murals :: Punto Urban Art Museum, Salem, MA

denisegoldberg

An article in the Boston Globe a few weeks back led me to add a neighborhood called the Point in Salem, MA to my list of must visit places. A massive project run by the North Shore Community Development Coalition is focused on creating murals on the walls of the buildings in the neighborhood.

From the North Shore Community Development Coalition Punto Urban Art Museum page:

Our vision is to create a world class urban arts district in Salem’s Point Neighborhood, one that embraces its rich immigrant and architectural history and present a dynamic opportunity for the neighborhood’s future.

The Punto Urban Art Museum has two primary goals: to create a beautiful, uplifting environment for Point residents, particularly for children to grow up in, and to break down the invisible divide between the Point and the rest of Salem by inviting visitors into the Point to experience world-class art first-hand.

I recommend reading the Boston Globe article Artwork highlights Salem neighborhood’s true colors.

And watch this video, it's wonderful!

This past Monday I headed to Salem. I stopped at the visitor center to get a map and (walking) directions to the Point neighborhood. I'm sure I didn't find all of the murals, and the project plans call for more murals to be created. The Boston Globe article stated:

By fall, dozens of muralists will have adorned the walls on those buildings -- and many others - with at least 50 works of art.

I plan to return (probably multiple times) to do more walking, looking, and attempting to capture these magnificent pieces of art.

Here are a few of the murals.

1 ::

2 ::

3 ::

4 ::

5 :: this is only part of a mural, captured with a wide angle zoom at 11.5mm. It lives in a very narrow alley. I was standing with my back against the wall on the other side of the alley.

6 ::

More photos are in the gallery walls and water :: Salem, MA.

Cavalier

Denise, great shots of some really interesting murals.
In #1 - is that a telephone on the wall?
And #4 is my favorite mural - I love the BW with the background color.

Nice series.

denisegoldberg

@Cavalier said:
Denise, great shots of some really interesting murals.
In #1 - is that a telephone on the wall?
And #4 is my favorite mural - I love the BW with the background color.

Nice series.

Thanks Jo! I'm looking forward to wandering there again to find more murals.

In #1, yes, that is a phone box on the wall, with the receiver missing. Here's a closer shot showing the phone.

7 ::

I really like #4 too. It was hard to find an angle to get that shot. If I remember correctly I was standing in the road (not very smart, but...).

roaddog52

Great set! Looks like an exceptional place to shoot. Hope you get to get back there again. In your 2nd image, I would be tempted to crop out the sky, for me it creates more of a distraction than it adds to the overall image.

Phil

denisegoldberg

@roaddog52 said:
Great set! Looks like an exceptional place to shoot. Hope you get to get back there again. In your 2nd image, I would be tempted to crop out the sky, for me it creates more of a distraction than it adds to the overall image.

Thanks Phil!
I will definitely return, and I will continue to work on composition and cropping. I wasn't happy with some of the angles. Given the placement of so.e of the murals it's a bit of a challenge. Fun though...

Stumblebum

The ones that are tightly cropped are fantastic.

I know the car don't bother you, but I would have asked the guy the move...... ;o)

denisegoldberg

@Stumblebum said:
The ones that are tightly cropped are fantastic.

I know the car don't bother you, but I would have asked the guy the move...... ;o)

Thanks Taz!

The driver wasn't there, no way to ask!

denisegoldberg

I headed back to Salem yesterday to see if I had missed any murals on my first visit there. I started by visiting the office of the North Shore Community Development Coalition. I was able to see all but one of the murals in the building, and I had a conversation with one of the staff members about the mural project. As we talked about the murals in place so far she was able to point me to two that I didn't see on my last visit. She also told me about a festival to celebrate the murals on September 30th. As much as I'm not fond of large gatherings of people, I think I'll try to attend.

Creating murals on the buildings is planned to be a multi-year project. I'm sure I'll be back many times.

Here are two from inside of the offices:

8 :: Looking through "windows" on a wall with a mural to a mural of eyes on the wall behind the wall

9 :: in the corner

Here are some different views of a couple of the murals I shared in my first post.

10 ::

11 ::

How did I miss these? They were just past the last street I walked down on my first visit.

12 ::

The next two are in the courtyard of a building. They are painted on stacks of bricks, a different face on each side of the stack.

