A bridge that spans the Jones Falls Expressway is becoming Baltimore’s newest work of art.
Muralists started work June 6 on a six-week project that will transform the Maryland Avenue bridge that connects the Station North arts district with the Mount Vernon cultural area. The finished product will be one of the longest works of art in the city, covering both walls that frame the vehicular bridge between Lanvale and Oliver streets.
The mural is a key component of the Falls Gateway Master Plan, an initiative of the Midtown Community Benefits District, and is made possible by the Central Baltimore Partnership. The lead artist is Saba Hamidi, who designed the mural and also goes by her Instagram name, @madebysaba. Other artists working on the mural are: Lynn Cipollone, Justin Duvall, Blue Robin and Mowgli.
Hamidi said the mural will be 560 feet long on the east side of the bridge and 512 feet long on the west side. The artists are covering 7,243 square feet of wall surface, using exterior acrylic latex paint. “It’s definitely the largest one I’ve done so far,” she said.
The intricate design was inspired by the bridge’s location and role as a connector that links two busy parts of midtown.
“It’s a bridge that technically belongs to no one; therefore it belongs to everyone,” Hamidi said. “And so I wanted the design to just be something joyful and happy and colorful and something that has a lot of movement in it, so that it encourages people to continue to walk down the bridge and look at it.”
It’s also meant to be something of a puzzle, with more than a dozen Baltimore-related “Easter eggs” hidden throughout the design, waiting to be found.
“We have a salt box,” she said. “Mr. Trash Wheel is in here. I have a bicycle. There’s a couple of words. There’s Bmore over there, Old Bay. We’ve got the Orioles’ O. We’ve got little rats. We have a lemon stick…. The idea is you’re walking, you’re sort of going with the flow, and then all of a sudden: There’s a thing! There’s a thing!’’
The three major elements of the Falls Gateway Master Plan are: upgrades to three underpasses in the area, the CSX Underpass, the North Avenue Underpass and the Howard Street Underpass; shifting of the Jones Falls Trail along Falls Road, and inclusion of art works and other “place-making enhancements” such as lighting. The benefits district was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Goldseker Foundation to produce the master plan, in partnership with consultants Mahan Rykiel Associates and RK&K.
Hamidi said the mural has been in the planning stages since before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and she’s glad that work has finally started. She and her team are aiming to be finished by mid-July.
