News

Aug 14, 2023

Adding art to downtown Derry

DERRY — While there isn’t a waterfall in the main downtown area, a local artist made a plan and gathered volunteers to paint one. The Greater Derry Council on the Arts has made it their mission to add

DERRY — While there isn’t a waterfall in the main downtown area, a local artist made a plan and gathered volunteers to paint one.

The Greater Derry Council on the Arts has made it their mission to add beauty to the town, especially on and around the rail trail. The newest mural, located on the staircase behind Sabatino’s North, was designed by Derry’s Artist Laureate Karen Lincoln, and painted by members of the community in late July.

“It means a lot to me when I go someplace and there’s something unusual about their everyday infrastructure,” Lincoln said. “Derry didn’t have that, so I just wanted to change that.”

The final result was a vibrant, abstract waterfall running down the posts of the stairs. The illusion was one that Lincoln spent hours creating, mapping out the flow of the abstract pattern the day before. While volunteers painted, she busied herself with greeting new painters, setting up pallets made from old muffin tins, and chatting with curious town members.

This mural is just one of many that Lincoln has planned out for the town over the past three years. Lincoln wasn’t the artist laureate until she planned and brought the community together to paint a mural of Alan Shepard, the first American in space.

Lincoln also designed the different murals and artwork on the rail trail, including the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken,” said Beverly Donovan, the town’s economic development director. Donovan said that this initiative is widely supported by officials in town because it helps make Derry a destination.

“The council’s been so supportive because it really is an economic development driver,” said Donovan. “It’s bringing people [to Derry] to hang out to enjoy it.”

Volunteers who came out to paint stayed for a little while, or for a few hours. Thirteen-year-old twins Allison and Lyndon Zenga took their time working on the trickiest part of the mural, finding and painting the white center line that created the waterfall illusion.

“I feel like it’s gonna look really, really cool once it’s finished,” Allison said. Landon agreed and added, “I think it’s gonna be awesome to think that we did this stuff.”

Shelley Mead and her 8-year-old daughter, Abigail, focused on painting parts of the mural that were geometric and colorful. Mead said that she was happy to have something that shared her love of crafts with her young daughter, while doing something for the community.

“It really helps her to feel like she’s a part of the community,” Mead said. “She’ll be able to see this for years to come and be like, ‘I helped make [the town] beautiful.’”

Katelyn Sahagian can be reached at [email protected]

Granite Solutions is a reporting project focusing on mental health in New Hampshire from The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.

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