The Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) unveiled a new community mural in early August honoring the D&R Canal and its most famous avian resident.
The great blue heron, a bird whose habitat includes riversides and lakeshores, is the largest heron in North America.
The new work is designed and painted by artist Jonathan Conner, who goes by LANK.
A lover of the outdoors and wildlife, his Spring Street Mural features the great blue heron, a nod to his favorite way to travel from Trenton to Princeton, the D&R Canal path.
The gold line running through the mural is an approximate map of the path.
LANK is a Trenton-based artist and graduate student in anthropology at Monmouth University.
He is a founding member of the grassroots city beautification organization, SAGE Coalition, and is the public projects manager for Artworks Trenton.
LANK has been organizing and executing mural projects and community art-making since 2008.
Great Blue Heron marks the Arts Council’s 10th temporary mural on Spring Street since the site’s inception in July 2020.
What started as a way to show solidarity and togetherness during the COVID lockdown has evolved into a beloved mainstay of Princeton’s Central Business District.
The location’s temporary nature allows ACP to showcase multiple local and regional artists a year, including Leon Rainbow, Fiona Chinkan, Dave DiMarchi, and Ben Colbert, to name a few.
An application for artists to submit their mural proposals is available on the Arts Council’s website.
Great Blue Heron is the latest of the Arts Council’s growing public art presence around Princeton.
Also on view are Continuum by Illia Barger at Terra Momo Bread Company, Journey by Marlon 7oveChild Davila on the corner of John Street and Leigh Avenue, and the Bring on the Joy, LOVE, and Kindness murals at Princeton Shopping Center.
LANK’s work will be on view on Spring Street until Fall 2023, when a new mural will take its place.
For more information about the Arts Council’s public art projects and community programming, visit www.artscouncilofprinceton.org.