Author: Joey Ciaramitaro

Thank you for your interest in participating in the Harbor Village artist selection process. Please take sometime to review the artist bio, artist statement for mural and the mural proposal. In addition, community members are encouraged to review the artist website and/or Instagram page to get a sense of the artist’s variety of work.

Please vote YES for your preferred artist.

Mural Theme: 400th anniversary of Gloucester; “Our People, Our Stories”
Location: North facing Facade on Elm St

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Anna Dugan
https://www.instagram.com/annadidathing/
https://www.annadidathing.com/

Mike Grimaldi
https://www.instagram.com/grimdrops/
https://www.grimdrops.com/

Mike Grimaldi- Grimdrops has awesome elements including the iconic Greasy Pole Scene With Matza standing tall at the end of the greasy pole holding the flag, a Schooner, The Fisherman’s Statue St Peter, The Lighthouse, The Sea Serpent, a lobster claw, The Paint Factory, a whale, a seagull and teh Gorton’s Fisherman. Pretty Iconic!!!!

Artist Bio: Mike Grimaldi is known as Grimdrops in the art world. He lives on the north shore of Boston in historic Salem, Ma. After art school, he started designing logos, painting live at events, painting on canvas for private collectors and painting murals on parking lots, tiny houses and even at City Hall. Whether it’s at a restaurant, a creative studio, on canvas, a separation wall in the backyard, a tunnel leading out to a football field or on the facade of a tiny house, Grimdrops wants his work to stop people in their tracks. He wants them to take a closer look – often for a selfie. At live events, he creates custom art that can be tailored to the specific occasion, whether it be the subject matter of the piece, the color palette or even incorporating a logo. One time, he designed and painted a mural in 48 hours and he wants to do that in less than a day. Grimdrops ultimate-goal is to create a mural or live painting in every state and on every continent. Artist Statement, regarding proposal . For each of my murals, I intend to have to have the rich history of Gloucester be front and center. Having grown up in East Gloucester near the back shore, nearly all of my neighbors were at one point either fishermen or involved in the fishing industry in some capacity. I have an enormous amount of respect for the sacrifices, the grueling hours, the time away from family and the backbreaking physical labor they’ve endured. Some of the visuals I’d intend to incorporate would be Rocky Neck (which, as an artist, I’d be remiss not to include), The Fisherman’s memorial, St. Peter, schooners, humpback whales, and our iconic lighthouses, amongst others. I’d love to incorporate the fabled sea serpent as was reportedly seen by more people than any other serpent sighting in history. I had the pleasure of bringing the Gloucester Sea Serpent to life at the Cape Ann Museum recently and would love to tie that into the murals at Harbor Village as well These are my initial thoughts, though my intention is to get feedback from the community about imagery they’d like to see included. I of course won’t be able to incorporate everything but this will give a great starting point and will enable me to put together a thorough and cohesive visual narrative for each piece. I intend to hire other artists with ties to Gloucester to assist me with installing the pieces. Ideally I’d love to work with artists who are up and coming and pass along some of the knowledge I’ve learned doing this type of work over the past few years.

Anna Dugan has some green and grey hands holding postcards of a pink lighthouse, the Man at the wheel, Hammond Castle and a dory scene.

Anna Dugan, also known as Annadidathing is a first generation Filipinx American mural artist, chalk artist, and illustrator based in Lynn, MA. She graduated with a BFA from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, in 2013. Her work celebrates her heritage, navigates the complexities of identity as a mixed race person in the US, and creates space for vulnerable & honest mental health discussion through vibrant colors, storytelling, & folk art inspired work. Anna uses her work to create art that is accessible, to create more Filipinx representation in public art, and to use art to weave emotional bonds within diverse communities. Artist Statement: I want to create a sense of community, nostalgia, and pride for the nautical history of Gloucester. My design has people holding photographs to signify memories of recent and long past memories and landmarks. The mural will be colorful, thoughtful, and full of recognizable Gloucester icons. When people see it there will be no doubt that the imagery ties to this specific community of people.