Five artists or teams have been selected to create light-based works of public art as part of the $1 million ‘Inviting Light’ initiative planned to help revitalize Baltimore’s Station North Arts and Entertainment District.
Baltimore is one of eight cities that were selected in 2023 to receive up to $1 million in funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge to develop temporary public art projects that address important civic issues.
The five Baltimore installations will be completed and unveiled one by one over the course of 2025, and each one will be up for at least a year.
Here are the artists named to participate in ‘Inviting Light,’ the locations, and a brief description of the projects:
Zoë Charlton: Charlton is creating a work called “Third Watch” at the North Avenue Market, 10-30 West North Avenue.
Charlton will install three illuminated statues atop the North Avenue Market, “serving as security night lights for those seeking spiritual comfort and protection while passing through Station North” after dark, according to a description by the organizers.
Nine-foot statues will be placed in the two towers on the market and a seven-foot statue will keep watch from the market’s Maryland Avenue balcony. Installation of Charlton’s work is scheduled for late February to mid-March, and an unveiling event will be held on March 28.
Phaan Howng: Howng’s work is called “Big Ass Snake(plant)s On A Plane” and will be located at the Charles Street Garage, 1714 N. Charles Street, opposite the Charles Theatre at 1711 N. Charles Street.
“Playing off big action movies, Howng is turning the Charles Street Garage into an over-the-top light-filled action scene – right across from the Charles Theatre,” the organizers say. “Her facade installation introduces giant snake plant leaves that appear to grow from the side of the building and reach for the colorful lighting” that will wash across the building.
Installation is scheduled for March to April. An unveiling event is tentatively set for April 25.
Tony Shore: Known to many for his paintings on black velvet of blue-collar life in Baltimore, Shore is creating a work called “Aurora” on the Charles Street façade of the old Gatsby’s nightclub at 1817 N. Charles Street. He says it’s the first time he’s worked with light as a medium.
“Tony’s 2D and 3D mural installation is an homage to real Baltimore people found in their neon-lit haunts,” the organizers say. “Installed on the facade of what was formerly known as Gatsby’s, the installation marks a hopeful desire for transformation and new life at this site.”
The buildings at 1813, 1815 and 1817 N. Charles Street, site of the former Trip’s Place and Gatsby’s night clubs, were purchased last year for $609,000 by a women-led group that aims to reopen them as an arts hub complementary to other destinations in the Station North arts district. Installation of Shore’s work is scheduled for April. An unveiling event is tentatively set for June, to coincide with the Charles Street Promenade.
Ekene Ijeoma: Ijeoma’s work, called “Peacemaker,” will occupy two vacant row house lots at 1707-1709 Barclay Street, next to Barclay Park.
Ijeoma’s sculptural installation “challenges people to make connections through energy and light in the Barclay neighborhood,” organizers say.
The work consists of vertical stainless-steel poles that are anchored to a checkerboard plateau and need “human connection” to light them – sometimes up to six people at a time to make the lights to go on. Installation is scheduled for the summer of 2025 and an unveiling event is expected in September.
Wickerham & Lomax: Artists Daniel Wickerham and Malcolm Lomax, working together as Wickerham & Lomax, are creating a work entitled “Soft Gym” for the Central Baltimore’s Partnership’s new Ynot Lot events space at 101 W. North Avenue, a replacement for the old Ynot Lot at the northwest corner of Charles Street and North Avenue.
The new Ynot Lot is a vacant parcel where a former Modernist bank branch, also known as the KAGRO building, used to stand, and it’s owned by a private company, MCB Real Estate. Long-range plans call for the lot to be redeveloped, most likely with apartments and street-level commercial space. For now, MCB is letting the Central Baltimore Partnership use it to create a flexible space that can be programmed with a variety of events to replace the previous Ynot lot. The ‘Inviting Light’ project will include a new performance pavilion and other elements designed by Wickerham & Lomax. The artists say they’re aiming to give the space the vibe of a “contemplative gym.” Installation is scheduled for late summer 2025. An unveiling event and grand opening is planned for October 2025.
Inviting Light
‘Inviting Light’ is a multi-faceted initiative that is designed to help revitalize the Station North Arts District with site-specific public art installations and a series of community events and programs that will draw people to the area and help showcase its potential as a place to live, work, learn and spend leisure time.
