The “El Punto” Neighborhood in Salem, Massachusetts now features over 75 large scale murals, by both world renowned and local artists, within a 3 block radius. It is all part of the Punto Open Air Museum, or Punto Urbana Art Project. This blog post focuses on the murals on the sides of a group lowrise (3 storey) apartment buildings in that neighbourhood. Some of these buildings are close together making it awkward to photograph the murals while still keeping in mind the residents’ privacy.
below: Avery happy woman in shades of purple, this is “Anacoana” by Ruben Ubiera, 2017
below: “Communion with us” by GLeo – a young woman in white veil, dress and gloves.
below: “Eternal Vibrations” by Trek6 (aka Oscar Montes). A hummingbird with long flowing colourful tail feathers, like ribbons blowing in the breeze as the bird flies.
below: One of the walkways between buildings.
below: Like the text says, “Here for the Imaginable” by Meg Zany, 2018
below: The shape of leaves, white on reddish brown, in an untitled mural by Veronica Rivera.
below: Part of “Stranger Things” by Jeff Henriquez, 2017 – three men in three different colours, with a night time scene with car lights and roads, running through them. (full mural in the next photo)
below: “Three Eyed Witch” by Edward Granger, 2018
below: ” El Campesino” ( or The Farmer) by Ruben Ubiera, 2017
below: Tucked back in a corner is an untitled mural by Aquarela Sabol
As I walked around Lynn I spotted a few posters on display, all of which dealt with the Covid pandemic that started back in 2020. You might be able to make an argument that these aren’t exactly street art but I think that their roots are firmly in the art community.
below: This is a copy of a much larger mural that first appeared in Amsterdam. “Super Nurse” is the creation of FAKE (aka Manuel Seikritt).
below: On the left – Unsung Heroes by Randy Stolinas – a thankful shout out to all those in the service industries who were also essential workers. On the right, useful, and still relevant, advice from Ed Wainaina
below: A copy of Shepherd Fairey’s (aka Obey) “We the People; Protect Each Other”
Like many cities in Massachusetts, the organization Beyond Walls has been responsible for bringing great artists into the city to paint interesting murals that liven up public spaces and bring some colour to different neighbourhoods.
below: A David Zayas mural, “Otro Rumbo” covers the side of a building at Athenian Corner on Market Street. It contains many traditional Puerto Rican symbols and objects, including a rooster that symbolizes strength. For this mural, Project LEARN (Lowell Educational Alliance Resource Network) was also involved.
below: Evaristo Angurria (or Nestor Garcia painted this mural at the site of Mechanics Hall. I am not sure why, but he seems to like painting women with curlers in their hair.
below: Three pottery jugs representing “healing”, i.e whole – broken – fixed, a mural by Bryan Beyung that covers the side of the Elliot Church in the Back Central neighbourhood.
below: Celebrating the Irish heritage in the area and how they helped build Lowell. They were one of the first immigrants to arrive starting in the 1830s. They found labor working at the many mills in and around Lowell.
below: “Rayo Feliz” by Golden 305 at the Middlesex Community College’s Facilities building. (More of his work in Holyoke).
below: Also on the Lowell campus of Middlesex Community College, this time at the Cowan Center, is another mural called “Dream, Hunt, Make.” It was was painted by FONKi, a Cambodian street artist born in France but now living in Montreal.
“DREAM, HUNT, MAKE Within the eyes of the Dreamer, lies the keys of the future, Sweetness and bitterness you will taste, Focus in the Present, you must, Educate yourself, you will. . Obsessively, his dream, the Hunter chases, Darkness and light you will meet, Wise with knowledge, you must be, Continue flying, you will. . Under The Maker’s hands, life takes color. Creation is complex, An Art it is, to make it simple, To build, pure must be your intentions. . A Sweet Dreamer, Wise Hunter & Pure Maker you shall become.”
Springfield MA is home to many murals. This blog post looks at some of them that were seen in the Mason Square neighborhood of that city.
