Graham Projects Welcomes Isabelle to the Team

Isabelle Conover new Graham Projects Communications Specialist
Isabelle Conover new Graham Projects Communications Specialist

Graham Projects is excited to welcome artist Isabelle Conover (she/her) as our in-house Communications Specialist! Isabelle started with Graham Projects as an assistant art installer in fall of 2022, and is now leverage her numerous design and communications talents to help us Make Place Happen. She is supporting our process of community-based design by creating project outreach graphics, planning our future social media campaigns, helping with in-person engagement, and continuing to assist with installation.

We asked Isabelle a few questions about their personal mission, proudest achievements, their work at Graham Projects, and what placemaking/public art projects they’d love to work on. 

What got you interested in working with Graham Projects?

I’ve always been obsessed with painting BIG.  I loved the idea of murals, but had never seen anything like the horizontal street murals Graham Projects had been creating. I loved GP’s message of “Make Place Happen” and knew I wanted to be a part of their work. I was put in touch with Graham Coreil-Allen through a mutual friend, aided the GP team with installs in the Fall of 2022, and then was lucky enough to continue to be a part of Graham Projects beyond that!

What’s your guiding principle for everything you work on? 

Keep an open mind to other people’s situations. Everyone is going through something, whether it be big or small, so be kind and show appreciation for the little things that they do! It’ll go a long way.

Isabelle Conover work samples and quote

What’s one of your proudest achievements? 

During the pandemic, I started a small business that sold handmade tapestries with positive affirmations on it. It was something I was proud of because I was able to use my creativity to help others create an uplifting environment in a rough time.

What are you excited to do with Graham Projects? 

I am excited to see more and more GP projects pop up throughout Baltimore and even beyond the city. I think the work that Graham Projects produces brings a sense of wonder to the people who see it for the first time. Watching people see an install in the works, or a project that’s just been completed, is such a rewarding feeling.

What are some of your dream projects? Is there a concept that you’d love to execute in collaboration with Graham Projects? 

A community wide art scavenger hunt! I think it would be a cool concept to have a trail of street art installations that have clues that lead to each other throughout a certain area. The project could even include local small businesses, that way people could enjoy the art, go for a nice stroll, and find new spots around town!

Isabelle Conover art

What do you enjoy doing outside of work? 

I enjoy oil & acrylic painting, going to figure drawing sessions at a local studio, yoga, farmers markets, and going on hikes with my two dogs!

How can folks find out more about your personal creative ventures?

I can be found at @lerouxcreative on instagram & tiktok.

Druid Hill Park Canopy Crosswalk: Connecting Community & Green Space

Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk aerial view
Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk aerial view

On April 2-3, the neighborhoods northwest of Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, Maryland, got a vibrant new crosswalk, allowing residents a safer way to access one of the city’s largest parks. As the recipient of grant funding and product sponsorship, Graham Projects collaborated with the New Auchentoroly Terrace Association (ATA) and community residents to design the Druid Hill Park Canopy Crosswalk, an 800 square-foot crosswalk on Druid Hill Drive adjacent to North Fulton Avenue, and oversaw the installation of the crosswalk and sidewalk art. 

Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk install team birds eye view

In 2018, the City of Baltimore passed Complete Streets legislation, which “elevate[s] the priority of pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users in planning and roadway design to increase quality of life and mobility in Baltimore City.” The Complete Streets legislation reinforced the efforts of The Access Project: Druid Hill Park, a community-driven project that began in 2016 in support of creating safer access for all residents in surrounding neighborhoods. “Complete Streets are for everyone,” stated public artist, OSI-Baltimore Community Fellow, and ATA President Graham Coreil-Allen, “including the 50% of Druid Hill Park area residents who rely on walking, taking the bus, and riding bicycles and scooters to get to work, school, and family.”

Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk Urban Oasis youth painting
Photo by Hugh Clarke
Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk neighborhood youth painting
Photo by Hugh Clarke

In addition to the Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk installation, the sidewalks leading to the crosswalk were decorated with park-inspired artwork. Using stencils and StreetBond pavement coating products, Graham Projects added the leaf designs, selected by community members based on trees found within the park. During the Community Paint Day events on April 2 and 3, residents of all ages painted the 107 leaves lining the sidewalks in shades of blue, brown, yellow, salmon, and fuchsia, with guidance from the Graham Projects team. Additionally, ATA recruited youth from The Urban Oasis, a local nonprofit, to paint the sidewalk artwork in exchange for fair wages.  

Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk GMCC President Adeline Hutchinson and Graham Coreil-Allen
Photo by Hugh Clarke
Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk Mayor Scott and Ms. Sunni painting
Photo by Hugh Clarke

Local dignitaries and community leaders attended the April 2 events, including Mayor Brandon Scott, Maryland State Senator Antonio Hayes, Greater Mondawmin Coordinating Council President Adeline Hutchinson, and ATA Vice President Cheryl Bailey Solomon. “I’ve always lived within 2-3 miles of Druid Hill Park,” said Ms. Bailey Solomon. “We are seeing the park transition to become a playground for a diverse group, and this crosswalk will be in a significant spot. Anything we can do to make that area safer is important for our community.” Senator Hayes shared his memories of growing up nearby and how difficult it could be to get to Druid Hill Park. “The work that’s being done to create safe access to one of the largest urban parks in the nation is a big deal,” he said. 

Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk youth workers peeling tape
Photo by Melvin Jadulang
Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk group photo of community leaders and sponsor
Photo by Hugh Clarke

The Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk was funded through the generous support of the ​Greater Rosemont Mondawmin (GRM) Neighborhood Spruce-Up Grant, administered by Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore, Inc. and distributed via The Baltimore Regional Neighborhoods Initiative (BRNI), part of the State of Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development. A neighborhood grant from the Baltimore Community Foundation also contributed to the project. If you would like to collaborate with Graham Projects on creating safer streets and walkways in your neighborhood, connect with us here! Contact: info@grahamprojects.com.

Article written by Corinne Litchfield.

For more photos and information, visit the Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk project page: grahamprojects.com/projects/canopycrosswalk

Druid Hill Canopy Crosswalk birds eye view of Fulton Ave corner

NATCO 2021 Pandemic Grant Report is Out and Baltimore Lake2Lake is In!

Lake2Lake Rayobello action shot of resident jogging
Lake2Lake Rayobello action shot of resident jogging

In 2021, the Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDOT) was awarded a $50,000 Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery Grant to help adapt streets in service of communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 from the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO).

Graham Projects was an integral part of the BCDOT Lake 2 Lake Project application alongside fellow community partners Bikemore and Black People Ride Bikes. The grant funded community engagement activities for traffic calming, mobile bike shop pop-ups, group bike rides, and the pavement art installation at 33rd Street and Hillen Road.

This project leveraged existing BCDOT plans for traffic calming at the main intersection gateway to Lake Montebello at 33rd Street and Hillen Road as well as maintenance and repairs to The Big Jump shared-use path leading to Druid Hill Park. Graham Projects provided project branding design, facilitated community engagement, and solicited community-based design inspiration through COVID-19-safe pop-up drawing events and via COLORoW, our custom online public art drawing tool. Based on the public conversations and drawings submitted by residents, Graham Projects developed design proposals that over 500 residents voted on in selecting the final work of traffic calming public art.

Community partner organizations, Bikemore and Black People Ride hosted a community event in November 2021 celebrating the project and unveiling the traffic calming plan by BCDOT and the community inspired pavement art design by Graham Projects named Rayobello. Local residents inspired the design by sharing their cherished experiences witnessing colorful sunrises and sunsets as seen from the lake.

Learn how the community inspired Rayobello:

Lake 2 Lake Project Case Study

Learn about grant that supported Lake 2 Lake:

NACTO Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery Grant

NACTO Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery 2021 Grant Report

Lake2Lake Rayobello birds-eye view park entrance

New Hires at Graham Projects!

Graham Projects is Growing featuring Melvin Jadulang and Zoe Roane-Hopkins
Graham Projects is Growing featuring Melvin Jadulang and Zoe Roane-Hopkins

By Corinne Litchfield 

Graham Projects is growing rapidly – and thanks to two new hires, we will be serving even more communities in making place happen.  

