“GREAT BLUE HERON”: The Arts Council of Princeton unveiled a new community mural last week in downtown Princeton, designed and painted by Trenton-based artist Jonathan Conner, known as LANK. It is the 10th temporary mural on Spring Street since the site’s inception in 2020.

The Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) unveiled a new community mural last week at Spring and Witherspoon streets, honoring the D&R Canal and its most famous avian resident.

The new work was designed and painted by artist Jonathan Conner, who goes by LANK. A lover of the outdoors and wildlife, his mural features a great blue heron, a nod to his favorite way to travel from Trenton to Princeton — the D&R Canal path. The gold line running through the mural is an approximate map of the path.

LANK is a Trenton-based artist and graduate student in anthropology at Monmouth University. He is a founding member of the grassroots city beautification organization, SAGE Coalition, and is the public projects manager for Artworks Trenton. LANK has been organizing and executing mural projects and community art-making since 2008.

Great Blue Heron marks the ACP’s 10th temporary mural on Spring Street since the site’s inception in July 2020. What started as a way to show solidarity and togetherness during the COVID-19 lockdown has evolved into a mainstay of Princeton’s Central Business District. The location’s temporary nature allows the ACP to showcase multiple local and regional artists each year, including Leon Rainbow, Fiona Chinkan, Dave DiMarchi, and Ben Colbert, to name a few. An application for artists to submit their mural proposals is available on the ACP’s website.

Great Blue Heron is the latest of the ACP’s growing public art presence around Princeton. Also on view are Continuum by Illia Barger at Terra Momo Bread Company, Journey by Marlon 7oveChild Davila on the corner of John Street and Leigh Avenue, and the Bring on the Joy, LOVE, and Kindness murals at the Princeton Shopping Center.

LANK’s work will be on view on Spring Street until fall 2023, when a new mural will take its place.

To learn more about the ACP’s public art projects and free community programming, visit at artscouncilofprinceton.org.