Art has always been a part of Joe McLaughlin’s life, and he wanted to share the love of creativity by becoming an art teacher. But little did he know how far his love for painting would take him. McLaughlin, who currently teaches painting, street art, printmaking, and drawing at Windham High School, has broadened his canvas beyond the classroom and onto walls of businesses throughout Maine.
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| Windham High School art teacher Joe McLaughlin finds artwork, including murals, to be a rewarding opportunity to create transformation and change the way people experience the world. Here he shows a mural he painted for Big Swing Golf Sim in Windham. PHOTO BY LORRAINE GLOWCZAK |
"My first public mural came about unexpectedly,” McLaughlin said. “While visiting Flight Deck Brewing in Brunswick, I noticed a large white wall at the entrance and immediately wanted to fill that blank space with artwork. I asked the owners what they planned to do with it. When they told me they didn't have any plans, I suggested a mural.”
That project led to a second mural for the brewery and showed McLaughlin the power of community connections and word-of-mouth recommendations. He not only enjoys painting for businesses and community members, but also the relationship that art creates.
“I've met incredible people and have been given opportunities I never would have expected. I enjoy the interactions with the owners and patrons and seeing their excitement at the outcome, watching their business and space grow from just a shell of a room to an art installation."
He said that he has painted subjects that he never imagined doing, from aviation scenes to bees and golf courses, and his murals have taken him to places he otherwise might never have visited.
One of McLaughlin's favorite parts about creating murals is watching the pieces come together.
“Seeing the progress each time I complete the next step is very rewarding to me,” he said.
McLaughlin also finds artwork rewarding because it has the power to create transformation and change the way people experience the world.
When McLaughlin was in high school, he said he was always creating, and that passion eventually grew into painting murals. His parents gave him the freedom and the space to paint a wall in his bedroom. At first, it was just one wall that featured a mural of Jerry Garcia, then before he knew it, every wall in his room was painted. The support of his parents gave him more than just a spark for mural painting but in changing the way he looked at blank walls.
Although painting, drawing and street art come naturally to McLaughlin, he admits that some things do not come easily while creating murals professionally.
“Some challenges that I face include scaling up a small drawing,” McLaughlin said. “When designing the golf ball, for example, I sometimes need to make changes on the wall adjusting the size from the original sketch. I will need to scale and proportion the artwork, so everything doesn’t appear too massive or too small.”
McLaughlin also takes a lot of photographs and will look at them at home to discover how things can be improved, learning to deviate from the original sketch.
“I also receive a lot of help from my wife, Kristin, and sometimes we work as a team to improve the artwork,” he said.
McLaughlin's view on the value of public art in the community was formed from traveling nationally and internationally.
“Sometimes public art can change the landscape of downtrodden communities and become a tourist attraction,” McLaughlin said. “Even changing the energy of a space. When things are so divisive these days, art can act as a universal language to bring people together."
McLaughlin’s love of art is more than a creative and teaching endeavor and, as a result, he hopes to add more art in the Windham and Raymond areas.
“Ultimately, I hope my work inspires others to see the value of art,” he said. “Murals have the power to transform businesses and strengthen communities.”
For his next mural, McLaughlin has been commissioned to provide artwork for a private individual in Casco. <
