Crafted from plastic newspaper delivery bags and reused straws, a large art installation with an environmental message has been suspended from the ceiling in the Takoma Park Community Center.

The artwork by D.C. artist Jessica Beels critiques our careless consumption of disposable products which can cause serious environmental harms. Beels fused dozens of plastic newspaper delivery bags into 20 colorful flag-like grids which are connected by straightened metal clothes hangers and reused plastic straws.

“I am intrigued by the large destructive environmental impacts caused by our small decisions,” Beels said. “Newspaper bags and straws often aren’t recycled, and they can become microplastics in our oceans where they can disrupt entire ecosystems.”

The artwork was purchased by the City of Takoma Park’s Arts and Humanities Division using public art funds.

“We’re excited to add this meaningful artwork to the City’s permanent art collection,” Arts and Humanities Coordinator Brendan Smith said. “The installation illustrates the City’s commitment to public art and protecting the environment.”

The installation was previously displayed at the Takoma Park Community Center in 2019 during the Art of Evolution exhibition. It will be on display indefinitely in the atrium at the community center at 7500 Maple Avenue. The center’s operating hours are posted on the City’s website.

Beels creates sculptural work which usually addresses environmental themes. Her work has been shown at Strathmore Mansion, Black Rock Center for the Arts, and other venues. You can see more of her artwork at materialworld.studio.

Liliane Blom with her new banner at Memorial Park 

The City of Takoma Park’s Arts and Humanities Division commissioned a new banner celebrating the power and diversity of women which is installed at Memorial Park.

The banner features a painting titled Late Summer by Rockville artist Liliane Blom from her Four Seasons series highlighting women of different ages and ethnicities in settings representing the different seasons. The banner includes a portrait of Baltimore R&B and gospel singer Alton Scarborough with a floral background.

“We’re proud to display this banner as a sign of the City’s commitment to racial diversity through the creation of public art that enlivens our community,” Arts and Humanities Coordinator Brendan Smith said.

The new banner will be on display indefinitely at Memorial Park located across the street from the Takoma Park library at 101 Philadelphia Avenue.

The banner replaces a temporary banner of another painting from the same series titled Mid Autumn that depicted a portrait of Nepalese-born Karuna Skariah, an educator and mother who lives in Ellicott City. That banner was part of the #ArtHappensHere project which celebrated the reopening of the local creative economy after pandemic-related closures.

The women featured in the Four Seasons series “embody nature, the seasons, and the great circle of existence,” Blom said.

“Four Seasons showcases women of many ages (from 14 to 90) and ethnicities, including immigrants to our state representing nine countries on five continents. The circle is at the heart of this series with women as the champions of the environment at its center,” Blom said. “The series embodies the beauty and value of all ages and ethnic groups and is intended to combat stereotypes and ageism in  both subtle and powerful ways. It reminds us that nature and humans are intimately and eternally entwined, and we need to protect the earth.”

You can learn more about some of the City’s public art projects on the City’s website.

A new banner by Rockville artist Liliane Blom has been installed in Memorial Park to celebrate the reopening of Montgomery County’s creative economy.

The banner features Blom’s painting “Mid Autumn” with a portrait of Nepalese-born Karuna Skariah, an educator and mother in Ellicott City. Memorial Park is across the street from the Takoma Park library at 101 Philadelphia Avenue.

Murals and banners designed by local artists have been installed in multiple locations in the #ArtHappensHere project sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County and the Montgomery County Public Arts Trust. The public art installations highlight the reemergence of our creative community after a difficult year of disruptions caused by pandemic lockdowns.

The City of Takoma Park was selected as one of the venues for a banner. “We’re excited to display Liliane’s banner as a sign of the city’s commitment to the arts and racial diversity,” Arts and Humanities Coordinator Brendan Smith said. “We also are so glad that we are now rescheduling a wide array of arts events at the Takoma Park Community Center starting in September after the building reopens to the public.”

The Takoma Park Arts series features free concerts, plays, art exhibitions, lectures, film screenings, poetry readings and other events organized by the City’s Arts and Humanities Division. Please sign up for our weekly e-newsletter for details about all of our upcoming events.

Liliane Blom is a multi-media artist who fuses video, photography, and painting in artwork which is often interactive, immersive, and environmental in scope. Her featured piece Mid Autumn is from a series called Four Seasons which Liliane describes here.

“Four Seasons showcases women of many ages (from 14 to 90) and ethnicities, including immigrants to our state representing nine countries on five continents. The series reflects both Rockville’s and the world’s diversity. The series is meant to empower the viewer to see the beauty and value to be found at all ages and in all ethnic groups and is intended to combat stereotypes and ageism in a way that is both subtle and powerful. It is created to remind us that nature and humans are intimately and eternally entwined and that we need to protect the earth. Each of my women personifies one of the seasons  and as its “Spirit/Queen” is surrounded by the flora and fauna of that time of year. They embody nature, the seasons, and the great circle of existence.”

Takoma ARTery Art Fair 

Three tables at the downtown Takoma Streetery have been painted by artist Trap Bob with her original designs celebrating the power and resilience of Black women.

The City of Takoma Park hired Trap Bob to paint the tables to illustrate the City’s commitment to public art and racial equity, Arts and Humanities Coordinator Brendan Smith said.

The three tables feature Black women wearing goggles surrounded by colorful rays of light. “The characters I use in my work, I refer to them as my ‘girls’ because they are representative of myself and every Black woman. They are proud, powerful, and resilient,” Trap Bob said. “The goggles represent their superpowers because they are everyday superheroes.”

Another table painted by Trap Bob was vandalized last year by a white woman who scraped off the portrait of a Black woman’s face and the word “Justice.” That table was part of a separate project by Main Street Takoma.