Melvin Jadulang (he/him) is the Director of Operations and Engagement for Graham Projects. Melvin has worked in organizational management for advocacy groups and nonprofits, and has a background in real estate and entrepreneurship. Born and raised in Hawaii, Melvin relocated to Baltimore when his husband, Randall, got assigned to Fort Meade.  

Zoe Roane-Hopkins (she/her) is an Associate Placemaker and Project Designer who works closely with Graham on design development and proposals. Zoe studied landscape architecture at Penn State, then received her MA in Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art & Design. 

We asked them a few questions about their personal mission, proudest achievements, their work at Graham Projects, and what placemaking/public art projects they’d love to work on. 

What’s your guiding principle for everything you work on? 

Melvin: Meet people where they are at and allow them to be heard. Make sure they know they are valued, and that happens when you follow through: let people know what’s going on with a project and  how they can help. 

Zoe: Be kind to people and be kind to the earth. I do very thoughtful design and I like to listen – listening to people, the planet, and translate it into something that’s colorful, dynamic and interesting. I like to shift perspective through all my designs. 

What’s one of your proudest achievements? 

Melvin: In 2019, I worked with my East Baltimore Midway neighborhood to convert four vacant lots into a community green space. The Boone Street Commons has different elements to engage the community: garden, park, and a picnic area/event space. 

Boone Street Commons Aerial
Located in East Baltimore, Boone Street Commons is a community green space that includes a garden, park, and event/picnic area. The project was funded by a Spruce Up Grant from Central Baltimore Partnership.
Kids walking into Boone Street Commons
Local youth walking into Boone Street Commons. Photo by Side A Photography side-a.com

Zoe: Winning an award for my Space Frame design in the Design for Distancing competition last year. A friend told me to submit – I pulled my design together in two days and submitted right at the deadline. After my design was posted on Instagram, local landscape architecture firm EnviroCollab reached out to me about installing the Space Frame at a BelAir-Edison neighborhood event.   

SpaceFrame exploded diagram
The SpaceFrame design by Zoe Roane-Hopkins is a modular structure that can be fitted for use as a takeout counter, retail display area, or countertop seating. The concept encourages interaction while incorporating safe social distancing. 
SpaceFrames setup along Belair Road in Belair-Edison neighborhood as part of EnviroCollab’s Design for Distancing project.

What will you be doing with Graham Projects? 

Zoe: I split my time between EnviroCollab and Graham Projects, so every day is a little different. I recently submitted a design proposal for pavement art, and at our Pigtown pop-up event, I connected with community members on traffic calming and bumpout pavement art. I created coloring pages for people to use to give us their ideas. The community was enthusiastic – I liked talking with them and listening to their ideas. 

Melvin: As the director of operations and engagement, I facilitate the processes, whether it’s with the community that’s invited us, or the actual project from start to finish. Part of my role involves keeping us true to the Graham Projects philosophy of making place happen and making sure the community is represented in the work we’re doing with them.  

What are some of your dream projects? Is there a concept that you’d love to execute in collaboration with Graham Projects? 

Melvin: I want to create opportunities so that a neighborhood can experience high quality placemaking and public art on any budget. We’re shifting the narrative to say that placemaking & public art can exist anywhere, and that means making it accessible for all. I’m also interested in developing a kit or service for neighborhoods that encourages and supports engagement in the placemaking process. 

Zoe: I’d love to do a cross collaboration between EnviroCollab and Graham Projects that pulls together street art and landscaping architecture components. 

What do you enjoy doing outside of work? 

Zoe: I play ukulele, guitar, and piano – I like to write songs & make animations to accompany them. I’m trying to learn the banjo, too. I also enjoy hiking and camping, and once the weather cools down I’ll go backpacking with my boyfriend. I really like to cook and currently I’m working through recipes in a dim sum cookbook I got for Christmas. 

Melvin: I like taking bike rides through Baltimore. Finding cool new restaurants and cafes and visiting breweries & pubs are also fun. I like building furniture, like a bench or table. And of course gardening! 

If you would like to collaborate with Graham Projects on improving a public space in your neighborhood, connect with us here!

