Nick Paradis sees downtown Concord, with its long brick walls running between storefronts, as a blank canvas.
Paradis is a screen printer and art teacher at Lakes Region Community College who completed a mural that now bathes Theatre Street in psychedelic imagery of spotlights, curtains, a statue of liberty, musical instruments and flags.
He hopes to see more like it downtown.
“For me, art on the street is like constant live music,” he said. “One of the benefits is just being able to communicate with all the passerbys.”
Paradis got the idea for the mural and called on building owner Remi Hinxhia.
Together, they drew up a vision for the piece, incorporating imagery that both nods to the nearby Capitol Center for the Arts and draws in themes that matter to Hinxhia, his background as an Albanian immigrant, and the spirit of relationship building that has made things happen for him in Concord.
Paradis finds all kinds of art and painting fulfilling. But murals, he said, like the one he did to fill the 918-square-foot wall, bring “a different kind of adrenaline.”
“I’ve had my eye on this wall for a long time,” he said.
Paradis wants to jumpstart more public art initiatives in the area, even as the state all but dismantled its arts council this year.
“I hope this gives artists, or people in general, some hope, where we should work together and collaborate,” he said.
Hinxhia was on board from the beginning. He was a painter years ago, with some of his work hanging in restaurants downtown. He also likes to support fellow Concord entrepreneurs. This meant celebrating both.
“Nick was talking as a business person, and improving the town, improving my building,” he said. “And I was like, sure, let’s do it.”
A ribbon cutting for the new mural sandwiched between Main Street and Storrs Street will be held Thursday at 11 a.m.
