The latest version “Many Stitches Hold Up the Sky” includes a number of small changes intended to address critiques from hundreds of community members. Photo contributed by Brunswick Public Art

Jen Greta Cart was excited to unite the community with her art.

When the Hallowell-based artist was selected with her husband Chris Cart to paint a major, 1,400-square-foot mural on the Cabot Mill in Brunswick, she looked forward to perhaps the biggest opportunity of her career.

But the Carts’ time in the spotlight hasn’t gone according to plan.

“This was going be the first real recognition I’ve had in my life,” Jen Greta Cart said. “And it’s hard because no one’s looking at my paint. No one’s saying, ‘Damn, that Jen Greta Cart sure can paint a face.’”

“Many Stitches Hold Up the Sky,” meant to be a hopeful celebration of Brunswick’s diverse future, has instead drawn criticism from artists, activists and Indigenous groups, who say the piece reinforces harmful stereotypes and whitewashes problematic elements of the town’s past, including the historical mistreatment of Native Americans.

The critiques, proliferated in letters to newspapers, public panel discussions and an online petition that has drawn 500 signatures, have sometimes been discouraging, the Carts say. Yet, they may also have inspired a better mural.

Since early December, the artists have spent their days redesigning and repainting about 20 of the 64 5-foot-by-5-foot panels that will soon be installed on Brunswick’s’ Fort Andross in order to address a range of critiques outlined by the project’s critics. The voluntary two-month setback, the expense of which Brunswick Public Art will only partly cover, marks a final attempt for the Carts to unite the community around a once-divisive project.

The previous mural design included subtle differences that critics said reinforced harmful racial stereotypes and traditional power structures. Photo contributed by Jen Greta Cart and Chris Cart

“We’ve actually listened and done real day-to-day work to get changes in there,” Chris Cart said. “Hopefully that will mean something to people.”

In addition to chiding Brunswick Public Arts for failing to consult with Wabanaki groups throughout the mural’s design process, critics have argued several elements of “Many Stiches” reinforce harmful stereotypes or power structures: a Black girl kneels while a white man looms above, a French-Canadian worker remains faceless as she toils, while an Asian woman with an instrument performs for others around her.

In their redesign process, the Carts have looked for creative ways to address these concerns without scrapping the entire $70,000 project, which they had already half-painted by early December. Since then, the pair have spent their days sanding paint off previously completed panels and bringing their new, rethought images to life.

Two Wabanaki figures with a canoe now appear in the mural’s background, referencing the site’s history as an important portage point. The Black girl now works on one knee instead of two — an homage to Colin Kaepernick and his push for racial justice. The white, male figure, representing former Fort Andross owner Coleman Burke, now stands at ground level, playing the banjo so the Asian woman is no longer performing alone.

Already, the artists have begun receiving criticism from conservatives for altering their design in the face of complaints from the left. But the Carts’ said they’re glad they have made a good-faith effort to make the work more inclusive.

“I saw a college exchange student playing a cool instrument, and other people saw an Asian entertainer,” Jen Greta Cart said. “Now, I leave it to you who’s looking through the wrong lens, but I didn’t want to send that message.”

The side of the Fort Andross Mill in Brunswick where the new 1,400-square-foot mural will be installed in June 2023. Photo contributed by Brunswick Public Art

Brunswick Public Art Project Manager and Treasurer Steve Weems, who confirmed the mural is still set for installation this summer, said the new design better conveys the project’s themes of diversity and togetherness.

“The process was laborious, and it took time that we didn’t plan to take, but we’re really, truly grateful for it,” he said. “We have a superior piece of artwork, and that was a direct result of people saying, ‘Hey, we want to be heard.’”

Not all concerns from critics have been answered. Some, including First Nations poet and writer Mihku Paul, have called the project a “missed opportunity,” both because Brunswick Public Art failed to adequately collaborate with community groups and because the piece’s optimistic theme ignores the site’s checkered history.

“I think having widespread knowledge of the history of a place can bring people together in a way that a pretty picture of various races sewing a quilt cannot,” Paul told the Portland Press Herald in December.

Yet for Weems, who said Brunswick Public Art will have a more robust public participation process on future designs, and for the Carts, there’s room for art of both types in Brunswick — as long as the community is willing to come together around it.

“The title of the mural is ‘Many Sitches Hold up the Sky,’” Jen Greta Cart said. “I’d like people to think about that. We all need to start sewing.”

Chris Cart and Jen Greta Cart in front of six panels of their mural, “Many Stitches Hold Up the Sky” in December. Brianna Soukup / Portland Press Herald