Wesley May restores Bemidji wastewater mural, renewing water message

Wesley May has returned to the Wastewater Treatment Facility mural he first painted in 2014, restoring a public artwork that has become part of Bemidji’s visual identity on the isthmus between Lakes Bemidji and Irving.

The mural’s original design centered on a bald eagle inside a drop of water, with wings that also resemble leaves. Placed on the east side of the digester building facing Paul Bunyan Drive South, the image tied the city’s water message to one of its most visible utility sites, turning a plain infrastructure building into a reminder that the lakes and waterways surrounding Bemidji are central to daily life.

May’s restoration preserved that same message rather than replacing it with a new design. That continuity matters in a city where the line between downtown, the lakes and the built environment is thin, and where even a wastewater facility can serve as civic space as well as utility property. The mural’s location gives residents and visitors a daily look at a piece of art that speaks to clean water, local stewardship and the role of public facilities in shaping how a community sees itself.

The project also underscores the scale of the original work. Coverage of the mural’s first installation described it as a fifty-foot painting completed with a dedicated crew, a size that makes it more than decoration and closer to a landmark. In 2026, Lakeland PBS reported that the gray buildings of the Wastewater Treatment Facility had been transformed with a newly completed mural titled Protect, Honor, Give Thanks for the Water, showing that the site remains an active canvas for messages about water and place.

May’s work in Bemidji has also extended beyond the wastewater site. Hope House’s Eagle Mural Project, funded by the Region 2 Arts Council, was described as member-driven and educational, with participants learning about the significance of the eagle in Native culture. That project adds another layer to May’s public art in the city, linking environmental symbolism, community participation and cultural education.

At the wastewater facility, the restored mural keeps Bemidji’s water story visible in a place many people would otherwise pass without noticing. The image on Paul Bunyan Drive South still points back to the same idea May painted in 2014: the city’s identity is tied to the water that surrounds it, protects it and sustains it.