2020 Challenges & Innovations

Curbside Commons Harford & Rosekemp Midblock Crosswalk
Curbside Commons Harford & Rosekemp Midblock Crosswalk

2020 proved to be an unprecedented year of challenges and innovations for Graham Projects. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic several of our public art and civic engagement projects were either cancelled or significantly delayed. Remaining projects were significantly slowed by the need to take precautionary measures in conducting community engagement and installation of our works. From these challenges arose new opportunities for remote creative collaboration and physically distancing activations of public space. We are proud and appreciative of having so many amazing partners who continue to help us improve cities through public art and civic engagement. Below are a few highlights of our work this year and the folks who made it all possible.

Make Place Happen COLORoW drawing sample

In May we responded to the limitations of in-person engagement posed by the COVID-19 pandemic by collaborating with Tobey Albright and Mollie Edgar of Hour Studio to create the online placemaking toolkit, Make Place Happen. The Make Place Happen website offers resources for “Do-it-Yourself Urbanism” and/or participating with Graham Projects’ current placemaking efforts. The most exciting feature is COLORoW, a coloring book-like web app for drawing your own artistic crosswalk or pavement mural. 

Design for Distancing Curblet Commons perspective

Also in May, we responded to Neighborhood Design Center’s “Design for Distancing” call for ideas to help businesses along Baltimore’s main streets safely reopen using spatial distancing outdoor public space enhancements. The Graham Projects Curblet Commons design kit transforms an on-street parking lane into an accessible, safe, and inviting pedestrian space including creative ADA curb ramps, modular barriers, and physical distancing stencils. Out of over 160 submissions, the Curblet Commons open source accessibility designs were one of ten selected for the Design For Distancing Guidebook. This free guidebook provides COVID-19 safe placemaking inspiration for businesses, cities, and people worldwide on how to safely reopen and improve their own public spaces. Click here to download the free Design for Distancing Guidebook.

Curbside Commons First Friday evening gathering

Soon after seeing our designs accepted into the Design for Distancing guidebook, we partnered with Hamilton-Lauraville Main Street, Property Consulting, Inc., LANNINGSMITH, and Annie Howe Papercuts to secure a large design-build commission transforming three blocks of Harford Road into a place for safe pedestrian gathering and neighborhood shopping. Our Curbside Commons Design for Distancing project converted a parking lane into a public space for community, shopping, services, and culinary encounters along Hamilton-Lauraville’s main street, Harford Road. Design for Distancing is a tactical urban design initiative of the Baltimore Development Corporation and Neighborhood Design Center intended to help small businesses in Baltimore reopen without compromising public health. We met with the adjacent small businesses to understand their needs to stay open while maintaining physical distancing and other COVID-19 precautions. In response we delivered outdoor seating, distancing markers, event space, pedestrian and wheelchair accessibility, public art, signage, bicycle parking, and artful wayfinding.

Collington Square Oak Wisdom crosswalks aerial

After a marathon of fall install, we managed to find a few more warm enough days to fit in one last exciting project – the Oak Wisdom art crosswalks in Colling Square. During pre-COVID community engagement, we learned that the Collington Square community of East Baltimore holds a 200+ year old Swamp White Oak tree as its symbol. Working with resident input, we designed the “Oak Wisdom” traffic calming art crosswalks and Collington Square Neighborhood Association street pole banners are inspired by looking up through those sanctuary leaves. The street pole banners elevate neighborhood identity by showcasing a positive symbol for the area – the beloved centuries-old tree that stands magnificently atop the hill in their local park. The art crosswalks and “bump outs” provide a welcome gateway to Collington Square while slowing down aggressive car traffic, improving street-crossing safety for its residents who rely on walking to get to school and work.

Introducing Make Place Happen & COLORoW

Make Place Happen preview
Make Place Happen preview

While we may be under an extended stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Graham Projects is keeping busy with public art in the service of people and places. Springtime is usually when we are deep in community engagement and designing projects for installation in the summer and fall. Like many organizations, we’ve had to carefully retool our work while practicing social distancing.

Make Place Happen website

In lieu of public meetings we’ve been working the phones, online hangouts, video chats, and zooms. COVID won’t stop our creative action, so today we are proud to announce our new online placemaking toolkit, Make Place Happen. Use the resources at Make Place Happen for “Do-it-Yourself Urbanism” and/or participating with our current placemaking projects!

