The Community Bridge on Carroll Creek - Pictures and Details

Friday, June 10, 2011

The Community Bridge, a bridge mural in downtown Frederick.

The Community Bridge mural project transformed a plain concrete bridge in Frederick, Md into the amazing illusion of an old stone bridge. Artist William Cochran and his assistants painted the entire structure by hand, using advanced trompe l'oeil ("deceive the eye") techniques.  There is a sign with a Key to explain many of the symbols painted on the bridge.  They represent symbols and stories contributed by thousands of people from all over the community of Frederick.

The Hidden Door

"The linked circle pattern in the gate represents the interconnected and interdependent nature of a family, a community, a nation, each of which is really nothing more than a network of relationships. In this network, each connection, however small, is an integral part of the whole. The title of this piece refers not to the gate itself but to the plain wooden door visible behind it. This inner door is not easy to see at first (and probably is not visible on your monitor). A key of interlaced circles is offered to the right of the gate. The key to accessing the inner door is the recognition that we are all connected, a notion made clear by the community's ideas."  ~ Taken from the Community Bridge Website

"The Woman of Samaria, depicted in The Light Within, was sculpted circa 1857 by William Henry Rinehart, who was born not far from the Community Bridge. Rinehart's only biblical work, this sculpture depicts the woman of Samaria who met Jesus at a well. She offered him a drink and he offered her what he called 'living water.' For our purpose, what is significant about Rinehart's theme is that Jesus and that Samaritan woman should never have been talking to each other. They were enemies by both race and religion. She was considered vastly inferior by both her gender and her reputation (she had had more than one husband and was living with a man she was not married to). And yet at that well - which is a common resource, towns grow up around water sources - these two people found some common ground. And that is what this project is about, finding and illuminating common ground."  ~ Taken from the Community Bridge Website

 

This is the most fascinating mural on the Community Bridge to me, the angel looking in a mirror is distorted. When you view her from the 2nd story window of the adjacent Delaplaine Visual Arts Center, she is in perfect focus.