Artists Working on Public Art Project
Edgewood Mural to be Unveiled Aug. 22
by Kelley Dupuis

A platoon of young artists and students, under the guidance of professionals from around the United States, is hard at work this summer on a large-scale public art project near the Safeway store at 12th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NE.

The Edgewood Mural project, sponsored by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, has 45 students from around the area painting a mural 300 feet long and 20 feet high on a wall adjacent to the grocery store. When completed, it will be clearly visible to commuters passing through the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station across the street.

A group of Washington, DC, artists, as well as artists from Philadelphia, San Francisco and San Diego, is guiding the youngsters' efforts at creating the large-scale work of public art.

“[The commission] has funded a lot of murals around the city,” said Peter Krsko of Albus Cavus, a nonprofit organization that specializes in creating public art. “But this project is unique. We are developing a curriculum lesson plan for students to go through a program of public mural creation.”

A textbook will be distributed to the students working on the mural project, Krsko said, and the goal is to get students working on creating murals in other cities as well.

“The whole concept is of creating art in public spaces,” Krsko said.

The mural, part of the commission's Youth Summer Employment program, is being painted on a large wall behind the Safeway shopping center. Students working on the project range in age from 16 to 21. Some are art students and some have other backgrounds, but they're all using the same media, a combination of acrylics and aerosol – spray-painting.

The official unveiling of the finished project is scheduled for Aug. 22, Krsko said. But there will be a "preliminary" event a week earlier, on Aug. 15.

“This event will bring additional artists to the wall; plus people who live in the neighborhood will be able to come and take a look at it," said Krsko. City officials and various types of performing artists will be invited to the Aug. 15 preview.

“We are working within the framework of the neighborhood,” Krsko said of the mural's subject matter.

Krsko said the mural, when completed, will reflect the history of the neighborhood in which it appears.

“The cultural background and the overall theme could be summed up as ‘going beyond the edge of the world,’” he said, “which means that we would like to say that this art work is to encourage people to go beyond their limits, learn something new, bring it back to the community and enrich everyone who lives in their neighborhood.”