A grant was approved in January allowing Eastport artist Anna Hepler to anchor her sculpture in downtown Bangor's waterway. The proposed prototype caused a stir among Bangor residents but the result is not what most expected.

Photo via Amanda McDonald
Photo via Amanda McDonald
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The buoy sculpture moves with the 16-foot tides. The sculpture is a large group of colorful buoys she and friends collected along the Maine coast for months. An attempt to release the sculpture yesterday was unsuccessful when the buoy flipped over causing it to go land upside-down in the stream below. Hepler returned today at low tide to climb down to the stream and successfully overturned her masterpiece resulting in cheers from the onlooking crowd.

The Bangor City Council approved a $1,000 grant for the art in January in addition to the $5,000 to $6,000 to be raised by Hepler.

The sculpture can be viewed through the summer until early September behind the University of Maine Museum of Art in downtown Bangor.

Helper hopes to move her sculpture to other locations in Maine after her exhibit is finished in Bangor. She has other sculptures on display within the museum beginning in June as well.

View the failed launch attempt below:

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