Richmond Town Center Murals
2026 Town Center Murals Theme:
VERMONT STATE SYMBOLS
What do a Western Honey Bee, Apple Pie, a Monarch Butterfly, a Hermit Thrush, Slate, a Painted Turtle, a Sugar Maple, the Bear's Head Tooth Fungus, a Morgan Horse, Marble, a Walleye, Milk, the Charlotte Whale, Granite, Grossular Garnet, a Brook Trout, the Mt Holly Mammoth, a Northern Leopard Frog, Randall Linebacker Cattle, Red Clover, Talc, the Gilfeather Turnip and the Governor Aiken Bucktail Streamer all have in common? They are all official symbols of Vermont and the inspiration for this year's Town Center Murals!
The murals covering the basement windows of the Richmond Town Center building are repainted each year by the community under the guidance of Radiate Art Space. It is now time to create the new ones. Join us to create new murals based on the Vermont state symbols! Your ideas are welcome and no previous experience is necessary to help design or paint.
If you are interested in any part of this process and help design the new murals, please contact Judy Bush at judybbush@gmail.com
History of the Murals
Back in 2017, when Radiate Art Space was just up and running as a community non-profit art space, we quickly realized that natural light was desirable if not necessary for creating art. We were determined to raise enough money to reinstall working windows where previous ones had been boarded up in the 100 + yr old Richmond Town Center. To that end, we fundraised with a “duck race” that had been a popular fundraiser for the Teen Center (RATC-Nest) located in our space before us. We raised over $1,000, and years later, with the help from the town, we replaced two of the windows. In the intervening years, a Radiate art class was held on mural painting. The first murals were then painted by local pre-teens/teens on the panels that cover the windows. Since that time, with the formal approval of the Selectboard, the process of painting murals has become a community art activity curated by Radiate Art Space.