By Krissi Humbard (View FULL STORY online on Hyattsville Life & Times)
The West Hyattsville Metro Station is about to burst onto the public art scene.
On Saturday, May 13, the Hyattsville Community Development Corporation (CDC) is hosting “Bursting on the Scene,” a community mural event. Residents are invited to paint with professional muralists Cory Stowers and Henry Portillo of ART BLOC DC, to create two paint-by-numbers murals on the underpass at the West Hyattsville Metro Station.
“Bursting on the Scene” will feature an original design by Stowers and Portillo, with vibrant, space-warping geometric forms: arrows, stars, psychedelic waves, and telephone poles. The artists’ designs were chosen by juried selection from a pool of 28 submissions by 18 area artists.
The mural project has been two years in the making, said Stuart Eisenberg, executive director of the Hyattsville CDC. The project is being done in collaboration with Washington Metro Transit Area Authority Arts in Transit, which aims to install artwork that captures the spirit and vitality of the region, making travel by Metro more attractive and inviting. The mural will be the first public work of art produced for the 24-year-old metro station.
“I am truly appreciative of the CDC’s efforts to engage the West Hyattsville community in a collaborative public art project,” said Councilmember Jospeh Solomon (Ward 5). “Convincing metro has been a two-year planning process; however the community is extremely excited and ready to place a unique and attractive look on the central transportation hub for the region.”
The event is billed as a fun and engaging way to beautify a popular but plain public space. “We wanted to do some place-making in a spot you otherwise just kind of walk by,” said Justin Fair, the economic development coordinator at the Hyattsville CDC.