It doesn’t matter if you live in a small town, a mid-sized city like Nashua or a metropolis. Public murals can bring a community to life and capture something special that underlies the human experience.
Artist J. Graham Carraway was born and raised in Mississippi and lives in Denver, Colorado, where he has refined his art career. He and his wife, Olivia, are well-traveled throughout the United States. Mural painting is one of his favorite forms of community expression, and he’s excited to begin creating a mural masterpiece for Nashua.
Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess and the Board of Aldermen recently gave the thumbs up to a $105,000 contract awarded to Carraway to paint a large-scale public mural along the north side of the Water Street Bridge, as part of the newly developed downtown Riverwalk and Renaissance Park project.
This mural will celebrate Nashua’s heritage, including its proud French-Canadian roots and help activate the Riverwalk as “a vibrant and welcoming public space.”
Carraway was chosen from a field of 21 artists by a committee of community members and the Nashua Arts Commission. The applicants all submitted beautiful work, but according to Liz Hannum, the city’s Economic Development Director, Carraway’s artistic proposal went a step beyond in how he would uniquely embody Nashua’s heritage and history with its living and future generations and include a mural workshop for local art students to engage with the project.
From what I understand, Carraway will paint a large piece of real estate, so to speak. That is no easy task, but it allows him much artistic freedom to tell Nashua’s story along the bridge wall in Renaissance Park, whose former brick mill industrial buildings grace the background by the swiftly moving Nashua River.
Carraway will weave a colorful span of layered images along the 70-foot concrete wall, which ranges in height from 5 to 20 feet high.
Carraway was gracious with his time to answer a few questions I had about the public mural where he will leave his incredible mark. He couldn’t give away his plans, but he tells me he’s excited to get going in the Gate City, where he will spend quality time observing the community and seeing what Nashua is all about.
“My design incorporates a lot of Nashua history — including architecture, signage, flora/fauna, etc., that is all collaged together to tell the overall story of Nashua,” Carraway explained.
He describes his style as “Modern Americana.” His favorite muralist/street artist is Tristan Eaton.
“I have a deep respect for early architecture and craftsmanship. I have a background in sign painting and try to work examples of this into my mural work now.”
Creating a public mural sounds like fun, and in this case, you really have to “look at the big picture.” Carraway says he will use a combination of exterior paint and spray paint on his unique canvas for the Gate City, and that “I expect this project (with the help of an assistant) will take between 75-100 hours to complete from start to finish.”
Carraway wants the city’s youth to participate and feel like a part of the artistic storytelling. “I will be teaching a block-printing workshop and later demonstrating to the students how images created from this workshop can be scaled to the size of a mural.”
Bringing art directly into a community is always a good thing, and Nashua is extending a warm welcome to the Carraway family.
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