Grand State of Maine

Grand State of Maine is a large bronze sculpture that incorporates state emblems that are instantly recognizable to Maine residents: the moose (state animal), the Chickadee (state bird), the Maine Coon (state cat), Landlocked Salmon (state fish), Moxie soda (state soft drink), the Whoopee Pie (state treat), blueberry pie (state dessert), wintergreen (state herb), and White Pine pinecone and tassel (state flower), among others. All the elements are rendered at close to life-size scale. The title of the artwork is itself a reference to the official state song.

Installed at the roadside near the border crossing site, Grand State of Maine resembles the type of familiar “welcome” sculptures often seen at state or national borders. It equally resembles a home-made roadside attraction. Because it is large scale and made of bronze—a material usually reserved for important historical figures—the sculpture is odd and hard to categorize. There is both an absurd and educational element in play because of the humorously overdetermined number of items on the official state emblems list that are materialized in the sculpture. The town of

Van Buren has nicknamed the sculpture “Marty the Moose” after Martin Van Buren, the eighth US president after whom the town itself is named. Grand State of Maine won an award in 2014 for “Best Public Art Projects Annually” from Americans for the Arts.