Image credit: Jeff & Aisha Butler of Jazzy Studios
Baltimore-based artist Megan Lewis has been chosen to create new public artwork for the Penn-North Metro SubwayLink station. The inclusion of the artwork, which is intended to focus on the history and culture of the Penn-North community, is part of North Avenue Rising, a project that includes transportation investments across the North Avenue corridors and is supported by a U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant. The North Avenue Rising will improve transit connectivity and accessibility along the East to West North Avenue corridor, while the investment in new artwork will improve the commuter experience within the station and provide visitors an opportunity for self-reflection.
The artwork created by Lewis will be the first new artwork commissioned for the Baltimore Metro SubwayLink system since the stations were built more than 30 years ago, and will be the first artwork by a black woman artist commissioned for Maryland’s transit system. Lewis joins the ranks of artists like Romare Bearden, Patricia Alexander, Paul Daniels, Mary Ann Mears and others who have artwork commissions located along the Baltimore Metro SubwayLink line.
The North Avenue Rising Penn-North Station project is Lewis’s first public art commission. The artist has been an active and well-regarded member of Baltimore’s arts community. A past Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance Urban Arts Leadership Fellow, Lewis began translating her work into public murals in the summer of 2015 through Art @ Work, an award-winning partnership between BOPA and Jubilee Arts. Since that time, she has been an Art @ Work teaching artist four years in a row, and has completed seven murals across the city. Her mural, Lady Liberty Please Know Thy Self, located at 1800 Baker Street, made national news when singer-songwriter Alicia Keys visited Baltimore for “Shining a Light: A Concert for Progress on Race in America” presented by A+E Networks. The artist will begin designing the artwork for the station this fall, with installation scheduled in 2020.
Meet Lewis and hear about her creative process during an artist talk on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 from 6pm to 8pm at Arch Social Club, located at 2426 Pennsylvania Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21217. The event is hosted by Cultureworks and part of BOPA’s Free Fall Baltimore.
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More information on North Avenue Rising can be found at www.northavenuerising.com.