“The Arts and Humanities Division paid Trap Bob to repaint the vandalized table, and then we commissioned her to paint three more tables at the Takoma Streetery to feature more of her inspiring artwork,” Smith said. “We also wanted to send a clear message that racism won’t be tolerated here.”

Trap Bob said local residents were excited to see her painting the picnic tables at the Takoma Streetery, a pedestrian area and popular lunch spot at the intersection of Laurel Avenue and Carroll Avenue in downtown Takoma Park.

“I think it’s important to show the community that change can’t be stopped and to further emphasize Black people’s resilience,” she said.

You can learn more about the City’s public art projects and see an interactive map here.

Takoma ARTery Spring Art Fair 

Saturday, April 10 from 11 am-5 pm

Girl & the Vine at 7071 Carroll Avenue

You can celebrate spring and support local artists at the Takoma ARTery Spring Art Fair this Saturday. Fifteen local artists will be selling their work across a wide range of mediums in this covid-conscious free outdoor event. Some artists also will create artwork live and explain their artmaking process. Masks are required and 35 people will be allowed into the art fair at any time.

The City of Takoma Park’s Arts and Humanities Division is providing city funding and promotion for the ARTery, which also arranges storefront displays with artwork by a diverse range of local artists. The displays, which feature changing bimonthly exhibitions, can be seen at at the Historic Takoma building at 7328 Carroll Avenue at the Takoma Junction and the Takoma Masonic Center at 115 Carroll Street in downtown.

The storefront displays support the livelihoods of local artists and improve the appearance of local business districts by filling vacant or underused storefronts with arts and handicrafts from Takoma Park’s creative community. Artists arrange sales directly with buyers and aren’t charged any commission. Artists who are interested in showing their work or anyone with possible locations for more storefront displays should email takoma.artery@gmail.com. There also is more info at takomaartery.com.

“The City of Takoma Park is happy to support the Takoma ARTery’s important work,” said Arts and Humanities Coordinator Brendan Smith. “Artists are small business owners who are responsible for Takoma Park’s reputation as an arts-friendly city, and they stimulate economic development both for the city and other businesses. We’re hoping for a good turnout at the Spring Art Fair this Saturday.”

Historic Takoma Window Display 

After receiving more than 150 entries, the winners of the Takoma Park Sidewalk Poetry Contest have been selected, including 10 children and 10 adults ranging from 6 years old to seniors. The winners will receive a $100 award and a chance to have their original poems stamped into a local sidewalk in the contest organized by the City of Takoma Park’s Arts and Humanities Division.

“We were impressed by the diverse breadth of poetry displaying the creativity, intellect, and whimsy of so many Takoma Park residents,” Arts and Humanities Coordinator Brendan Smith said. “This is a fun public art project which brings poetry to the streets and under people’s feet. We hope the poems will provide a laugh or a moment of reflection as people walk around town.”

Local residents could submit one or two poems in English or Spanish. The selection committee included Takoma Park Poet Laureate Kathleen O’Toole and local poets Bernardine Watson and Vladimir Monge.

Twelve of the 20 poems have been stamped so far and more poems will be stamped as sidewalk work continues.

A new online map provides a looping 4.5-mile walking or biking route which connects the sidewalk poems located across the city.

Child/Teen Winners

Ari Bernstein -10 years old

From the sky to the earth

and the nature in between

you can see the beauty

in which it is woven

and the space you may weave

Sofia Dalanda Crandall -14 years old

Poetry is not a chair

Until you eat it

From a freshly shined plate

In a rickety old bus

On a blanket of snow

Edwige Ghembesalu -16 years old

sunshine honeydew

drip drops from the sky

and we shimmy in the rain

by the creek and on the bridge

slippin cause we mean to

Graham Gould -8 years old

Joy is what I feel within

It burns right through my thin tan skin

Those I love I share my gift

You just need a hopeful lift

Hector Herrera -6 years old

People love

people hug

the love is strong from above

Ash Hewchuck -15 years old 

Song of moon, I take your hand

In dusk of sweet July night

Dappled thoughts and silver emotions

We’ll dance until first light

Nala Miller -7 years old

Little green ball in the tree

Bouncing and rolling free

Off the branch in the grass

Down the hill that’s all we see.

Maeve Monahan -11 years old

Takoma

Instead of a park

It’s more like a sea

Flowing from every

Green leafy tree

Ida Shaeffer-Allen -9 years old

Carving out rock

Cutting through land

Soft tender touch

Transforms more than seen.

Aissatou Thiam -7 years old

Six Legs

Tiny Ants

Don’t crawl up my pants!

Adult Winners

Sally Brucker

So here is the thing

not getting any younger

flowers

still budding

Chris Carson

If I had my way,

love and money would grow

All over the ground,

Like wild strawberries.

Colleen Cordes

Late light shines

through dusk dark pines.

Everywhere silence,

everywhere song.

Sing, silence, sing.

David Alberto Fernandez

(Spanish poem with English translation)

Las palabras que importan

no se imprimen,

ni están talladas o estampadas

Arden en nuestros corazones

The words that matter

are not printed,

carved or stamped

They blaze in our hearts

Rosemary Ferreira

If there is one thing I hold constant,

it is that I belong to this city

as much as it belongs to me.

Veronica Jackson

What will you have today?

I would like tomorrow

Ok that will cost you a day

Just give me yesterday

Sorry no refunds

Emily Kombe

You call it nappy,

I call it being able to breathe

for the first time

through my curls

Samantha Magrath

my footsteps sound

on hard surfaces

crisp and regular as a dealer

laying down card after card

on the city’s table

Maja Tokic

long ago

they walked this road

cold wind chilling their bones

over the ground hard as stone

long ago

Richard Weil

Know, that a valley,

Is a mountain resting