COLORoW online public art design drawing tool Whitelock example

Our new DIY Urbanism website was co-designed and built by the amazing artist-designers Tobey Albright and Mollie Edgar of Hour Studio. They took our ideas and colors, skillfully designed the website and brand, and helped us realize the most exciting part of Make Place Happen: the COLORoW online public art design tool. COLORoW is short for “COLOring the Right of Way”. It is a coloring book-like web app for drawing your own artistic crosswalk or pavement mural.

COLORoW online public art design drawing tool Whitelock example with artwork added

Residents are invited to use COLORoW to share their ideas with us for specific projects in their neighborhood. Participants can draw what they would like to see in their public space, download the drawing, and then share it with us along with text and other visual inspiration via an embedded upload form. 

COLORoW online drawing tool submission form

Using everyone’s drawings as inspiration we will develop our always exciting array of design options. Like with our face-to-face workshops, but online, Graham Projects will then shareback the community-based artwork for resident feedback and selection.

Check out the new Make Place Happen website, and stay tuned for added features to come; including a store for creative street stencils, a guide for making pavement art, and a local “how to” for kid-friendly play streets.

Draw it, share it, and we will Make Place Happen! makeplacehappen.com

PS: if you are a resident of Baltimore’s Reservoir Hill neighborhood be sure to share your own art ideas for the Whitelock Art Crosswalks project here! makeplacehappen.com/whitelock

Arches & Access Unites People & Park

Arches & Access
Arches & Access parade kick off

Showcasing the cherished connections between Druid Hill Park and surrounding neighborhoods, the Arches & Access project illuminated and activated the historic Druid Hill Park Gate at Madison Avenue, Druid Hill Park, and the Rawlings Conservatory with colorful lights, a community parade, and a public party. On the evening of November 3rd, 2019, over three hundred residents, artists, and performers transformed Madison Avenue at Druid Park Lake Drive into a spectacular, roving block party. Neighbors collectively created a place to march, dance, and perform in celebration of our West Baltimore communities united in green space and creating safe streets for people.

Arches & Access light art

Arches & Access was a Neighborhood Lights Project presented as part of the Brilliant Baltimore / Light City festival of light and literature. The event was led by Reservoir Hill artist Jessy DeSantis, Reservoir Hill advocate Courtney Bettle, and Auchentoroly Terrace public artist Graham Coreil-Allen with major support from the Reservoir Hill Improvement Council, a grant from Baltimore Heritage, and volunteers from Beth Am Synagogue’s IFO organization. The Reservoir Hill mothers Bettle and DeSantis took inspiration from DeSantis’ colorful painting of the Arches when they came up with the idea of creating a light art project in early 2019. Later the two reached out to Coreil-Allen of Graham Projects to help realize the light art. Collectively they expanded the vision to include solar powered lights leading into the park, activated by a joyful community parade showing what life could be like without highways hindering pedestrian access to Druid Hill Park.

Arches & Access sidewalk lights
Arches & Access Catrin & Catrina parade puppets
Arches & Access Twilighters Marching Band at Rawlings Conservatory
Arches & Access dance party

Graham Projects is honored to have been apart of creating Arches & Access and look forward to working again with our community partners on making this light art and parade an annual success.

Arches & Access organizers

Click for more pictures and to read the full story of the Arches & Access project at the TAP Druid Hill website.

Druid Hill Complete Streets

Graham Coreil-Allen headshot

Graham Coreil-Allen headshot

I’m honored and humbled to announce that I have been awarded a 2018 Open Society Institute (OSI) Baltimore Community Fellowship providing me with eighteen months of funding and organizing support as I collaborate with residents on reconnecting our West Baltimore neighborhoods with Druid Hill Park. Through the Druid Hill Complete Streets project I will be working with my neighbors to ensure that a forthcoming Baltimore City Department of Transportation (DOT) planning effort is as reflective of community voices as possible as we seek to convert the dangerous barrier highways around Druid Hill Park into complete streets safe and accessible for all – especially the approximately 50% of area residents who do not drive. Complete Streets are streets designed and operated to be safe and accessible for all, including pedestrians, transit users, wheelchair riders, and people who rely on bicycles. During the fellowship I will be working with local youth to create traffic calming public art to slow down cars and improve pedestrian safety. Potential ideas include mural-filled crosswalks, artistic planters protecting pedestrians, and creative signs reminding motorists where pedestrians have the right-of-way.

