GARDINER — For Kerstin Gilg, one of the most satisfying things about the second round of wheat-paste installations in Gardiner is the collaboration between artists who might not have known each other or worked together in the past.

Those five pieces, installed Saturday for Artwalk Gardiner on Friday, join the first round of eight wheat-paste installations that went up in April on the back side of Water Street buildings facing the Kennebec River.

From left, Barbara Whitten, Kerstin Gilg and Christine Olsen smooth out air bubbles after hanging a large-scale print Saturday on the bottom of Dennis' Pizza in the Arcade parking lot in Gardiner. The 6-by-6 foot print is of a 12-by-12-inch reduction linocut titled "Endangered Shortnose Sturgeon," done by Olsen. It was the first of several new large-scale paper prints to be attached to several walls with wheat paste that day. The event was a preview of the next Artwalk Gardiner, which is scheduled for 5:30 to 8 p.m. Friday in downtown Gardiner. Staff photo by Joe Phelan

They were made possible by a grant from the Gardiner Creativity Fund, which has promoted and funded public art in and around Gardiner.

While the artists of Artdogs Studios developed and paid for the first round as part of the studio’s annual Variations show, Gilg said he contacted the Gardiner Creativity Fund to support the second round of installations, and it agreed.

Clare Marron, owner of Monkitree, a gallery on Water Street, is one of the four people who make funding decisions. The others are Gardiner residents Phyllis Gardiner, Logan Johnston and Nancy Barron.

“Basically,” Marron said, “it’s a new source of private funds to support the creative community of Gardiner and its environs.”

The goal, she said, is to have more public art and more accessible art that everyone can enjoy.

“There have been so many studies done on the impact of art on people’s sense of community, and on the economic impact of arts organizations,” she said. “I think in Maine, $750 million is the impact of arts organizations on the economy.”

This is the second year for the temporary art on the buildings facing the Arcade parking lot. The pieces are printed on paper and applied to the buildings using wheat paste They are intended to be temporary, and they will be taken down in the fall before they start to deteriorate seriously.

Gilg said five projects were selected for the second round of installation — those of himself, Rebecca Goodwin and Karen Adrienne, Barbara Whitten, Christine Olson, and Robert Saunders. The Gardiner Creativity Fund will pay the artists a stipend and cover print costs.

Marron said the Gardiner Creativity Fund has been able to support several open calls for projects, including this one, and “Creating Gardiner,” a film by Lee Arnott that profiles several Gardiner artists. It’s been shown at Johnson Hall and on Maine Public television.

And when Gardiner’s Art in the Park was looking for a new source of funding to pay for the temporary installation of sculptures in Johnson Park, the fund was able to help, she said.

Gilg said the enough funding remains after this round that the artists will be able to do something else next spring.

“Really, it’s like being in a gallery for three or four months, and then the show is taken down,” Gilg said.

The Artwalk begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday and continues until 8 p.m., A map for a self-guided tour of the works will be available at Circling the Square Fine Art Press and Artdogs Studios, both on Water Street.

Jessica Lowell — 621-5632

jlowell@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @JLowellKJ