Rundown to Renaissance: Group Turns Streets Into Art Canvas
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By Wyman Jones In 2017 Justin “Nether” Nethercut and best friend Elise Victoria started an organization that turns forgotten landscapes into neighborhood “Picasso’s” in the Northern Baltimore community.
Since the organization Arts + Parks creation a little over a year ago, the two have worked in communities such as BOCEK Madison East End. The project aims to reshape the community’s worn-down image through the use of public street art with murals and green-spaces.
The organization recently completed eight murals and landscaped a public park, local church, and sidewalks in the neighborhood. Much of the work was funded by Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated.
Their designs are based on conversations they have with community members, and the murals often feature the faces of residents.
Through several uphill battles with community activists, property management, and run-ins with city laws, Arts + Parks has remained committed to blending “street art and purposeful landscapes,” the organizers said.
At first glance, a visitor might think that a rundown park on nearby Linwood Avenue would be a reflection upon the overall community, but they’d be wrong.
An array of eye-catching art on every street makes up for the lack of upkeep at the park.
The park’s field house has been boarded up and not in service for over 20 years, residents say. Wood covers shattered windows and graffiti is scrawled on the outskirts on the building. It’s clear this facility is a major contrast to the blocks filled with flowers and landscape artwork by Arts + Parks.
In a way, their art is almost like make-up for the blemish that is the run-down rec center.
[metaslider id=”333″] Residents involved in beautifying the neighborhood. Illustrations by Sylvia Li.
Elise Victoria, the co-director of the Arts + Parks organization walks on North Curley Street with Rocky Brown, the president of the Bocek Madison Eastend Community Association on April 23. As they walk, the two pass under a mural bearing Brown’s likeness. Victoria, a landscaper and her best friend, street artist Justin “Nether” Nethercut, launched Arts + Parks in 2017 to employ landscaping and street art to beautify neglected neighborhoods. Their designs are based on conversations they have with community members, and the murals often feature the faces of residents. Photo by: M.K. McFarlandElise Victoria, left, and Justin “Nether” Nethercut sit on a porch at an empty house on N. Curley Street in the Bocek neighborhood of Baltimore. Victoria and “Nether” recently completed eight murals and landscaped a public park, local church and sidewalks in the neighborhood. Much of the work in this community was funded by Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated. Photo by: Wyman Jones, Jr.“Finding Home” is the name of the mural painted by “Nether” on Kenwood Avenue in Bocek. It is meant to symbolize the unity of the Latino and African American community’s effort to build “home” in the neighborhood. The monarch butterfly is a symbol of the community’s migrant history. Photo by M.K. McFarlandElise Victoria, right, talks with Bocek resident Bernice Moreno, through the branches of a newly planted tree that’s part of an effort to bring green spaces and landscaping to the community. In the neighborhood park and around Elevation Chapel on Madison Street, Victoria installed tree pits and benches, but on Curley Street, where the sidewalk space was limited, trees were planted in planters outside each home. Photo by M.K. McFarlandMost of the murals added in Bocek depict flowers and trees to symbolize growth and rebirth. The trees and plants around the neighborhood are all native to Maryland. Photo by M.K. McFarlandThe Field House neighborhood recreation center at The Frank C. Bocek Park has been closed for more than 20 years. Once a community hub, it was a site for voting and a place for students to take the SAT. The community has received a grant to renovate the building. Photo by M.K. McFarland.
