I t’s hard to be in two places at once, but Woolwich Central School Principal Tom Soule and Georgetown artist Dahlov Ipcar managed the feat Tuesday night.

Both are featured in an expansive mural by Woolwich painter John Gable that was unveiled in a ceremony Tuesday at the new school.

Soule and Ipcar were both on hand to witness the first public presentation of the mural, which drew roughly 50 people into the entryway of the new school building, which will open this fall. “It’s the best way that the kids can be greeted,” Soule said of the mural. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”

The mural is a collage of literary and artistic allusions to authors and illustrators with strong Maine connections, ranging from N.C. Wyeth to E.B. White and Ipcar.

The project is funded through the state’s Percent for Art program, which calls for 1 percent of the budget for new public buildings to go toward the creation or acquisition of artwork for the structure.

Laura Devin, the school’s art instructor and chairwoman of the Percent for Art committee, said Tuesday that the committee received numerous applications from artists in various media. However, committee members happily signed on a local artist to complete the project spanning the wall opposite the school’s entryway.

Gable’s work has been commissioned for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and Princeton University and has also appeared in the National Academy of Design in New York and the Portland Museum of Art.

Gable said to the crowd Tuesday that the project is the first Percent for Art project he has completed.

“You have no idea how satisfying this has been,” Gable said. “The highlight was having 160 students come through — I got some great questions and plenty of advice from the students, too.”

The experience of collaborating with Gable brought the students closer to the artwork, Soule said.

“I think (Gable) has inspired a number of the students to pursue art,” Soule said.

dfishell@timesrecord.com