Street artist Pigeon, Buckfield students talk about sense of belonging

By Bill Van Tassell

BUCKFIELD — Orson Horchler moved from France to Ellsworth to live with his father when he was 3 years old, and his accent and personality always made him feel like an outsider as he grew up in the Bangor area.

Horchler used that outsider to status to become a renowned street artist, and now, better known as Pigeon, he brings his message of helping “outsiders” gain a sense of place to Maine schools. He recently visited 262-student Buckfield Junior and Senior High School, where he and members of the school’s Civil Rights Team discussed how its important for everyone to feel like important members of the community.

Buckfield’s Civil Rights Team, like others that have developed in high schools around the state in recent years, has a goal of helping all students, regardless of their backgrounds or personalities, aiming to ease issues that arise when students feel separated from others, including bullying.

Pigeon told the students that was treated like an outsider while he was in school, but found an outlet. He goofed off a lot as a student, but was good at art, and began creating street art on abandoned buildings and walls in Bangor. Many of his first artworks appeared with a sea gull signature, but he soon chose the Pigeon as his symbol.

He does his initial drawings with a simple black pen or marker, then mounts them on walls with a simple wheat paste that’s biodegradable and does not ruin the wall, as would spray paint or carving. His work can be removed easily with soap and water or the weather will shortly end its life. He told the Buckfield students that their drawings pasted to the hallway walls begin smelling vaguely of pickles, it’s time to take them down.

The community soon became aware of Pigeon as his work began to appear around Bangor. In addition to the pigeon motif, he said, his drawings drew attention to the fact that the state had started to have a more diverse populuation. Understanding that the new “outsiders” can often feel out of place, he began accepting invitations to speak at public schools and colleges on the topics of diversity and community.

As he and the students explored the idea of what a “typical Mainer” would look like, he asked the students to really look at each other, then make a drawing of a classmate, using one word to describe a strong characteristic. The students’ finished works used words like “power,” “insightful” and “good listener.”

Student Jacob Grover, who chose “insightful,” said of the young lady he drew, “She just knows what she is talking about.” Another student who used the word “powerful” noted how her classmate seemed “very sure of herself.”

Civil Rights Team members said they gained insight from Pigeon’s visit.

Mitchell Porter said, “We have such a small school and so it’s not very diverse. There’s really no such thing as a typical Mainer.”

Teammate Sage Collette added that helping others to fit in and give a sense of belonging is important.

PHOTO CUTLINES:
CIVIL RIGHTS TEAM ONSTAGE – Street Artist, Pigeon, shares his experience about searching for a ‘sense of belonging’ when he moved from France to Maine as a youngster. On stage with him were members of Buckfield Junior & Senior High School’s Civil Rights Team. (Photo by Bill Van Tassel)
CIVIL RIGHTS TEAM – Some of the Buckfield Civil Rights Team pose in front of their portraits of “The Typical Mainer”. They learned that in a Maine with an increasingly diverse population, there is, very likely, no typical Mainer. (Photo by Bill Van Tassel)