BANGOR – Just in time for Tuesday’s much-anticipated grand opening of the new Hollywood Slots facility, officials on Sunday afternoon unveiled a large-scale work of Maine-themed art that now fills the facility’s prominent Main Street window.

“Just Add Water” is the name of the colorful painting, a low-tide composition of mussel shells, smooth stones, sea urchins, sand dollars and one bright-orange lobster claw, clustered against a pale blue-green background. A white pine cone and some needle tassels are part of the grouping, too.

Worked in acrylic paint and pastels with touches of gold leaf, the painting is made up of two rows of eight framed panels, each 4 feet wide and 7 feet high. Together, the panels measure 34 feet across and 14 feet high, arcing behind the curved window of the facility’s southwest corner.

Artist Brenda Ferguson of Dixmont said she was contacted last August by a Penn National official, inviting her to submit a proposal for using the expansive display space to best advantage. The 16-panel design, known as a polyptych, enabled her to adapt her vision to the window’s curved expanse, Ferguson said.

About three dozen people attended the unveiling and applauded from the sidewalk on Main Street as workers dropped the heavy curtain that hid the colorful painting from view. Most were the artist’s friends, family members and other supporters, while others were casino officials and staff.

Children’s book author Bruce McMillan of Shapleigh said he has known Ferguson for about nine years, since she enrolled in a class on children’s literature he was teaching at the University of New Hampshire. He said he had seen individual panels of “Just Add Water” but was seeing the completed work for the first time.

“It’s a perfect piece for this corner,” McMillan said with enthusiasm. “It’s a day at the beach. Every little thing is so thought out, every little detail.”

Brenda Ferguson’s son Lucas was there with two friends, Chris Hathaway and Sam Hill. All three boys are 15 and live in Dixmont. Lucas Ferguson said his mother got the word on Christmas Day that she had been selected to create the artwork and had been working on it steadily ever since, using converted space in a nearby stable as a studio for the outsize project.

“She’s been pretty happy,” he said.

Penn National spokeswoman Amy Kenney said six Maine artists were invited to submit proposals for the high-profile commission, with Ferguson winning the board’s final approval. The Pennsylvania corporation paid Ferguson $116,000 for the painting, Kenney said, adding that the company was pleased to support the Maine arts community.

The painting will be lit at night, increasing its visibility.

Ferguson said Penn National CEO Peter Carlino is so pleased with “Just Add Water” he has commissioned two more works, one for the corporate offices in Wyomissing, Pa., and one for his home.

More about Brenda Ferguson, including a detailed, illustrated journal of the process of creating “Just Add Water,” can been seen at www.brendaferguson.com.

mhaskell@bangordailynews.net

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