A celebration of Black music that was originally painted in 1974 by Nelson Stevens. Stevens painted many murals in the Springfield area during his lifetime. He died last year at the age of 86. This mural was rededicated earlier in 2022.
below: Martin Luther King in “The Beloved Community” by Nero and Souls.
below: Say Their Names – A tribute mural to the more than 60 black and brown people killed in the USA in the year up to 1 June 2020 by the police – a project that was came about in response to the murder of George Floyd. Also included are the names of Springfield MA residents who have been killed in interactions with the police. This project was organized by Common Wealth Murals and Art for the Soul Gallery, and hosted by the Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services of Springfield. The mural was designed and painted by artist Wane One from New York City, with assistance from two other artists, Nero and Souls.
below: A healing mural – “You heal the soil, You heal yourself, You heal our neighborhood”. Another Community Mural Institute mural. The actual title is “Gardening the Community” and was painted by Ryan Murray, 2021.
below: RIP “Preacher Man”, Randolph Lester (1940-2017) The mural was designed by GoodSpace Murals for the Community Mural Institute. Three Springfield artists were involved: Frankie Borrero, Emma Mesa-Melendez, and Martin Johnson
below: On the walls of Rebecca M. Johnson School there is a series of paintings featuring Ruth E. Carter, costume designer, author and Springfield native. The images also show some of the many costumes she designed for films including Black Panther, Coming to America, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, and Selma.
below: “Tribute to Black Women”, painted in 1974 by Nelson Stevens and repainted in 2022 by the Community Mural Institute.
I am a black woman, tall as a cypress, strong beyond all definition, defying time and circumstance, assailed, impervious, indestructable. Look on me and be renewed.
This is the back of 270 and 280 Union Street in Lynn MA as seen from the (large) parking lot. All of these murals were painted as part of the Beyond Walls program.
A closer look at the four of them…..
below: Two large murals, male and female, by Erin Holly
below: A large, vibrant mural titled “KLK Mi Gente” painted by a group of artists: Angurria (aka Nestor Garcia), Dovente (aka Johann M. Baez) Silvia López Chavez, and Willgom (aka Willy Gomez). The artists are either from the Dominican Republic or have Dominican roots.
“KLK” is an acronym for “Que lo que!,” which loosely translates to the English, in meaning and usage, as “What’s up?” The mural is a celebration of Dominican culture.
below: Hanimal, an artist from Colombia, two little guys like two peas in a pod , meticulously detailed,
below: Portuguese artist, Diogo Machado aka Add Fuel painted the top corner of the building. His ‘layers’ wrap around the corner, each layer revealing a different tile pattern.
below: Two sides of the Hanover Theatre in central Worcester Massachusetts have large murals on them. On the left, a woman’s portrait by Damien Mitchell; on the right, a couple touch foreheads, by Insane 51.
below: A closer look at the woman.
below: Like much of Insane 51’s work, this mural has been painted in shades of blue and red. One colour, blue, is used for the visible outer part of the body while the skeleton underneath is painted in red.
below: Two filters have been installed at approximately eye level across the parking lot from the mural. When the mural is viewed with a blue filter, this is what you see…. (with a few reflections of another building I’m afraid). The red elements disappear.
below: The red filter makes the blue parts invisible and now the skeleton and teeth are predominant.
One of the joys of exploring cities that have organizations and programs that promote good street art, is finding walls that have been a canvas for artists with global reach. In this case, the city of Chicopee (that I suspect many people outside of Massachusetts have never heard of) has a mural by Vhils, aka Alexandre Farto, a Portuguese artist whose work is now found in over 30 countries.
below: A better look at the Vhils work – He hasn’t painted this mural. Instead it has been created using a bas-relief carving technique. The colours in the mural are the colors of the different layers on the wall.
below: A garden of color. Bright red poppies with white and yellow daisies…. Blue hollyhocks and yellow delphinium (I think!) too.
On the left is a mural by Okuda (aka Okuda San Miguel) called “Cat Witch” (it is Salem after all!) showing a figure that is both human and feline. Her fur/skin/body is constructed using many multicoloured triangles which is Okuda’s signature style. It was painted in 2017.
below: Also from 2017, is a mural with a very long title, “Una mirada que embruja por la calles de Salem.” In English this is: “An enchanted look in the streets of Salem”. The artist was Belin (aka Miguel Ángel Belinchón) and it is painted in a style that he calls post-neocubism. A modern day Picasso so to speak.
below: The last mural is also the most recent as it dates from 2023. On the right and partially hidden behind the tree, is an El Punto Community mural, “Generations” – “Generaciones” (follow the link for the full story behind the mural).
It features events (e.g. a fire in 1914 that destroyed a church) as well as recognizable places and people in the community. It was designed by David Fichter.
