A mural on a wall in the Linden Store parking lot that was two years coming in the planning and execution only lasted about that long before the wall—and the artwork along with it—was removed as part of a $7 million improvement project for the entire Linden Square area.
The art project, after a year of planning, then another year of COVID-related delay, was painted in 2020 by Wellesley High School art intensive students led by Alexander Golob, the principal of Golob Art, and himself a WHS grad.
Golob in a phone interview acknowledges that he was disappointed to learn that the mural, an anthropomorphic imagining of frogs, birds, dogs, and birds enjoying what many in the Wellesley human community had taken up during the pandemic such as listening to music, going for walks, and baking cookies, had such a short life. But there is hope for the future. Federal Realty executive Mark Hebert said in an email, “Throughout all our properties we look for ways to engage with the community through public art and will identify those opportunities at Linden Square when the construction is complete.”
Federal Realty says the demolished wall will be replaced with a new wall and Linden Square sign sometime this summer.
(Hat tip to reader AG for the heads up on this.)
So disappointing. My son Carson was one of the artists who painted that mural. Seeing it always made me smile and I thought it would be there many more years.
Nancy, we agree it’s disappointing. It took so much to get that mural created, and we hope Carson is proud of his part in making it happen. Between COVID delays, and then hotter-than-Hades days during which the artists were out there painting, it wasn’t easy bringing that art baby into the world. If Carson is still involved in creative pursuits, we hope his current and future projects enjoy greater longevity.