Envelope, please … and the winner of the Pikesville Community Mural Project — the northwest community’s first juried, publicly funded mural — is Baltimore-born artist Jaz Erenberg.
The announcement was made Monday night, Apr. 1, at a community meeting at the Pikesville branch of the Baltimore County Public Library.
The project was coordinated by such local civic groups as the Greater Baltimore Chamber of Commerce, Comprehensive Housing Assistance Inc., 1,000 Friends of Pikesville Inc., the Streetscape and Design Subcommittee of the Pikesville Revitalization Action Plan and Northwest Baltimore Partnership, in conjunction with Baltimore County government.
“Art in public space is an expression of solidarity, community and our values,” Baltimore County Councilman Izzy Patoka (D-2nd) posted on social media. “It encapsulates our county’s unique and diverse neighborhoods.”
An Upper Fells Point resident of Jewish, Black and Puerto Rican descent who served in the Israel Defense Forces, Erenberg, 32, has a long background in community and public artwork, and is a co-founder of Baltimore’s BRUSH Fest.
She is a 2017 graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art and former designer-in-residence for the Neighborhood Design Center.
Her works can be found in Belair-Edison, Sandtown-Winchester, East Baltimore Midway, Cherry Hill, Highlandtown, Ednor Gardens, and at the Lillie May Carroll Jackson Charter School on Sinclair Lane.
The Pikesville mural project was billed as a paid residency ($17,000) for an artist to create an original outdoor mural on a prominent sidewall of Zips Cleaners, at 1220 Reisterstown Road in the heart of “downtown” Pikesville.
The wall — which measures 45-by-13-feet — faces northward, across the street from the Pikesville library branch, the Pikesville Senior Center and the headquarters of the Maryland State Police (formerly the site of the Old United States Arsenal and the Maryland Line Confederate Soldiers’ Home).
Baltimore-based artists over the age of 18 were encouraged to submit an application to the Pikesville Community Mural Project by Jan. 7. Designs focused on the arts, a contemporary theme or the history of Pikesville.
“The mural is part of an initiative to give residents and visitors alike opportunities to engage with the arts, and to inaugurate a creative placemaking plan for the Pikesville ‘Mainstreet’ commercial corridor,” read the project application. “Creative placemaking is the integration of arts and culture into an area to build a sense of community identity and to boost the local economy through increased interest and tourism.”
Organizers hope the mural will be completed by Thursday, May 30. It will be located a few blocks from the historic Pikesville Armory, which will be undergoing a major redevelopment plan to transform the 14-acre campus into a community hub and possibly an economic and cultural engine for the Pikesville/Reisterstown Road corridor.
The mural will also be located near Meadow Creek Park, at 300 Church Lane in an area known as “Pikesville Township.” Expected to be completed next summer, the four-acre “pocket park” will include a network of nature trails and accessible surface paths, a nature-inspired playground and a communal plaza area with seating.
As the winning artist, Erenberg will be required to work with volunteers on at least one phase of the mural, as well as participate in up to two public community gatherings during the course of the project.
Funding for the project comes from the county’s Department of Planning and Northwest Baltimore Partnership. Besides the $17,000 residency prize, Erenberg will receive an additional $2,500 for permits and materials. Runners-up will receive $500.
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