For Immediate Release – May 24, 2023
Contact: Anne Krieg, Development Director
(207) 992-4281 - anne.krieg@bangormaine.gov
Rindy Fogler, Communications Manager
(207) 992-4201 – rindy.fogler@bangormaine.gov
Davis Brook Stack Art Installation
Ceremony
Bangor, Maine – There’s a new sculpture on the Bangor
Waterfront called “Living Water” by Mi’kmaq artist Steven Francis Hooke. The art
sculpture is a six-foot Wabanaki-style canoe, affixed to the Davis Brook Stack.
Members of the public, including the
media, are invited to an installation ceremony on Friday, June 2nd
at 3:30 pm, on site at the Davis Brook stack located on the waterfront.
The ceremony will feature remarks from the artist, Council Chair Richard
Fournier, Director of Economic Development Anne Krieg, and Commission on
Cultural Development Chair Aubrae Filipiak.
The contractor responsible for building the Davis Brook Stack, S.E. MacMillan, donated $10,000 to the City to transform the structure into a piece of sculptural public art. The City’s
Commission on Cultural Development sought proposals from artists for an art
installation on the stack that would highlight the Penobscot River, New
England’s second largest river system. They were particularly interested in
proposals that would emphasize the river’s cultural significance for indigenous
peoples and also its historical significance to the growth and development of
Bangor.
Artist Steven
Francis Hooke’s proposal and design was selected from a number of submissions and
recommended by the Commission for final approval by the City Council. It
features a traditional Wabanaki-style canoe with its nose pointed upstream,
which Hooke said represents the unwritten future.
Hooke, the
grandson of acclaimed Mi’kmaq artist Carmen Hooke, is a member of the Mi’kmaq
tribe of the Wabanaki Confederation. He
shared that, growing up in Bangor, the river “meant an incredible amount to
me. It would be an honor to be able to
represent this significance with an art piece on these very shores.”
Please join us
to celebrate the installation of this beautiful sculpture and to recognize
gifted artist, Steven Francis Hooke.
The Davis Brook stack is part of the
recently completed 3.8-million-gallon sewage overflow tank project called the
Davis Brook Combined Sewer Overflow Storage Tank project.
##
The City of Bangor, Maine is a service center community of 31,753 residents and is the county seat of Penobscot County. Bangor is the major commercial and cultural center for much of northern and eastern Maine. The City is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. For information on City projects and news, see www.bangormaine.gov.