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.
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
On a fence in Salem Massachusetts is a series of paintings by a group of artists who used the book “A Dream Called Home” as inspiration. The book is a memoir by Mexican-American author Reyna Grande and in it tells of her dreams of a stable home and how she makes it happen. Last year several artists participated in the project, including six local artists from the neighborhood. These are the murals on that fence.
Punto Urban Art Museum is the organization behind this project. It was founded by North Shore Community Development Coalition (North Shore CDC) in Salem’s historic El Punto neighbourhood. This fence is but one of their many projects.
below: “Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortugas” by Kearin Alexander Frias is on the left.
below: Anatomically correct heart in blue hands, a painting by Llemonmoss.
below: Left – “Home Cooked Meals Feed the Soul” by Nick Pinciaro and on the right – “Vessel” by Amanda Beard Garcia.
below: Left – “My Father’s Keeper” by Emily Kwong and on the right – “Nou La” by Rachel Domond
below: There is text in the background that is difficult to see in this photo but it is a blend of two quotes from the book: “You are now bilingual, bicultural, and binational. You are not less. You are more, twice the girl you used to be.” Painted by Yixuan Zeng
Near 125th subway station (A/B/C) there is a mosaic mural. Original artwork done by Louis Del Sarte and made into a mosaics by Franz Mayer of Munich, 2005. After it was vandalized, it was restored in 2018. It’s a lively scene with musicians and dancers enjoying themselves. Vibrant. Alive.
below: The corner of 125th (also Martin Luther King Blvd) and Frederick Douglas Blvd.
Syracuse filled in the Erie Canal and built a museum to it instead. As part of this museum, a large two storey mural of a canal side warehouse interior was painted on the remains of a 4 storey brick warehouse (1989).
If you walk around the old part of Naples (particularly the Quartieri Spagnoli), you will see many murals and paintings by the Italian duo Cyop & Kaf. Many of them are weathered and faded or written over but they are still hard to miss. This is a selection of the ones that I saw in Naples one wet spring day.
Central Ave (and the streets running parallel to it) in downtown St. Petersburg Florida has become home to numerous murals thanks to the SHINE Mural Festival held every October. 2024 will be its 10th year.
First, two kids in a boat on triangular sea, by Zulu (or Zulu Painter). The girl is at the helm with her paddle. Both are watching intently, eyes ahead. What do they see?
And second, there is a long horizontal mural by Daniel R. Barojas with a pattern of hexagons for a background. A woman is on one side. She seems focused on something.
… peeking out in the middle (caught in the middle?, or just curious?)
… and a man with feathers in his ear at the other end
Parking garages, especially large structures, can usually be described as boring and ugly, i.e. they aren’t great to look at. Downtown Tampa has a large parking structure that was decorated with street art murals back in 2015.
below: William F. Poe Parking Garage on North Ashley Drive is now home to “Stay Curious” a series of murals by artists Tes One (aka Leon Bedore) and Bask (aka Ales Hostomsky), with contributions by the Vitale Brothers.
below: The text says “Stay Curious”
below: Nearby is a Marriott Hotel (at the corner of North Franklin and East Tyler) and this is what they did to their parking garage.
below: Another corner of another garage
below: It’s not a mural or a painting but it’s a colorful and fascinating way of covering the exterior of a parking structure. This is DOTS, by sculptor and artist Christian Moeller and it consists of 119 aluminum alloy discs. Each disc is almost 6 feet across and weighs about 40 pounds. They cover the parking part of a new University of Tampa residence building.
After a quick google search on parking garage art, I have decided that this has become a “thing”. Very trendy by the looks of it.
