A new mural in Bristol Borough celebrates the town’s immigrant heritage.
Bristol Borough: Raising the Bar commissioned artist-in-residence Jean-Marc Dubus, who was born in France and now lives in Langhorne, to paint the “Bristol Borough, Settled by the World’s People” mural.
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Dubus spent several weeks painting the mural along Route 13 that welcomes visitors and shows off representations of the immigrants that helped build Bristol Borough along the Delaware River into the vibrant community that it is today.
Credit: Submitted
The mural was funded with community support through Bristol Borough: Raising the Bar and Visit Bucks County.
Paul Leinheiser, the owner of PKB Contractors, allowed his building to be used as the canvass and lighting to be installed. Greg Clark donated setting up the electricity and lighting and Mike Myers donated the final protective coating for the mural.
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“This was the perfect mural. We wanted to depict Bristol Borough’s diversity,” said Bill Pezza, who heads Bristol Borough: Raising the Bar.
Dubus said he was honored to create the mural and was partly inspired by historic images of families arriving at Ellis Island.
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“A project like this takes time,” Dubus said, noting all the support the mural received.
Dubus’ artwork has been featured across Bristol Borough, including in the halls of Snyder-Girotti Elementary School. He runs his art studio out of the Centre for the Arts.
Bristol Borough has looked to public art as its business community has been revitalized. Pezza said the group has looked at smaller towns and big cities like Philadelphia that have vibrant public art scenes.
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Pezza said he hopes more murals and public art displays will be expanded through the borough.
“It just adds more to our town,” he said.
