was conceived, and who could have imagined that a decade later, we would return as a family of three to paint this mural?
The unique canvas for this project was two side-by-side walls in the heart of downtown. It was a design challenge to collaborate with our favorite local artist couple (Ryan & Rachel Adams) who were already merging their styles for their own piece. On top of it all, there was a bonus fire escape obstacle thrown in for good measure.
Ultimately, we decided to treat the architecturally framed spaces as individual pieces while matching our color palettes and filling the border around our travel decal with Rachel’s quilt design. Altering our imagery to a graphic style helped match the aesthetics of Ryan & Rachel’s adjacent artwork. Hopefully, we can save our large letter postcard concept for larger wall when we come back.
I first met Ryan Adams in New York through mutual friends, and we've stayed in touch over the years, collaborating remotely on various mural projects. When it came time to choose local artists to work with in Portland, Ryan and his wife, Rachel were the obvious choice. It was great to finally reconnect in person after all these years in Ryan's hometown. They have a wonderful family, and we found many similarities between our lives as parents and as an artist couple.
Throughout the week, we were amazed at the continuous stream of locals thanking them for their contributions to the community. It was really inspiring to witness their work ethic and the significant impact they've made on Portland’s public art scene. Within the short time period we were there, we witnessed them manage to paint a mural, be filmed in a documentary, operate a pop-up shop, host an art show and somehow be parents to two kids throughout the process! We were very impressed and also exhausted on their behalf.
Lisa’s family came up from New Jersey to stay with us during their vacation and to check out the mural being painted. Her nieces had the opportunity to contribute to the mural, and they were incredibly proud of their work. Lisa’s mom is also a lighthouse fanatic so it was only fitting that she came to see this one being created. We were able to enjoy some great meals and do some touristy stuff in town together. Though balancing work and family time was a bit hectic, it was absolutely worth it in the end!
As mentioned earlier, this Portland mural designed in our graphic travel decal style similar to a series we recently completed in Chicago and Springfield. Don’t worry, we are still doing our large letter postcard murals for everyone who’s been asking. We collected ideas from locals on what Portland, Maine meant to them and tried our best to incorporate some cultural elements that haven’t really been represented too much in other murals we saw around town. By chance, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s home, now the Maine Historical Society & Museum was located directly across the street. It was fitting to feature him in the mural and we can totally say we planned that one ;)
David Wang came up to help with this one since he’s a New England local. He and Ryan had many mutual connections from their time in Boston, so it was great to finally connect them. Fortunately, we didn't have to deal with the summer sun this time, as the mural stayed in the shade most of the day. A unique experience while painting here was being in a downtown area surrounded by tall buildings, yet constantly hearing and seeing (very brave) seagulls. We also had a surprise guest: Glen Prentice (above on left), who currently tops our Wall of Fame. He's visited over 50 of our murals, which is incredibly impressive, and it was awesome to finally meet him in person. Support from people like him adds unique value to murals, transforming them into destinations and boosting foot traffic for nearby businesses.
A heartfelt thank you to Ryan & Rachel for their hospitality and help on this project with all they already had on their plate. We met so many wonderful people in the community over the week from from locals to tourists. All of your kind words were greatly appreciated. Thank you to Chase, Montana Cans, Home Depot & Sherwin Williams for their support on this one!
Local Recommendations: It would take an entire blog post to cover all of the food and travel recs properly. This is quite the foodie city so there’s an endless list of great eating. The Post Supply’s Guide to Maine is what we were provided with and it served as a great resource for our time here. Taking a day trip to Peak’s Island wasn’t on that list but a great recommendation from locals. Summer time is peak tourist season so do plan ahead, especially on weekends!
Decal Guide:
Top — Fort Gorges & Casco Bay Lines Ferry
Middle — Portland Observatory & Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Bottom — Historic Working Waterfront
Border - Collaboration with local artist Rachel Gloria Adams
Year: 2024
Mural Size: 13'H x 13’W
Location: 480 Congress St. Portland, ME 04101