Senior College Stories

August 2026

An interview with Craig Watson
by Denise Pendleton

Board trustee Denise Pendleton sat down with Craig Watson, teacher of the popular Fall 2024 class "Creative Placemaking" to hear about the class and how it led to the making of the Belfast Mural Project.

D: Tell me a little about yourself, and how you first learned of Belfast and Belfast Senior College?

C: I moved to Maine nine years ago from Southern CA. When our daughter and husband moved here to purchase a farm and start a family, we didn't want to be far away. While we originally thought we'd only have a second home in Maine, we fell in love with the state and decided to stay. My background includes years as a senior vice president of telecommunications company and then chair of the California Arts Council. Now I'm on the Maine Arts Commission board.

D: What prompted you to teach?

C: What drew me to BSC was the opportunity to impart my interests in the arts by teaching a class. I found Belfast full of creative energy and wanted to add to that by exploring "Creative Placemaking" with a group of Senior College students.

D: What did you learn in teaching that class? About Belfast? About BSC?

C: One of the beauties of teaching a class is you have to create a plan. For my class I planned a series of class guests, which gave me the opportunity to learn from the many who care about Belfast, including Mike Hurley, Paul Naron, and Amanda Cunningham.

New creative ideas emerged also from students. When I asked them to consider how public spaces can be transformed into destinations where people naturally want to gather, I learned about the Porch Music Festival that happens in communities like Belfast with walkable neighborhoods.

We were meeting for class in the downtown Brigham Green Park and as discussion evolved, the class had the idea to add a porch to the brick wall at the back of Brigham Green Park. I asked John Bielenberg Sr., who does set design for Belfast Maskers, to design a platform porch to activate the space.

The creation of that porch led to a large-scale projection presentation of "Americans Who Tell the Truth," by artist Robert Shetterly, last September 2025.

All of this emerged from a sharing of ideas among students. I enjoyed teaching the class so much, I hope to offer it again soon.
(See a video of the Creative Placemaking class here.)

D: I've read about the plan for a large-scale mural on that wall. Can you tell me more about that?

C: This really all started with class discussion at the Brigham Green, and I kept thinking about ways that public space could become more inviting.

I chatted with with Lee Woodward, whose law office is nearby, about a possible mural and he urged me to talk to Islesboro resident and longtime sailor Earl MacKenzie. Not surprisingly, Earl suggested a maritime theme and we quickly agreed that the ideal mural for Brigham Green is the Jennie Flood Kreger. As the only five-masted schooner and largest vessel ever built in Belfast, launched in 1919, it pays tribute to the city's shipbuilding history.

Belfast artist Maxwell Nolin, known for his mastery in detailed realist paintings, has agreed to take on the challenge of creating this new large-scale landmark.

Funds are now being raised through the Maine Arts Commission "Make It Maine" placemaking initiative. Businesses along Main Street are contributing to our campaign and we're inviting individuals to contribute donations also to this Belfast Mural Project that will transform the wall overlooking Brigham Green.
#belfastschoonermural #jenniefloodkreger

For more information, see the story in the Midcoast Villager.

D: How could your visions for Belfast connect to visions for BSC?

C: Research indicates that high quality social connections is one of the determinants of longevity. I've often said that Belfast Senior College is in the business of saving lives because it brings people together who, in their later years, are often trying to reimagine their lives.

Taking a Senior College class promises to stimulate imagination and nurture intellectual capacity while rebuilding the community many seniors have lost for any number of reasons.

And that's the link between creative placemaking and BSC. Belfast Senior College is, in its own way, engaged in creative placemaking — by creating a small vibrant community.