Congratulations to community artist Iandry Randriamondroso on the successful completion of his B’MORE Birds project!

Over the course of the last several months, Iandry has worked closely with residents of the communities along the York Road corridor between Glenwood and 43rd street to create a series of five murals depicting native birds of the Govans forest patches. Last Friday, BOPA joined corridor residents, York Road Partnership, Govanstowne Business Association, Loyola York Road Initiative, Councilman Bill Henry and the Department of Transportation in celebrating Iandry’s work.

York Rd Mural Celebraition 002 York Rd Mural Celebraition 004 York Rd Mural Celebraition 018

ABOUT THE BIRDS

Rileys Beauty

The Oriole

4331 York Road

Baltimore Orioles are bright orange birds with black and white wings that sound almost as beautiful as they look. Their smooth, whistling songs are commonly heard in orchards, backyards, and gardens. Baltimore Orioles mostly eat insects and fruit, such as raspberries and mulberries. Their sturdy, hammock-like nests are suspended from branches high in trees, woven together with grasses, hair, spider webs, twine, and wool.

Gomez Tires 2

The Cedar Waxwing

4811 York Road

Cedar Waxwings are bold colored birds with rusty brown bodies, black face masks, and orange or yellow wax-tipped tails. They are often found in flocks, filling themselves with berries from a variety of plants, such as mulberry trees and honeysuckle shrubs. They are common in residential areas, staying in Maryland all year round.

Afrik Salon

The Red-bellied Woodpecker

5017 York Road

Red-bellied Woodpeckers are common woodpeckers found in wooded areas that have a red cap, black wings, and a warm beige belly. Their large black bill is used for drilling into dead wood to pull out insects and larvae with their barbed tongues. They also drill cavities inside dead trees to lay 2-6 eggs and raise their young over a month-long period.

Academy Cleaners - South Wall

The Blue Jay

5219 York Road

Blue Jays are the local noisy neighbors in wooded residential areas, with their loud jaaaaay calls that easily distinguish them. They are pale to bright blue and white birds that eat a variety of insects, nuts, and seeds. They also sometimes eat eggs from other birds’ nests and are aggressive at the local bird feeder. Blue Jay eggs are blue to light brown, within nests placed approximately 20 feet above ground in trees.

York Rd Mural Celebraition 016

The Black-and-White Warbler

5219 York Road

Black-and-white Warblers are small, black and white striped birds that live in forests. Often seen creeping along tree branches, they eat a variety of insect larvae hidden in the wood, along with ants and beetles. They spend the winter months in Mexico and migrate up to Maryland to breed in the summer, building well-hidden nests on the ground near tree trunks.

This project was made possible by funding from the Baltimore City Department of Transportation as part of Baltimore’s 1% for Public Art Program

 

 

BOPA and the Baltimore City Department of Transportation are pleased to announce a  public art opportunity that hopes to brighten and enhance the pedestrian and community experience along York Road.

Artists are invited to design and create original street signs that will be placed along York Road between 43rd and Glenwood Ave.  Multiple artists will be selected to participate in the project and can choose from creating an image directly onto a blank steel sign or submitting a design to be professionally printed.

So what do you think is missing from the existing cannon of street sign visual culture? What would you add to the landscape given the opportunity?

Submission Deadline: December 1st, 2013 at midnight

For more info check out BOPA’s Call for Artists page or follow this link

RFP York Road Sign Project.