AUBURN – Patrons and guests will get a taste of the Great Falls when they go into the Spring Street entrance of the newly restored and expanded Auburn Public Library. The entrance will feature an artistic terra cotta mural designed and constructed by artisan Sharon Townshend of South Portland.

“Sharon has truly constructed something unique in our artistic donor mural,” said Barbara Trafton, capital campaign chairwoman. “This mural was two years in the making and involved a huge amount of planning and coordination with our architects. It is absolutely beautiful, a work of art that I know our patrons and donors will admire and enjoy.”

Townshend said the concept of the mural was different from anything she had worked on before. A graduate of Syracuse University with a BFA in painting, she found the mural a challenge from the standpoint of incorporating into the mural approximately 330 names so that they would integrate into the scene. More than 200 names alone were carved into the border, with the rest carved in the mural.

Townshend estimated that she used 500 pounds of clay to make the mural and incorporated a variety of native critters ranging from fish to birds into the scenery. A few of the animals included trout, snapping turtles, bullfrogs, ospreys, heron and Maine’s state bird, the chickadee. Townshend also used her talents to create 27 individual terra cotta plaques for named spaces in the library.

For more information on the mural, contact Kellie DeMers, library development director, at 782-3191, ext. 5.