In 1987, while their children were students at the Narragansett School, Gorham residents, Peggy Marchand and Linda Webb often admired the murals outside the cafeteria painted by the artist, Dahlov Ipcar. These colorful murals depicting ocean, farm and forest animals were painted on panels 106 feet long and were completed as part of the State of Maine’s Percent for Art program, which requires that a portion of each school construction project be dedicated to artworks within the building project.

During that time, Peggy decided to contact Dahlov Ipcar to ask questions about the mural. She and Linda went to visit Ipcar at her home and were able to interview the artist about her life and art. They were able to record the interview with a borrowed movie camera, which Linda quickly learned how to use.

Peggy described the experience in this way, “Dahlov Ipcar was friendly and gracious and seemed happy to talk about the Narragansett School murals. She made it clear she’d thoroughly enjoyed every step of turning the new school’s fresh but empty walls into vibrant scenes children could love. She revealed that she didn’t like art school instruction and was mostly self-taught and preferred to pull animal shapes and the geometric forms that anchored them out of her real-life observations and imagination, creating her own unique style. Her use of color, whether it was in her studio, her books, or on our mural, always feels joyous and exciting.”

Recently Georgia Humphrey of GOCAM (Gorham Community Access Media) collaborated with Peggy and Linda to create a video of the interview that serves as an artist profile, featuring information about Ipcar’s life and her description of the process in creating the artwork at Narragansett School.

Georgia describes the purpose of the video as “Stewardship…a way to make sure people are aware of this magical piece of art. GoCAM Gorham Community Access Media has always strived to find unusual and historic topics that are pertinent to the Citizens of Gorham.” The video may be viewed with a special link created by GOCAM: http://bit.ly/IpcarGorham.

Dahlov Ipcar died in 2017 at the age of 99. She lives on through her beautiful and distinctive artwork including the mural at the Narragansett School. This mural is truly a community treasure. Peggy continued, “The thousands of Gorham kids who went to Narragansett School know and love how Dahlov Ipcar painted the murals just for them, but really, the murals are an irreplaceable town treasure, a gift for us all!”