Mission District – Lilac Street

Posted on March 18, 2025 by Mary C

The Mission District in San Francisco is full of street art of all types from messy graffiti to fabulous murals. Back in February I had the opportunity to walk around the area with my camera. This is the first of many posts that should result from my walks.

houses on either side of entrance to Lilac Street, Mission District, San Francisco, two storey clapboard houses, with mural on the side of one of them

The first sign that Lilac Street might be an interesting street to wander down is this San Francisco mural on the side of a house.

mural featuring golden gate bridge, text says San Francisco

below: Mother with a child looking over her shoulder

black and white shades of grey mural of mother and child, mother's back is shown, child looking over her shoulder

below: Norm on a black garage

four large letters painted on a black garage door, N O R and M. Spells norm

below: A portrait in blue.

mural on a garage door, woman's portrait in blue

below: A tribute to Sharon Jacobs (1982-2019).

woman's portrait on a garage door

below: Anti Skateboarding Hero.

torn sticker, or paste up, on a utility pole, text says anti skateboarding hero, pole is painted black and red with graffiti

below: Higher up, a purple rhino and a yellow bird by chilovia – a pair of South Americans, Pancho Pescador and Pablo (aka Raiz)

below: Contrasts – the empty, graffiti covered old building beside the newer redevelopment. A common urban theme found in most cities as they age and re-new.

abandoned building with vacant lot in front, behind a fence, building is covered with graffiti

below: A wish for peace in Palestine.

palestine protest street art mural of woman with two fingers raised in peace symbol

below: This street certainly has its scruffy and neglected looking sections. In small doses, streets like this have their charm, especially from a photogenic perspective.

chainlink fence

below: Walking past number 133, frowning and grumpy.

man, street art, many colours, at number 133

below: There is a strong resemblance here to Olaf from “Frozen” – but this guy looks a little more deranged….

crazy Olaf from Frozen

below: Praying

street art mural of a woman praying, wearing green shawl that also covers her head, garbage bins in front of the mural

below: Dancers, front of the house.

bent nail in wood utility pole, spray painted pole in blues and green, graffiti gate painted with bright colours, with metal grille in front of it

Photos taken February 2025

three women of Lynn

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Mary C

This post highlights three murals in Lynn Massachusetts that feature a portrait of a woman. They certainly aren’t the only women portrayed in Lynn, they just happen to be located close to each other.

below: Layers of women. Two portraits on different buildings but from the same viewpoint. In front, “The Protector” by David Zays; In back, a mural by Marka27.

below: From a better angle, the woman in blue with a yellow flower in her hand in the mural by Marka27, aka Victor Quinonez.

below: Yellow petals flying away, blowing in the breeze.

below: “The Protector”, a mural by David Zayas. Like many of his murals, there is a lot of symbolism. The aloe plant is known for its healing properties and hence is a symbol of protection. The rooster on her shoulder represents the resilience and fighting spirit that we need when life get tough.

below: Looking closer at the intricate detail in the rose pattern in her blouse and the detail in the rooster’s colourful feathers.

below: The orange colour in the bird has faded a bit so it’s more difficult to tell that it is a robin.

below: “Grandma Eve” by Helen Bur is on the same building as the Davd Zayas mural, but on the other side. Bur’s grandmother is shown holding a playbill designed by her husband during WW2 when he was a prisoner of war in the Pacific. The prisoners put on a play, ‘Murder at Sea’, and the artist’s grandfather designed the playbill for the show.

Photos taken July 2024

Ignite, Create, Connect

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Mary C

A portrait project from 2014 – 10 years on and still looking great

A total of 528 portraits line the side of a walkway under the railway tracks in Lynn.

They are the product of a Raw Art Works project – Young artists took photos of various people in Lynn and then made portraits from those photos. The portraits also include ones that the artists made of themselves.

Raw Artworks – whose mission statement includes the words; “to ignite the desire to create and confidence to succeed”. It’s a program for youth that has been running in Lynn since 1994.

Photos were taken in July 2024

Beverly murals and stickers

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Mary C

… The Beverly in Massachusetts that is

below: Large back and white mural by Alex Senna with feet overhanging a parking lot.

large black, white, and grey mural by Alex Senna, a male, reclining, feet in sandals

below: The large feet also sit above a line of circus themed images. These vignettes, so to speak, are also seen on the other side of the building (a theater). Some of them are shown here.

feet from mural by Alex Senna, on red brick wall, with a line of circus images below, an elephant,

below: Two clowns.

below: Magic rings

below: Another magician with his props

below: “Welcome to the Golden Theater Beautiful” on one side and “Le Grand David and his Own Spectacular Magic Company” on the other.

below: Appropriately, it was painted on a bicycle store wall. Sadly, the bike shop closed in 2018 after being in business for 70 years. The frog on its bike endures.

on upper part of red brick building, a green frog on the seat of an old fashioned bicycle with a very large front wheel

below: Mural by Helen Bur and Sam Worthington, “Uprising”

below: This mural is dedicated to Howard Lomen (1959-2004). There are words written on the mural including: “Charles Olson and Vincent Ferrini fire their poetry pistols in a dual at niles beach.” It was painted by his son Erik Lomen. Both Olson and Ferrini (in the black hat) were poets from the Gloucester MA area (just up the coast from Beverly).

below: The blur of headlights in the night, a mural by Dana Woulfe

below: A lively flower arrangement by Hailey Bonia

below: Nowhere over fast and a burning car

below: Stay Calm and Love Your Neighbourhood

below: Stickers on a stop sign including a green snail

Photos taken July 2024

downtown Worcester

Posted on November 13, 2024 by Mary C

below: Wrdsmth – “This is my palette. A mere twenty-six deep, yet the possibilities are infinite.” … Plus his typewriter that appears in all his graffiti and street art. The mural also credits PowWow Worcester which was an annual arts festival (for a few years prior to 2021) that was responsible for bringing a number of murals to the city.

below: A tower of women, by Marka27, aka Victor Quinonez, 2016, a very vertical mural on the side of the parking garage at Federal Plaza.

below: A painting by Christina Angelina, another parking garage mural at Federal Plaza

below: Another mural that was painted during a PowWow Worcester is this cartoon-like painting by Greg Mike (2016).

below: Jason Eatherly’s trucks parked beside the old brick building.

below: One of the first murals painted in Worcester is this now slightly faded creation by Caleb Neelon

below: Calligraphy type design, part of a larger mural by Imagine, aka Sneha Shresta.

below: At the YWCA, two young girls in shades of blue on a red background.

below: Keep on smiling!

