Commuters in Hartford may have noticed a mural taking shape on the side of an 18-story apartment building overlooking Interstate 84.
For weeks, artists have been perched on scaffolding, painting the wall. Recently, an image has emerged of a boy holding a jar of fireflies.
The boy, Sam, is from East Hartford, said Michael Rice, the lead artist.
"It’s meant to inspire hope, imagination, maybe a sense of wonderment, kind of tapping into that nostalgia a little bit, that we are all yearning for these days," Rice said. "We are so accustomed to staring at blank concrete and billboards. I would just hope it would help improve people’s lives on their daily commutes ... and maybe they find a sense of inspiration when they take it in."
The mural was made possible through the Hartford-based public arts organization “RiseUP for Arts.” It is part of a city-wide initiative to commission even more mural projects in the future.
The mural should be completed by the end of June, Rice said.