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge brings together mayors, residents and artists to develop temporary public art projects that address important civic issues in their communities. Since launching in 2014, Bloomberg’s Public Art Challenge has spurred more than $100 million in economic benefits for participating cities and action across a range of civic issues.
In 2022, Bloomberg Philanthropies invited mayors of U.S. cities with 30,000 residents or more to apply for up to $1 million in funding to create temporary public art projects that address important civic issues and demonstrate an ability to generate public-private collaborations, celebrate creativity and urban identity, and strengthen local economies.
More than 150 cities applied and Baltimore is one of eight cities that Bloomberg Philanthropies selected to develop projects focused on challenges related to climate change, equity, food insecurity, gun violence, homelessness, public health and revitalization.
Local facilitators of Baltimore’s ‘Inviting Light’ initiative are the Central Baltimore Partnership; the City of Baltimore; the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, and the Neighborhood Design Center.
The selected artists were named at a kickoff event on Feb. 7 at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Parkway Theatre on North Avenue. Each artist gets a minimum of $20,000 for participating, and each work has a different budget and time frame for completion. Artist and Baltimore native Derrick Adams is the curator who selected the artists and will work with them to complete their projects. Additional support will come from curator and community coordinator Jose Ruiz.
In addition to local artists and elected officials, the kickoff event drew a wide range of stakeholders in the Station North area and beyond, including the presidents of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Baltimore; former Maryland Institute College of Art president Fred Lazarus IV; Tonya Miller Hall, Mayor Brandon Scott’s senior advisor for Arts and Culture; and Amy Bonitz, MCB’s managing director for community development.
“What do you illuminate?’
Light is a key theme of Baltimore’s project, organizers say, because stakeholders in Station North have identified poor quality or lack of lighting as a challenge to cultural activity, street life, and investment in the area. While it’s common to find planning documents that address transportation, green space or the streetscape, organizers say, there are few examples of plans focused on lighting infrastructure, and that’s where the ‘Inviting Light’ initiative can make a difference.
‘Inviting Light’ will be an example that shows others how art and light can help create a sense of community, said State Senator Antonio Hayes. “Station North is showing how investment in the arts can drive economic development…Thank you to Bloomberg for believing and investing in Baltimore.”
Just being selected by Bloomberg is a strong vote of confidence in the city, said City Council member Jermaine Jones.
“We always hear bad things about Baltimore, but this is a win,” he told the audience. “Do you know how many people applied for this?…The people of Baltimore won it!”
Light doesn’t just eliminate darkness, Jones said. “It also eliminates crime. Light gives us hope. It also spurs creativity.”
Light can do many things for a community, Adams agreed.
“When you bring your light, what do you illuminate?” he asked the audience. “Today, we have a chance to explore what light really means and what it can do, not just physically but also on a deeper, metaphysical level. Light is more than energy. It is also a feeling. I’m incredibly proud to be the lead curator of ‘Inviting Light.’ “
Adams said he didn’t pick the artists because of their knowledge of electricity but because he believes they have the ability to transform public perceptions of the area with what they create.
“I believe they are perfect for this challenge,” he said. “These artists that were chosen were not chosen because they work with electricity…These are artists that I believe conceptually can rise to the occasion to transform ideas of light, not only physically but conceptually and metaphorically, into spaces, in Station North especially, in a way that will illuminate the area in a way that I as a Baltimorean envisioned and experienced North Avenue as a child growing up.”
The North Avenue of today “is not the North Avenue that I grew up in,” he said. ”And so this project to me is a passion project because I think this project will show people who move to Baltimore after the fact of all this devastation and trauma that has existed here, will transform this place to be a place of community engagement and I believe that that’s exactly what this project will do. I cannot wait to see this project’s impact on Baltimore’s Station North district…Remember, our city needs all of our light to shine, to really make it glow. Remember to bring your light, Baltimore.”
Community Light Walk on Feb. 14
The next ‘Inviting Light’ event will be a Community Light Walk on Friday, February 14, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., during Station North’s monthly Art Walk gathering. In addition, organizers have set March 31 as the deadline for local artists to submit proposals to provide light-infused programming related to the five art installations.
More information and updates can be found at invitinglight.org and on Instagram @invitinglightbaltimore.
