Imagine you have been chosen by your hometown of 44,000 to be immortalized in a public art project created by internationally-celebrated artists to illustrate the town’s historical sites. Ten Catonsville residents now have that honor.
“Signs of People,” by Spanish artists Eva Salmerón and Ciro Márquez and fabricated by Kyle Miller, will be revealed to the public in the Catonsville Arts District on Saturday, Oct. 10, from 1–4 p.m. Each sign features a bright yellow silhouette of one of the 10 chosen locals pointing towards a historic site in the town.
Some of the locals include Mae McCoy, a caregiver and baker; Rebekah Kaufman, a former elementary school librarian; attorney Jim Heidelbach; Louis S. Diggs, historian and author who died in 2022; Phyllis King, community advocate and educator, and others.
The bright yellow wayfinding signs stand around 12 feet tall, visible to drivers and pedestrians alike. Under the silhouettes are area maps and descriptions telling the stories of the sites. A QR code brings visitors to audio descriptions, directions, and websites with more historical information.
“The inspiration for this project came from our visit to Catonsville last October, from the passion of the various people who showed us around, from their excitement to tell all the stories of their town, and from their sense of welcome,” Salmerón said in February 2025. “Signs of People is a tribute to the locals, who are, after all, the ones who make the place what it is today.”
Each sign includes two sidewalk-level plates: one with a photo of the resident whose silhouette appears at the top, quotes from their story and memories, historic text, and a photo of the site to which they are pointing. The other plate has a map of related sites.
“The signs work first as a draw, and they also create a network of several routes linking places that are historically related to one another,” Márquez said.
The signs will point to 10 locations along Frederick Road and Winters Lane, a cross-section at the center of the main part of Catonsville’s Main Street business district. The locations are:
- the Remus Adams Blacksmith Shop,
- the Old Catonsville High School,
- the Albert Smith House, home to Catonsville’s first newspaper,
- Heidelbach Grocer and Butcher,
- the Fire Station House,
- the Catonsville Health Center, a women’s public health advocacy organization and clinic,
- Greenwood Electric Park, a social center for Catonsville’s historic Black community,
- the Winters Lane neighborhood,
- Salem Lutheran Evangelical Church, and
- the Post Office, where the sign tells the story of Victor Gustav Bloede, inventor of postage stamp glue.
Artists Salmerón and Márquez chose the residents portrayed on the signs from a pool of 43 nominees put forward by the community, making the project not just “about” or “for” Catonsville, but with Catonsville. The project involved an engagement process that included 249 community members and took two years.
“Signs of People doesn’t just work with the community, it depends on the community to take shape and content,” Márquez said.
Salmerón said the project is about identity and reflects the true spirit of Catonsville.
“Very sociable, hospitable people, with their own distinct way of being, who love to eat and are very proud of their town,” Salmerón said. “The most beautiful moments for me have been seeing some of the neighbors cry as they told me their stories. Imagine having your own road sign in your town, sharing something personal about a place you’re connected to in some way. You get emotional. That is the soul of the project. It doesn’t just celebrate the community, it magnifies it, because residents will have 12-foot-tall signs that won’t go unnoticed.”
Mike Eagle agreed. He is a former firefighter whose silhouette is portrayed on the sign that will be in front of the firehouse.
“This is not a fire station, it’s a house, and for half of my life I lived here,” Eagle said. “I had two homes. These were my brothers and sisters. We ate together, food was good here, firefighters cook well.”
Márquez explained the concept behind the silhouettes, and the challenge of bringing that concept to life.
“A road sign has to work from far away and up close, and too much information can be confusing from a distance, so it has barely any content inside,” Márquez said. “It has been a challenge to turn each person, with their individual character, into an almost abstract drawing that works as a sign: to synthesize a person into a silhouette with that simplicity, boldness, and clarity. I combined elements from different photographs, trying to refine a gesture, an attitude, a profile that characterizes the person.”
Catherine Carey, 90, is another Catonsvillian chosen to be represented on the signs. She remembers the end of Greenwood Electric Park.
“It closed in 1941,” Carey recalled. “There was a snowstorm on a Sunday and it was so heavy that it made the pavilion collapse. The next day I had to go to school and the snow was higher than me.”
Mae McCoy remembers the camaraderie of living on Winters Lane.
“Neighbors looked out for neighbors,” McCoy said. “You could go to anybody’s house and eat. My mother was known for her crab cakes.”
Though Salmerón and Márquez are an internationally recognized team, this is not their first public art installation in Baltimore. Their interactive sculpture BUS was installed in the downtown Highlandtown Arts District in 2014.
Signs of People is promoted by the Baltimore County Arts Guild for the Catonsville Arts District. At Saturday’s unveiling, there will be an Opening Ceremony at 1 p.m. at The Catonsville Clubhouse with remarks from community leaders, project curators, and participating artists. After that, attendees can walk to each sign unveiling with the group at each location, which is expected to run from approximately 1:50–4 p.m. Attendees can also meet the Catonsville residents featured on each sign.
The Catonsville Clubhouse is located at 10 St. Timothy’s Lane, Catonsville. Parking and other event location information is available here.