The mural was painted on metal panels with the help of Xerxes Butt, Bianca Oppedisano and Joshua Winer, and then installed on the side of this building.
A shout out to Punto Urban Art Museum, the organization behind the murals in Salem.
Over the past few days I have posted pictures of some of the murals in Holyoke Massachusetts. This post will be that last one for that city for now. I know that I didn’t see everything that Holyoke has to offer but I hope to be back soon!
below: “Yagrumo” by Vero Rivera. Rainforest plant with palmate leaves – In brown and white, together forming patterns and designs.
below: Painted by David Zayas, high energy dancing, with music and movement. The rooster may not be dancing but it too moves with energy and vigor.
below: The Master of Masks, by David Zayas and Don Rimx. The mural portrays Don Raúl Ayala Carrasquillo, who was a master in the art of making vejigante masks – A vejigante is a folkloric character in Puerto Rican festival celebrations, especially during Carnival. He learned his craft from his father and he, in turn, passed the tradition on to his children.
below: “Child Flower” painted on the former Boys Club building on Race Street, by Gleo
below: Colonia – topless, draped with a Puerto Rican flag.
below: Frankie Borrero’s creation, “Transición de las antepasadas” (Transition of the Ancestors)
below: Right – The mural says EL ARCOIRIS as a tribute to an after school program created by Nueva Esperanza more than 20 years ago. They use art and murals as part of their program to engage youth. This mural is a tribute to those pioneers and was painted by Golden 305 (aka Cristhian Saravia). Previously, I posted another of his murals in Holyoke
On the left is “Chromoji” by Bikismo (aka Ismo La Joya del Caribe, or the Chrome Master)
below: An older El Arcoiris mural, faded blues with a rainbow connection between the two windows. Flowers and butterfles, and a guitar.
below: A mural on the side of a bakery. Puerto Rica and the USA, Palm trees and sunflowers. Farmers harvesting food from the fields behind the city streets.
below: There’s even a horse drawn carriage.
below: Nuestras Raices = Our Ancestors
below: On the large wall of University Products, Yo Soy I am by TakeOne and GoFive
An interesting description of this mural is on the Beyond Walls website: “Yo Soy! I am anything and everything. It is not enough to simply exist. Playing it small doesn’t serve the world, therefore it does not serve me. I embody the very essence in which life is created. I am a powerful force. I am light. I am beauty, undefined. I am capable. I am resilient. I am, You are, We are ENOUGH!”
below: As mentioned in my previous post, Holyoke has the largest number of Puerto Ricans per capita outside of that country.
El Spirit Republic of Puerto Rico – Defending our roots and our communities.
below: mmm
below: Tim Purington was a City Councilor and public health advocate who died in 2019.
below: Needle exchange programs were one of the public health initiatives that he advocated for.
below: “Iguana-boina ” by Rafique aka Rafael Enrique Vega. Here we see the union of the iguana, the symbol of the sun, and “boina”, a dark-colored snake that represents dark rain clouds. From these, life is formed. These elements are found in the Taino creation story where the cave of Iguanaboina was the primordial den from which the Sun emerges to illuminate the earth and to which it returns to hide as the moon emerges. The Taíno people were the predominant indigenous people of the Caribbean.
below: Alvin is missing the rest of his chipmunks.
A few days ago I posted pictures of the father and baby moose that Bordalo 2 made on Clemente Street and yesterday I shared images of the mural ‘La cultura es poder’…. But there are many more Holyoke murals thanks to organizations such as Beyond Walls and Nueva Esperanza. I think that I have barely scratched the surface. Photos taken July 2024
La Cultura es Poder was painted by the Colectivo Morivivi in connection with the “Race and Visual Cultures” project of UMASS Amherst. In this mural, swirls of coloured music unite the elements of the story. From the website for Colectivo Moriviví – “the different musical genres can be seen in the mural coming out of the windows and merging in a trail of colors that leads us to a Bomba circle. With this image, we wanted to evoke the connection of the most contemporary rhythms with ancestral traditions. Bomba is very present in the activism of the diaspora and its community practices. As such, culture is resilient and it is power.”
Colectivo Morivivi is an all-women artistic collective, democratizing art and bringing the narratives of Puerto Rican communities to the public sphere. Holyoke Massachusetts has the highest population of Puerto Ricans, per capita, in the continental United States.
Eyes on the Streets 