#TBT That Time We Solved The Mystery Of The Huge Metal Sculptures On A Bangor Lawn
It's been about a year since these huge metal sculptures appeared on one Bangor resident's front lawn. Here's the story of how we solved the mystery of where they came from!
November 2021
It was just after Halloween when I noticed these new sculptures pop up on a lawn on Cedar St. in Bangor, a lawn I pass every day on my school pick-up route. And I wondered out loud if anyone knew the story behind these pieces of art that seemingly popped up overnight.
Well as luck would have it, word got out that we were talking about them. Thanks to a local real estate agent, the new homeowners reached out and made a connection, and offered us an explanation as to what they're all about!
So, it is now my pleasure to tell you the backstory of how these cool works made their way from Sylva, North Carolina to Bangor, Maine, and ended up down the road from Stephen King's house.
Meet Sculptor Davis Whitfield.
"I've always been into art. I've always been a painter and drawer and kind of discovered sculpture in college."
Whitfield grew up in Mississippi, right around where the legendary "crossroads" were, down the road from B.B. King's house. In college, he honed his skills in art with a concentration in sculpting. At 22, after college, Whitfield apprenticed with a Master Sculptor in North Carolina.
Whitfield now does commission work for an interior design firm out of Baltimore. He works in stone, steel, bronze, and brass, with a penchant for contemporary abstracts. He's even done some work with fiberglass.
"They'll commission me to do pieces for lobbies or hotels or high-rise apartments all around the country. So I build them in the studio, crate them up and ship them out. "
Recently, Whitfield's wife accepted a position with the University of Maine, so they moved their family and his studio from the mountains of North Carolina...
...into the City of Bangor.
"I've never lived 'in town' in any of my life. When we were in Sylva, we were tucked away on a mountainside and nobody ever even knew we were there. "
Whitfield says he hopes his spot in town will bring some exposure to his work. He says that was one of the reasons he decided to showcase his pieces right on his front lawn.
"The little stainless guy is called 'Go Take A Hike'. "
"It was the first large piece I ever made."
"The insect-looking one, which I'm hoping my neighbor up the road would be interested in, Mr. King, because it's kind of creepy...That was inspired from the book 'Ender's Game'. "
"That was kind of like what I thought the Buggers would look like or their ships would look like; a visualization of that. "
"That one is called 'Wrapped Around You'."
"It's kind of in the eye of the beholder. "
Whitfield says he hoped to add more pieces, as he works on them, to the display.
"The barn is gonna become a studio once I get everything unpacked from in the house and out there. But yeah, eventually I will be working out of the barn."
When asked what he thought about being in a location that's so highly traveled not only by locals but by tourists traveling through to take pictures in front of Stephen King's house up the road he said:
"It's amusing looking out the dining room window and seeing everybody stopping to take their pictures."
My guess is that as Whitfield adds more of his pieces to his yard, his house might become a destination for folks to stop and take pictures in front of, too.
To see more of Whitfield's work, you can check out his website, Daviswhitfield.com, or check out his Instagram site.
Welcome to town, Whitfield family! And thanks for making Bangor even more interesting!
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