For Matthew Willey, it’s always a little scary at first to spend the entire day high up in a bucket truck with your back to the world, painting an enormous outside wall of a building.
But Willey, the artistic force between the Good of the Hive mural project, was put at ease pretty quickly by the sheer fact that he’s on home turf while he paints his latest mural on the building at 49 Park St. in Bangor.
“I’m a native New Englander, so right away, I feel at home,” said Willey, who was born and raised in Lexington, Massachusetts, and has worked as a muralist for more than 20 years. “This time of year, people are relaxed. They are just happy to be outside. I love seeing people go by on their motorcycles. The vibe is very free. Very summer in New England.”
Since late June, Willey has spent most days — that haven’t been raining — high up in a bucket truck painting one of his intricate, colorful bee murals. Passersby have noticed the piece began to take shape over the past month, with bees beginning to populate the hive, dripping with honey and feeling almost alive with purpose.
Since 2015, he has been on a mission to paint 50,000 bees on murals all across the world. He’s painted around 10,000 since his first mural in Florida, and has projects lined up for many more years after he finishes the mural in Bangor next week.
Willey’s purpose in this 21-year creative endeavor is to raise awareness around the world about not just the danger that pollinators like honeybees are in, but also the interconnectedness of all living things — from the tiniest insect, to the 7.8 billion human beings on this planet.
“My metaphor is always ‘the bee is to the hive as we are to our world,’” Willey said. “This is part of a larger effort to get people to think about the bigger things, like climate change, where our food comes from, how we are just one part of this planet.”
Willey came to Bangor through the efforts of Bangor Beautiful, a nonprofit formed in 2022 to promote public art, gardens and green spaces throughout the city. Community fundraising throughout the spring and summer raised thousands of dollars to make the mural a reality.
Just as muralist Robert Wyland in the 1990s and 2000s painted 100 outdoor whale murals across the world to raise awareness about ocean conservation — Portland has one, painted in 1993 — so too will Bangor have a bee mural, part of an art project with a similar goal.
“Robert Wyland is actually a major inspiration for me. I remember seeing his murals as a kid and that was deeply impressive to me,” Willey said. “He used his art to inspire people to think about the world in a different way.”
When Willey finally puts the finishing touches on the mural at the end of next week, downtown Bangor will have its own, unique piece of public art — a towering addition to its growing collection of murals adorning once-empty walls throughout the city that also connects it to towns and cities all over the world.
A celebration for the completion of the Good of the Hive mural in Bangor is set for 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 22, directly outside the mural at 49 Park St., including a community potluck and dance party.
