Polar Bear in Bramhall Square

After years of community-driven efforts, Bramhall Square Redesign takes another step towards becoming reality. Portland Public Art Committee approves Chris Miller’s ‘Keeper of the Picnic’ design.

By Tony Zeli

It’s been thousands of years since polar bears roamed Maine. But now, with approval from Portland’s public art committee, a polar bear will make its return. The art installation, “Keeper of the Picnic” will be a part of a redesigned Bramhall Square. It marks another step in a long effort by community members to draw attention to a small and difficult to use urban open space.

Historic Square Draws Community Interest

The historic Bramhall Square is located at the intersection of Bramhall Street, Congress Street, Deering Avenue, and Cumberland Avenue. It marks the boundary of two of Portland’s most densely packed neighborhoods, Parkside and the West End. And it has the infamy of being the site of the first federal execution in 1790.

Navigating the busy intersection and the park’s steeply sloping brick sidewalks can be difficult, especially in winter. The steep sidewalks even offer a challenge to city plows. There is no adjacent parking and there is no shelter for a busy bus stop.

As such, a community effort for the redesign of Bramhall Square began. A neighborhood design charrette kicked things off in 2015. Liz Trice, owner and manager of PelotonLabs, a coworking space located at Bramhall Square (where I am a member), organized the design charette. A few dozen neighbors and stakeholders gathered to discuss the future of Bramhall Square.

Attendees discussed the problems, which seemed numerous, but also took turns sharing ideas for improvement: better lighting, public art, more outdoor seating, and new plantings. Some of the bigger ideas included a treehouse lookout, bread oven, or a large glass barrier to block street noise.

Design Compeition

Then in 2017, the Portland Society of Architecture hosted a design competition and key elements of the redesign began to take shape. In 2019, Maine Medical Center offered $100,000 to rebuild the square, matched by $150,000 from the City. In 2020, the City chose Mitchell & Associates as the landscape architecture firm to complete the redesign. And in 2021, the Portland Historic Preservation Board approved the schematic design. Key design elements include a bus shelter, better lighting, more seating, bike racks, and plantings.

But a major design element was yet to be decided. Until last December, when the public art committee selected Chris Miller’s polar bear design.

Polar Bear in the Park

Miller’s winning proposal, “Keeper of the Picnic,” features a large reclining bear made out of five individual concrete pieces – head, two front paws, and two back paws. Miller designed the polar bear to fit within the proposed landscaped areas of the redesigned park. That plug and play design quirk, plus being fun for kids and families, was part of what sold the selection committee on Miller’s work.

Miller, who lives in South Portland, is excited to be a part of the transformation of Bramhall Square. “The landscape design that Braden Drypolcher did for Mitchell and Associates is incredibly well crafted to make the most of a relatively small and somewhat challenging space, and I’m especially proud of how tightly my proposal integrates with that whole,” Miller said.

“When all is said and done the new Bramhall Square is going to be a gem,” he said. “It will be a much more entertaining place to bring kids, especially one might imagine for their first visit. I look forward to seeing that whole vision realized and am happy to live nearby so my family and I will be able to enjoy it too.”

Revitalizing Portland’s Urban Spaces

Miller is also excited to be a part of a larger community effort to revitalize an underutilized public space, an effort that he hopes will inspire others.

“A community of neighbors first engaged with Portland’s design community to initiate the project with ideas and since then have worked tirelessly alongside the City to steward those ideas into reality. I hope that others will be inspired to look around their neighborhoods and communities for such a worthy labor of love, even if Portland excels at those sorts of things already.”

There is no timetable for construction. You can currently see more of Chris Miller’s work already on display at Bramhall Square. “The Gilded Age and The Ice Age on Bramhall’s Hill” is a mural on a public utility box. It depicts among other things… polar bears.

Learn more about the Bramhall Square Redesign Project.

Meanwhile at Congress Square Park

On the topic of urban park revitalization, here is a quick update on the Congress Square Redesign Project. The roadwork of the first phase is out to bid. The City expects construction to begin as soon as spring. The Congress Square Redesign Project will make safety improvements to the intersection, create increased public space, and remove the slip lane from High Street onto Free Street. After the roadwork, the redesign of Congress Square Park may proceed.

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*Updated (2/7/2022): An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Liz Trice of PelotonLabs hosted the 2017 design competition. The competition was sponsored by the Portland Society of Architecture and competing designs were displayed at PelotonLabs.

Tony Zeli is publisher and editor. Reach him at thewestendnews@gmail.com.