Photos taken July 2024

There were also murals by Damien Mitchell (below) and Insane that I saw in downtown Worcester but they have already been featured in a prior blog post, (Insane + One)

*****

Chicopee’s people

Posted on November 11, 2024 by Mary C

below: Chicopee mural along the ground floor level of an apartment building in the center of town.

many cars parked in front of a 4 storey brick apartment building, with murals painted across the lower level, the word chicopee in large red capital letters, a red and white tram with people, a woman on a bicycle, poppies,

below: From a different angle

red and white tram, with people, part of larger mural

below: The poppy as a symbol of remembrance. I haven’t been able to learn why it appears in at least three murals in the city unless it is coincidence). There are poppies in the Chicopee mural above as well as on this smaller painting. The state flower is the mayflower so that is not an explanation for the poppy….

below: “Work and Progess”, Commonwealth Murals, 2022

mural with title workers and progress, people in different jobs, different ages, men and women, and children

part of a larger mural, workman in a hardhat

woman, grandmother, and children in a mural

below: “Paint the Woods” by Christina Bryden, 2020 – A stained glass rose window makes this building look like a church but it is actually Chicopee City Hall. It was built in the early 1870s and the architect was Charles E. Parker of Boston. It was modelled on the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence Italy. Chicopee is on the Connecticut River.

mural by christena bryden titled paint the woods, shows chicopee city hall on the shore of a river, Connecticut river

below: USS Chicopee – During WW2 she served as a station tanker, or as an escort oiler, helping to refuel ships along the eastern USA coast or in the Atlantic. In the later stages of the war she saw service assisting the US Pacific Fleet (during Iwo Jima and Okinawa). In 1946 she was returned to her owners, Standard Oil; she ended her life as a container ship, under a few different names. She was scrapped in 2010.

black lives matter mural, portrait of three people with a word associated with each, valued, beloved, worthy,

below: A large white dog on a blue leash, a painting by Betz (half of dou, Etam Cru), aka Polish artist Mateusz Gapski. Painted March 2024 – it is on the same apartment building as the Chicopee mural at the top of this blog post. This painting was also a Beyond Walls project.

large mural of a white dog with a blue leash

Photos taken July 2024

El Punto apartments, Salem

Posted on November 11, 2024 by Mary C

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

two buildings separated by a walkway, each has a mural on the side

below: “Communion with us” by GLeo – a young woman in white veil, dress and gloves.

group of 3 storey apartment buildings in el punto neighbourhood in Salem Massachusetts, home of Punto Open Air Museum, large murals on exterior walls

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

below: Krave’s “El Mono Fresco”

below: High up on a wall, a flower adorned head and a profile portrait of a woman, “Kaupoku” by Hula

below: Up high, a man in a white hat. The mural, “Tirando Con Pique”, is painted on a wall beside a staircase. Don Rimx is the artist. 2017

Photos taken August 2024

downtown Syracuse

Posted on November 4, 2024 by Mary C

below: Put the “U” back in Syracuse, by Ally Walker

mural in syracuse new york, text with word syracuse with the u slightly askew, put the u back in syracuse

below: sAlt City by Brett Snyder and Irene Cheng, 2012. Mosaic of squares and each square is a QR code that links to as arts organization in the city.

below: “Keep it Street”

small street art piece high up on a building, keep it street

below: Your name like ice into my heart

below: A large mural by Colello Creations, aka Jacqueline Colello

part of a colello creations mural in syracuse

below: Another large mural, this one is on the side of a NatWest bank building and features images of Syracuse landmarks from a time when the Erie Canal played a large role in the city. It was painted by Corky Goss and Chip Miller in 2010.

horse drawn carriage passing in front of the erie canal where a man is tying up a boat, two people in the carriage,

Photos taken August 2024

Lynn posters

Posted on September 20, 2024 by Mary C

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).

covid pandemic poster in Lynn Massachusetts, copy of super nurse, a large mural in amsterdam

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

two covid pandemic posters in Lynn Massachusetts, unsung heroes thank you to essential workers in the service industry as well as a reminder to wash your hands

below: A copy of Shepherd Fairey’s (aka Obey) “We the People; Protect Each Other”

covid pandemic poster in Lynn Massachusetts, by obey aka shepherd fairey, picture of young woman, in blues and reds with text, we the people protect each other

below: Manoel Enrique (aka Fizz) designed this poster to remind everyone to wash their hands.

Photos taken August 2024

Nostalgia

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Mary C

… is a mural on Main Street in Nashua that takes a look back at three of the highlights in the history of American movies – The Three Stooges, Cary Grant and Vivian Leigh in ‘Gone With the Wind’, as well as James Stewart and Donna Reed in ‘A Wonderful Life’. It was painted on the side of on the Chase Building on its 100th anniversary. Once upon a time this building was home to a movie theater with a few different names – the Tremont (1917-1927), State (1927-1973), and Star (1973-1980) Theaters.