A new interactive sculpture project erected along the edge of Riverbank Park is meant to celebrate the role of the Presumpscot River in the surrounding community.

The series of sculptures was designed by University of Southern Maine students, led by Michael Shaughnessy, an art professor and the president of the Friends of the Presumpscot organization.

This week, as Shaughnessy was fielding questions related to a controversial email sent by Westbrook Assistant City Administrator Bill Baker that mocked the project, he said he had received multiple compliments since the sculptures were installed on May 3.

The students, in Shaughnessy’s sculpture class at the university, designed the pieces as small, house-like structures, each containing text, historical images, or metal sculptures and paintings of fish in the river. All of the funds for the project came from the University of Southern Maine art program, he said.

“The response has been really good,” Shaughnessy said, adding that Mayor Colleen Hilton recently sent him a message complimenting the project.

In the email to Shaughnessy this week, Hilton said the project was creating “quite a buzz.”

“(I) wanted you to know that this spontaneous walk was really very much appreciated,” she said.

Shaughnessy said the project’s focus on the river came from the community’s recent movement to emphasize the river, with kayak launches and plans for an expanded riverwalk once the Saccarappa dams are removed and fish passage efforts are continued in 2017.

The house-like pieces, Shaughnessy said, were created to use “home” as a dual metaphor for both the river and Westbrook.

“The idea of the house is a metaphor – the river is home to the fish and also the village (Westbrook) that the river itself goes through,” he said. “The human habitation and the natural habitation.”

He said while students were installing the structures two weeks ago, a few people stopped by to see what was going on. Some people, he said, immediately identified with some of the images.

“One of the historical photos was taken right from someone’s house,” he said, adding that another passerby commented on a photo of the former public swimming pool.

Each piece, he said, was designed using basic woodworking, but the pieces also hold original art and text from submitted “reflections.”

While planning the project, Shaughnessy received assistance from the Westbrook Downtown Coalition, both to get the word out about the upcoming project but also to get submissions of short quotes or stories about the river.

“It’s an embrace of the river, using these different sources,” he said.

Abigail Cioffi, the coordinator of the Downtown Westbrook Coalition, said she “enthusiastically supported” the project from the start.

She said the finished product is a “very engaging form of art,” and has high hopes that it will lead to future projects.

“I’m so glad they chose Westbrook as their first city, and hope everyone gets a chance to make it down,” she said. “It’s a really beautiful, thoughtful installation and I think it’ll be a great piece for Westbrook’s residents and workers to visit, as well as the thousands of people that come to Westbrook Together Days.”

One of a series of sculptures created by University of Southern Maine art students that now line the Presumpscot riverwalk. The project, spearheaded by Michael Shaughnessy, an art professor, is meant as an engaging celebration of the river.Staff photo