Auchentoroly Terrace walking tour
Auchentoroly Terrace community advocacy walk with city agencies, 2017.

West Baltimore’s historic work class neighborhoods of color have systematically been denied safe access to Druid Hill Park due to dangerous six-to-nine-lane-wide highways constructed over community opposition between the 1940s and the 1960s. Click here to read my story about the history behind the highways cutting off the neighborhoods of Mondawmin, Penn North, and Reservoir Hill from Druid Hill Park. The formerly two-lane, park-front streets of Auchentoroly Terrace and Druid Park Lake Drive were widened into high-speed highways primarily serving suburban commuters at the expense of park access for local residents.

Structurally racist urban planning decisions to build highways around Druid Hill Park make it difficult for the residents to enjoy the park’s public health benefits, including exercise, healthy food, and clean air. The Baltimore City Health Department’s 2017 Neighborhood Health Profiles show that the majority working class, African American communities around the park have some of the city’s highest mortality rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Click here for the Penn North / Reservoir Hill and Greater Mondawmin health reports. Census data also shows that approximately half of residents in the immediate area code of 21217 do not drive. As pedestrians, transit users, wheelchair riders, and people who rely on bicycles, our residents deserve priority access to the park.

Druid Hill Complete Streets map and challenges

Since moving to Auchentoroly Terrace in 2013 I’ve listened to my neighbors talk about and experienced firsthand the need for more crosswalks, narrower roadways, less vehicular traffic, and slower speeds. With no playground in our neighborhood, I all too often witness small children on foot and bike darting across eight lanes of high speed traffic to reach the safe green spaces and play areas of Druid Hill Park. I also see how my retired, car-free neighbors are unable to reach the Druid Hill Farmers Market due to a lack of safe, convenient crosswalks. Most at risk are wheelchair riders who along sections of the park are blocked by non-ADA pathways.

In response to community transportation needs, 7th District Councilman Leon F. Pinkett III convened the Druid Hill Park Stakeholders group in early 2017. The group includes representatives from Mondawmin, Auchentoroly Terrace, and Reservoir Hill; Baltimore City agencies including the Departments of Transportation, Public Works, and Recreation and Parks; as well as non-profits including Bikemore, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and Parks & People. We are also reaching out to more local leaders and organizations to bring into the planning and advocacy effort. Thanks to the councilman’s leadership, in February 2018 Baltimore City DOT agreed to conduct a major transportation study to address our community’s concerns. This study will build on two ongoing local initiatives, the Big Jump Baltimore and the Baltimore Greenway Trail Network northwest trail planning effort. As an OSI Community Fellow, I will work full-time with my neighbors to shape this forthcoming transportation plan for rebuilding the dangerous barrier-highways of Druid Park Lake Drive and Auchentoroly Terrace as accessible boulevards that safely connect our most vulnerable residents with Druid Hill Park.

The Druid Hill Complete Streets initiative will support community education, creative urban planning, and traffic calming through public art. We will organize community-led walking tours in which youth, seniors, wheelchair riders, elected officials, and city planners learn from one another while seeking common ground for enacting equitable park access. We will also creatively engage residents in the ongoing DOT planning process through a new website, social media campaign, and activities at places like the Druid Hill Farmers Market to get input from residents who may not be able to make traditional public meetings. Lastly, we will collaborate with youth to create traffic calming public art around Druid Hill Park based on community design workshops in which residents will identify sites for enhancing pedestrian safety and reconnecting with the park. These low-cost interventions will have an immediate positive impact on park connectivity and public health while enabling residents and the public at large to envision the possibilities for complete streets.

The schedule of events and public art production will be determined by the yet-to-be-confirmed DOT study timeline. The Druid Hill Complete Streets project will bring together diverse neighborhood groups to shape the upcoming improvements around the park, empowering communities to claim our public spaces through creative city planning and public art interventions.

