Sneak peak of Hamilton’s “horizontal mural”
Above: Some members of the Hamilton Arts Collective with a sidewalk sketch of the planned “horizontal mural.” Left to right : April Faulcon, Patrick Sütter, lead artist in the mural project Whitney Frazier, and Jesse Austel.
Baltimore got a glimpse Sunday of its first “horizontal mural,” a huge sunflower that organizers had planned to paint on the street surface at the intersection of Hamilton Ave. and Harford Rd.
The mural-making didn’t happen — too much iffy weather — but artists showed off practice paintings in a driveway and rescheduled the project for July 30, during the Hamilton Festival.
The mural, a sunflower with a compass in the center, will cover the entire middle portion of the intersection between the crosswalks on either side. The idea is to bring the community together around a project that beautifies the neighborhood, boosts civic pride and may make the intersection safer, organizers said.
Among the groups involved: New Lens, Hamilton Lauraville Main Street, the Baltimore City Department of Transportation, and the Marion I. & Henry J. Knott Foundation and the Hamilton Arts Collective and Hamilton Gallery.
The project had been scheduled to coincide with the annual Indy 900-foot Downhill Derby, which did take place as planned. The soapbox-style race started in the 5700 block of Harford Road, at White Ave., and ended in the 5500 block, near Hamilton Ave.