American Mural Project

Winsted, Connecticut, United States

Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A three-dimensional mural 120 feet long and five stories high in a restored mill at 90 Whiting Street, Winsted, Connecticut. Conceived by artist Ellen Griesedieck, it portrays Americans at work through sculptural vignettes. The exhibition opened to the public in June 2022.

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American Mural Project

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Site-level location · 41.9225° N, 73.0582° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Inside a restored mill in Winsted, Connecticut, a mural climbs five stories and runs 120 feet, and it is built from sculpture rather than paint.

The American Mural Project describes it as the largest indoor collaborative artwork in the world, a claim also repeated by Connecticut Public. The idea came to artist Ellen Griesedieck in 1999, according to the project, when she visited Boeing's 747 fabrication plant while preparing commissioned paintings of working Americans and was struck by its scale. The nonprofit was founded in 2001.

Griesedieck has described the mural as a compilation of three-dimensional sculptural vignettes portraying Americans at work, from heart surgeons and steelworkers to firefighters, farmers, teachers and the fabricators of a 747. It uses honeycomb aluminum panels, blown glass, clay, reclaimed wood, native indigo and spackle. The project says it involved more than 15,000 students and adults across the country in making it, including work with NASA, Boeing and Habitat for Humanity.

The setting is part of the story. The campus has three acres and two historic mill buildings; the Lakeville Journal reported in 2022 that the site was cleaned up with a federal Brownfields grant and that the roof was raised about 30 feet to make room. The project says that renovation finished in the fall of 2018. A June 2022 press release announced the exhibition would open on Saturday, June 18, 2022.

Accounts of its reach vary: the project says it led projects in 17 states, while Connecticut Public's 2023 piece describes collaborators in all 50.

The operator lists three viewing levels and an audio tour. Exhibit hours are Friday and Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 12 to 5pm, so check the site for current prices and events before going.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Indoor, year-round exhibit with three viewing levels and an audio tour, per the operator. Open Friday and Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 12 to 5pm; tickets (adults $15, seniors and veterans $12, students $5) as listed on the operator's site in October 2026. Free parking.

ACCESS

90 Whiting Street, Winsted, Connecticut, off Route 44; a staffed visitor site with free parking and wheelchair access, per the operator. Open Friday to Sunday only; check the operator's site for changes.

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