2018 Fall New Public Sites Walking Tours

New Public Sites Tours Fall 2018

New Public Sites Tours Fall 2018

This fall New Public Sites is excited to offer one new walking tour in Arlington, Virginia, Wandering the West Pike, and three classics in Baltimore City; Inner Harbor Baltimore Drift, Station North Ave, and Druid Hill Reservoir Interchange! The tours series focuses on the intersecting issues of public space access, transportation equity, creative placemaking, and how residents are shaping places through everyday actions.

All tours are free and open to the public, but spots are limited so be sure to register. The Fall 2018 New Public Sites tours are made possible with support from Arlington Arts and Free Fall Baltimore.

Free Fall Baltimore is presented by BGE, and is a program of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Wandering the West PikeWandering the West Pike

Saturday, October 13, 11:00 am-12:30pm
Free! Click here to register

Rain date: Saturday, October 20, 11:00 am-12:30pm

As one of the most diverse corridors in the country, Arlington, Virginia’s Columbia Pike in many ways represents the future of American culture and urbanism. On Wandering the West Pike walking tour participants will learn about how residents new and old are adapting suburban public spaces along Columbia Pike to meet their urban needs. Join us to explore and reimagine the public spaces of Columbia Pike’s West End. Learn about transportation improvements currently under construction. Imagine future public art projects taking place along the Pike, including  “The Pike” by Donald Lipski. Learn more…

Inner Harbor Baltimore Drift bannerInner Harbor Baltimore Drift

Sunday, October 14, 2-4pm
Free! Click here to register

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is a celebrated success of waterfront redevelopment, but its spectacular looks disguise a contested past and challenging present. Join us on Inner Harbor Baltimore Drift to discover the real stories of how powerful people, visionary plans, and community movements are still transforming the former industrial wharf into a premiere public space for all. Learn more…

New Public Sites Station North AvenueStation North Ave

Sunday, October 21, 2-4pm
Free! Click here to register

As a major thoroughfare in Baltimore’s premier arts district, North Avenue in seeing increasing arts, entertainment, and education development. The Station North Avenue tour explores the history of North Avenue as a transportation and cultural corridor, and the ongoing impact of creative placemaking in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District. Learn more…

New Public Sites Druid Hill Reservoir InterchangeDruid Hill Reservoir Interchange

Sunday, October 28, 2-4pm
Free! Click here to register

Druid Hill Reservoir Interchange will explore the overlapping embankments and sidewalks to nowhere between the Jones Falls Expressway and the Druid Hill Park Reservoir. The tour will focus on the history of the the park and surrounding highways, and details about the current reservoir construction project. Along the way, we will also share about the community movement afoot supporting pedestrian safety improvements around the park. Learn more…

Free Fall BaltimoreBaltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts

Choose Your Own Adventure at Artscape!

Choose Your Own Adventure

Choose Your Own Adventure

Its July in Baltimore, which means its time for the nation’s largest free art festival – Artscape! Building off of the outrageous success of last year’s Dancing Forest of inflatable trees, I’m now teaming up with with fellow Baltimore public artist Becky Borlan on Choose Your Own Adventure! Choose your own Adventure will transform the Charles Street Bridge at Penn Station into a colorful playscape of pedestrian pathways and hanging beach balls. Spray chalk lines will mark a site-based map converging under a forest of beach balls hanging from an open air structure.

Choose Your Own Adventure at Artscape 2018
Charles Street Bridge at Penn Station, Baltimore, MD, 21201
July 20-22, 2018
Friday: 11am-9pm, Saturday: 11am-9pm, Sunday: 11am-7pm
After hours: Friday and Saturday 9pm-11pm
Free and open to the public

Choose your own Adventure takes inspiration from the natural paths taken by street-crossing pedestrians, the Jones Falls and train tracks below, and the joyful experiences of summer-inspired toys. The kinetic environment will feature hundreds of colorful, translucent beach balls and multiple lounging options for festival goers to find respite from the summer sun. Participants who choose to explore will discover curious signs offering choices for adventures beyond. Through tactical urbanism and creative design, the installation will preview possibilities for completely transforming the Charles Street Bridge into an immersive pedestrian environment and playful visionary experience.