Painter Gordon Carlisle admits that the task ahead of him seemed a bit daunting when he started sketching images on the Village Market wall in May. The canvas for his mural, located on Constitution Way across from Citizens’ Bank in Somersworth, was a brick wall 110 feet wide and nearly 20 feet tall. It would be the small city’s first public mural, and Carlisle’s first outdoor work in more than 20 years.

But Carlisle derived inspiration from countless Somersworth residents who encouraged him every step of the way. “There have been many times when I’ve felt completely overwhelmed by this thing,” Carlisle said. “The daily pat on the back, the thumbs up, the yell out the window, has really given me that push forward.”

The project, which will be officially dedicated on Friday, Sept. 26, did not go exactly according to plan. Organized by the Somersworth Main Street program, the mural was initially expected to be finished by late June or early July. Carlisle estimates that the summer’s persistent rains set him back at least a month, and the painting’s intricate details slowed work even in good weather.

Another distraction, though a welcome one for Carlisle, was the frequent conversations he had with passersby. They would holler up to him as he worked from a scissor lift 15 feet in the air, eager to share some of the buried memories that his mural brought bubbling to the surface.

“That’s been very fascinating,” Carlisle said on Sept. 10 as he sat on a bench across the street from his nearly completed mural. “It feels like a living history lab to me.”

As he spoke, a woman in an SUV slowed almost to a halt as she passed in front of the mural. She drove at a crawl along the length of the building, peering through her window at the sequence of bright images.

Carlisle said that kind of interest was common throughout the process, sometimes even causing traffic hazards. Some cars drove partly over the curb as their drivers gazed at the mural, and one almost struck a tree across the street. Fortunately, there were no serious accidents. “I haven’t heard a smack yet,” he said.

The mural includes six separate panels, with a few other images scattered in between. At either end of the wall are blocks depicting the Salmon Falls River, one set in winter and the other in spring. The spring image, which was designed to look like an old hand-tinted print with decaying edges, shows a canal surrounded by old mill housing and a footbridge that no longer exists. The winter image offers an aerial view of the snowy river, with neighboring Berwick, Maine, visible in the distance.

Noting that the river has played a critical role in Somersworth’s history, Carlisle said he considered painting a waterway through all six images. “The town really wouldn’t exist without the Salmon Falls River,” he said.

The second image from the left, based on a photograph from the 1940s, shows four women standing arm in arm in front of Vic’s Diner, a former mainstay of downtown Somersworth. By pure coincidence, two of the living waitresses shown in the painting came to visit the mural at the same time while Carlisle was working on it.  

The next image is a majestic painting of the Burleigh School, a regal wooden structure that closed in the mid-1950s. Beside that is a more current image of four schoolchildren, two girls and two boys, strolling down the sidewalk from the area of Hilltop Elementary School and holding balloons. Each balloon has a word on it, together reading, “Proud past, bright future.” Two young students from Hilltop served as models for the image, posing for portraits that Carlisle used while painting.

The final image depicts a high school football game, based on a fall contest between Somersworth and Dover in the mid 1950s.

Between these panels is an image of a General Electric meter, representing the town’s industrial side, as well as a shoe last and bobbin, reflecting its older textile industry. Taken together, the mural’s images are designed to honor Somersworth’s past while also embracing the present and looking into the future. Carlisle hopes the public art will boost civic pride and connect generations in Somersworth.

“It really is kind of this slow movie here that has, I think, completely captivated the town,” he said.

Led by director Darryl Cauchon, Somersworth Main Street first interviewed Carlisle in summer 2007. The South Berwick, Maine, resident has painted dozens of murals and public art works in New Hampshire and Maine, including an entryway mural in the Portsmouth Brewery and another in a waiting room at Exeter Hospital.

Main Street gave Carlisle a residency in January, and he spent a week gathering feedback and ideas from schools, businesses and city organizations. He later presented those ideas to the Mural Design Committee, which consisted of about 15 local artists, citizens, historians, city officials and business owners. Carlisle met with the committee at least six times to brainstorm concepts for the images his mural would portray.

“Basically, I was getting information from as many people as I could,” Carlisle said.

They eventually whittled down the options to two. Carlisle had proposed a more conceptual design that was not as accessible, but the committee ultimately chose a timeline of 20th century images depicting people and places that long-time residents can still recall.

“A lot of thought was put into this, and it was really a whole community giving their input,” Cauchon said.

With a crew of volunteers helping out, Carlisle began by pressure washing and priming the wall, then adding faux brick sections. Upon this blank slate he sketched outlines of each image and sponged on rose-colored backgrounds, giving passersby some eye candy as the mural unfolded. Numerous residents, stirred by the memories that each image imbued, shared their stories with Carlisle.

“He says he spends more time talking to people than he does painting,” Cauchon said.

One woman, a former neighbor to Carlisle, said she grew up in one of the buildings that can be seen in the springtime river image. “For the first part of her life, her childhood, she was raised there,” Carlisle said. “She can remember things like waking up to the train.” She later worked at the General Electric mill, which is also commemorated on the wall.

Other residents remember attending the Burleigh School or eating at Vic’s Diner. Cauchon said one man recognized the runner carrying the ball in the football painting.

One day, Carlisle said, an old man sitting on a bench across the street stopped a much younger passerby to point out the image of Vic’s and tell him about the old diner. “People are starting to tell each other stories,” Carlisle said.

After outlining the images, Carlisle went through the meticulous and laborious process of filling in the color and borders, getting each minute detail to scale. He faced continual challenges as the project dragged on and rainy days delayed his progress, but he kept working through the summer. Carlisle credited Cauchon for using his resourcefulness to make sure the mural got funded despite the delays.

The Somersworth City Council voted this year to cut off funding for the Main Street program, but Cauchon and company vowed to see the mural through to its completion. A number of businesses and organizations donated to the project, including Somersworth Main Street and the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. Other area businesses donated supplies, including cans of paint, brushes and equipment.

Cauchon estimates the total cost of the project at about $25,000, including about $16,000 for Carlisle’s fee, all of which was fundraised. He estimated the monetary value of donated supplies at another $7,000. But after watching the mural come to life, Cauchon feels it was worth all the money and effort.

“Everyone comes up to me and says, ‘It’s just wonderful, it’s beautiful,’ and it is,” Cauchon said. “You have to really go by it to appreciate it.”

The opening dedication will be held on Friday, Sept. 26 at 5 p.m. The ceremony will tentatively include short speeches from Judy Rigmont, of the N.H. State Council on the Arts; Somersworth Mayor Mike Micucci; members of the Mural Design Committee; and Gordon Carlisle. Olivia Russell, who lives in Somersworth and won the Little Miss Rochester Fair award last year, will cut the ribbon officially unveiling the completed mural. There will also be catered food, and Carlisle will sign postcard-sized images of the mural.

After all his hard work, the artist looks forward to sitting back and admiring his finished product. Despite the setbacks, he has enjoyed working outside and listening to stories from appreciative residents. 

“It’s a thrill. It’s just great,” Carlisle said. “It’s been such a wonderful breath of fresh air, literally, for me to be out here.”