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

 

 

Riley's Beauty Salon Mural

As part of Baltimore’s 1% for Public Art Program, BOPA is working with the York Road Partnership and the Govanstowne Business Association to create a mural series depicting native birds along the York Road corridor between 43rd Street and Glenwood Avenue. Artist Iandry Randriamandoso, a former MICA Community Arts student, chose local birds as the subjects for the series because of their universality, inclusiveness, and connection to the local environment.

“Birds play an important role in maintaining balances in our ecosystem and add enjoyments to our lives with their beauty—both in plumage colors and distinct songs. In ever changing urban landscapes, they represent adaptation, resilience and the continuation of life. When Changes occur in a neighborhood, it will change the dynamic make-up of the population—new inhabitants come; some leave; some stay and adapt with the new changes. Eventually, they represent us and our neighbors.”
Iandry Randriamandroso

Three murals have been completed to date–keep your eyes out for more.

Academy Cleaners Mural Progress
Academy Cleaners Mural

 

Elephants Groundbreaking

The Greater Mondawmin Community Association and Artblocks, winners of the 2012 PNC Transformative Art Prize, have officially broken ground on installing 5 life-sized elephant sculptures in Druid Hill Park.

Stop by on Wednesday, June 11 at 2:30 pm for the unveiling celebration!

Forever Together / I Am Here Because Its Home by Stephen Powers

Forever Together / I Am Here Because Its Home by Stephen Powers

The first time I met Steve Powers, he climbed out of the big white BOPA family van sporting a yellow raincoat and a Guided by Voices T shirt. The world-renowned Philly-born graff-writer-turned-Fulbright-scholar was in town for a marathon of cross-city site visits and community meetings for our upcoming Love Letter to Baltimore project this fall. (Haven’t heard much about it yet? That’s because we’re still planning it!) When Housing offered up the wall space for what Steve called a “temporary forever” mural, he tacked that onto his trip.

I showed him the lift and pointed out the wall at 2454 E. Eager Street—the corner house in a row of city-owned vacants slated to be demolished later this summer.

He quickly walked passed it and all the way down Eager Street. The yellow raincoat floating behind him made him look like a mad scientist.

When he came back he asked if they were all vacant. I said they were, that we had just planned on the wall at 2454, but we could ask about the rest.

Less than 24 hours later we were signing a right of entry agreement for 35 properties; Steve ordered 10 gallons of “Ravens Purple” and a power generator for his paint sprayer and got to work. Not on painting, but on talking to the people who live next door—on Montford, on Eager, on Port—about what they love and what they hate about their city.

So began the first line of Steve ESPO Powers’s Love Letter to Baltimore: FOREVER TOGETHER / I AM HERE BECAUSE ITS HOME.

Can’t wait for the rest.

Prepping the wall for "I Am Here Because Its Home"

Prepping the wall for “I Am Here Because Its Home”

Sketching out the V in "Forever"

Sketching out the V in “Forever”

Forever Together / I Am Here Because Its Home by Stephen Powers

“Temporary is permanent and together can be forever” – Steve Powers on his temporary mural which spans from 2402-2454 E. Eager St.

 

 

 

 

The Charles Street Reconstruction Project includes new travel/parking pavement, sidewalk repavement, new curbs, signage, replanting of trees, new crosswalks, bike lanes, etc. on Charles Street between 25th Street and University Parkway. The most extensive of the planned renovation is proposed between 33rd Street and just north of 34th Street. An artist has been commissioned to engage the plaza being created on the east side of Charles between 33rd & 34th Streets with an artwork that is integrated into the landscape site work.

This piece, Optical Gardens, by Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan, an artist team from Seattle, Washington, is currently being install now and over the next few months, with a potential project completion date of August 2014. Optical Gardens is conceived as a platform that gives expression to unique natural and cultural characteristics of Charles Village, including its culture, community, built environment, natural environment, climate, and seasons.

Baltimore artist (and 2014 Sondheim Semifinalist) Sebastian Montorana was contracted to carve the “season rooms” and can be seen in pictures on site installing these elements.

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