New Mural Unveiled on Adams Wastewater Treatment Plant
ADAMS, Mass. — The Adams Arts Advisory Board unveiled a new piece of public art on the wastewater treatment plant during a ride on the Berkshire Scenic Rail.
On the train ride Friday afternoon, artist Bill Riley said he was proud to be able to display his piece "Mountain Pool" in Adams.
"The mural itself is an ode to the purification of water," he said. "I am excited by the idea that this piece is for the viewing of the scenic trail rider connecting Adams and North Adams."
He added that he was grateful that the town of Adams in conjunction with the Adams Arts Advisory Board allowed him to add another piece to Art on the Trail initiative.
"I am honored to place my artwork in such an industrial area and to have the possibility of recreating the context that we see in this place," he said. "I mean for the mural to be a point and a series of points along the trail encouraging people along the trail traveling between the towns to have a cultural experience."
A scenic artist for Metropolitan Opera, Riley said the vinyl mural is 10-feet by 2012-feet and was blown up 12 times from the original acrylic painting.
This is the second installment of Arts on the Trail. The first was "Crows Local" by Patricia Fietta that was placed on her Grove Street mill along the bike trail.
There are several other locations the Adams Arts Advisory Board would like to install art, but the most immediate location in the queue is the back of the Adams Theater. The idea is to locate visual and sculptural art that can be seen from the state-owned trail. The works are being installed on municipal and participating private properties.
"Mountain Pool" was specifically located to be viewed from the nonprofit railway's Hoosac Valley Service that runs between Adams and North Adams on the weekends. An extension of rail trail will eventually run alongside the track through that section in the future; it currently ends at Lime Street.
"We want to cover as much as we can and take anything that may not be as pleasing to the eye and put something there," Riley said. "That way people see the landscape in a new context."
Tags: art installation, arts advisory board, murals, scenic rail,
