Art and soles: West Acton adds a walkable mural gallery
The public art “treasure hunt” makes its debut in time for tomorrow’s Discover West Acton Day.
A new public art project is intended to help viewers fall in love with West Acton — one mural at a time.
The self-guided Art Walk — different from the recently created, temporary Art Loop — links the village’s nine public murals, the Acton Sign Museum, and other art installations, creating a half-hour route highlighting local art and history.
Chris Randall of the West Acton Cultural District Committee says he hopes the project weaves a connecting thread between the town’s growing collection of open-air installations.
“Now, when you stand at one mural, you’re aware of all the other art that’s right around the corner,” Randall said. “The hope is that people are encouraged to go look at another one, and then another, and put it together as a collection of public art.”
He described the walk as a “treasure hunt” to be savored just in time for Discover West Acton Day on October 18 and the arrival of “beautiful fall weather.”
For Margot Kimball, the founder and executive director of Art for All who joined forces with Randall on the project, the walk highlights nearly seven years of collaborative work.
“It’s about community building,” she said.
Art for All launched in 2019 with a mission to “enliven the village,” Kimball said, and has had a hand in many of the village’s public installations.
Some murals drew on the artistic inspiration of more than 100 community members, with residents painting individual panels that were later joined into large-scale designs.
‘Creative energy’
The oldest mural on the walk was made the year Art for All started, in collaboration with the Cultural District Committee. Titled “Art Scramble: Music in the Village,” it’s divided into multiple squares, each painted by a different artist. A reproduction now hangs as a mural on the side of what’s now Eva’s Little Kitchen.
Another highlight is “Debra’s Garden,” painted on the walk-in freezer behind Debra’s Natural Gourmet. Twelve artists painted the piece during a previous Discover West Acton Day, and Kimball called it one of her favorite projects because of the way it drew artists and the public together.
“It was just so much fun for the group of us to be painting in public where people would walk by and talk to us,” she said. “Visual artists aren’t usually performers, but everyone loved it.”
Randall said West Acton has “a lot of community spirit, creative energy,” and even “a sense of playful fun.” He hopes the Art Walk helps showcase that spirit.
“At the end of the day, we want to feature the creative talent in the village,” he said, “but we also want people to come visit, spend more time here, and get to love it the way we do.”
