James Voshell made photorealistic painting and murals on buildings in Baltimore. There is an excellent new article about him in Baltimore magazine which I linked to below.
JAMES W VOSHELL photorealist artist – Home
I just ordered this book about him and his work
Here are my photos of two of his murals that are gone now. His mural of the chess players is my favorite of all of the wall murals I have seen in Baltimore.
Follow Baltimore.Saltbox on Instagram. This is a map of salt boxes with art:
Baltimore Salt Box – The Broken Plate Co. (ibreakplates.com)
Baltimore Salt Box .pdf (dropbox.com)
Here’s an historic building with a picture I took in the 1970s before it was renovated.
9 North Front Street – Former Home of Baltimore Mayor Thorowgood Smith | Explore Baltimore Heritage
Killing the Red Line was a terrible decision.
The peak population of Baltimore was about 950,000. Now, it is estimated to be below 600,000.
In most ways, this is very bad for the city. Lost population means fewer jobs and less tax revenue, for example. It means thousands of abandoned houses that may never be filled.
This may actually be a good thing during the coronavirus pandemic. So far, Baltimore has not had the high volume of cases some other cities have had. Baltimore is like a 150 pound person wearing a 2XL shirt. The reduced population density resulting from lower population may be resulting in social distancing.
Update 4/21 – tweets on the murder rate
Where are the rats going to go?
There is one good thing that came out of Trump’s terrible comments on Baltimore, where I have lived since 1976. A company that sells rat-themed merchandise has had sales increase. I have bought a lot of stuff from Rat Czar and recommend their products. I have t-shirts, glasses, a magnet, stickers and a tote bag.
I don’t mean to make light of a serious and real problem but I do think the stuff is funny.
Baltimore is not first in rat population. We’re behind Washington among other places. Trump doesn’t care about Baltimore or the rat problem – he just wanted to attack Congressman Cummings. I have thought that “Ben” should be the official song of Baltimore. If you don’t know the song, it was a love song to a rat sung by Michael Jackson as the theme song to the film Ben (1972).
This is the current site as of 4/21
Here’s an article on Pigtown, the Baltimore neighborhood where I live. The annual Pigtown Festival is coming in September.
Mr. Trash Wheel removes trash from the Baltimore Harbor.
He has his own twitter account.
You can ever get a plush toy and t-shirts
Sad! 