MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Abenaki artist Abena Songbird has always been proud of her heritage. But at the same time, she felt the celebration and representation of her culture as one of only four state-recognized native American groups was lacking. So, when she received a grant from Vermont Arts Council and the Public Arts Commission to paint an Abenaki-inspired mural at the Montpelier transit center she knew it was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

“I created this gathering event to collimate and celebrate ‘d le musina’ we continue to live, the mural,” said Abena Songbird.

It took 5 years to get the project out of the planning stages, but now it’s finally complete. And on Saturday, people gathered to take in the sight. The mural is 17 feet tall and 27 feet wide with valuable symbols in Abenaki culture. Songbird says it represents all four seasons in Vermont. There were eight artists involved with painting the mural and they say it took eight days to complete

“When Abena first spoke with me about it, I was a little bit taken aback, I never done a project of this magnitude before. And so, we talked about it, I gave her some ideas then my ideas went down on paper then I designed some and then it came to fruition,” said Co-Art Director and Co-Designer Lucy Cannon-Neel.

“This experience has been amazing, it’s great to celebrate the hard work of a lot of us artists and also in the middle of Montpelier to have an Abenaki mural that people can feel pride and representation,” said Songbird.

Artist Erik Gillard described his time working on the mural as rewarding.

“It was really fun, it was totally an honor to help Abena get her vision painted up there, big and bold. Real collaborative work to just paint it together,” said Gillard.

Alburgh resident Sage Gould says it was an honor to be at the celebration.

“As long as the sun rises, the water flows, the grass is green — that’s what the Abenaki flag means and knowing that we’ll have this here, knowing that we’re going to have that still, as a reminder for people…We’re still here so that was pretty cool,” said Sag Gould.

The artists say they’re happy the work is getting to be displayed at such a public and high-traffic location. And hope it inspires people to appreciate and learn about the Abenaki culture.

“It feels really powerful to help uplift this Abenaki imagery and celebrate the indigenous people in this place of meeting at the bus station seem like a really nice place by people coming through,” said Gillard.

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