13 ::

14 ::

torags

@torags said:

@torags said:
Great series Denise... Well captured

First one is my favorite

..

denisegoldberg

@torags said:

Great series Denise... Well captured

First one is my favorite

Thank you!

It's fun to have something like this as a challenge - I love trying to capture something new (to me).

willard3

I like all of these, Denise.

Must be nice to live with art like this around.

denisegoldberg

@willard3 said:
I like all of these, Denise.

Must be nice to live with art like this around.

Thank you! I've learned to always be on the lookout for art like this. It seems like it was pure luck that I saw an article in the Boston Globe about the mural project in Salem. When I visited there the 2nd time I went in to the offices of the North Shore Community Development Coalition - the organization that is sponsoring the murals - to ask about the time frame for more murals since the project is targeted to include 75 murals. I plan to return there many times!

denisegoldberg

There are more murals in progress in Salem in the lead up to tomorrow's block party, a celebration of the launch of the Punto Urban Art Museum. Several new large murals are in progress high on the sides of buildings. In addition, a concrete wall made up of individual blocks surrounding a utility site is the site of new murals assigned to local artists. I chose to visit yesterday ahead of the party in order to see some of the art in progress.

15 :: artists at work

16 :: what appears to be a subtle painting - I look forward to seeing the finished product!

17 :: a work in progress, by Jeff Henriquez

18 :: a work in progress, by Chor Boogie

19 :: a closer look at the eyes in the mural by Chor Boogie (and yes, I need to see this one when it is finished!)

Juano

Wow, great set!

I liked the closer shot of the phone box in the spiral.

denisegoldberg

@Juano said:
Wow, great set!

I liked the closer shot of the phone box in the spiral.

Thanks Cristóbal!

I like the spiral too, like that the defunct phone box is still there.
It's wonderful knowing that the creation of new murals in Salem will continue.

torags

@torags said:
Great series Denise... Well captured

1 is my favorite...

denisegoldberg

@torags said:

@torags said:
Great series Denise... Well captured

1 is my favorite...

Thanks Rags!

JAG

What a treasure trove of fun art! Reminds me of the murals that are on the Berlin Wall, or at least what is left of the wall. Great images Denise!

denisegoldberg

@JAG said:
What a treasure trove of fun art! Reminds me of the murals that are on the Berlin Wall, or at least what is left of the wall. Great images Denise!

Thanks Joyce! Apparently the plan calls for 75 murals in total so the creation of new pieces should span a number of years. I feel lucky that Salem is less than 20 miles from here; I plan to return often.

denisegoldberg

It took a while for me to get back to Salem to see the finished mural from my post back on September 29th. I didn't want to get caught up in October's Salem witchcraft craziness so my return to wander through the murals again didn't happen until last week.

20 :: finished mural by Chor Boogie

21 :: a closeup of part of the face

22 :: finished mural by Jeff Henriquez

I continue to be amazed by this larger than life artwork.

Stumblebum

That is a SCORE Denise! The tones, light and comp are sweet.....bg is is not controllable! Cheers!

denisegoldberg

@Stumblebum said:
That is a SCORE Denise! The tones, light and comp are sweet.....bg is is not controllable! Cheers!

Thanks Taz! You're right of course, the background is as it is - but the artwork is amazing!

torags

Great finish Denise..

Kudos to the artists... wonderful work.. (I like Jeff's better)

What did the winner piece look like?

This was a great series....

denisegoldberg

@torags said:
Great finish Denise..

Kudos to the artists... wonderful work.. (I like Jeff's better)

What did the winner piece look like?

This was a great series....

Thank you!

This actually isn't a contest - it's an ongoing art project by the North Shore Community Development Coalition. They own the buildings; all are affordable housing. The mural project is targeted to go on for a number of years. From the website describing the project at http://northshorecdc.org/public-art/:

In 2017, North Shore CDC has worked with 12 artists to create 15 large-scale outdoor murals, as well as 12 large-scale wall murals within North Shore CDC’s office loft, also in the Point Neighborhood.By creating a walkable, curated arts district within three blocks with dozens of murals in the Point Neighborhood, the district will be readily accessible to all that downtown Salem already has to offer to over a million tourists per year. Bringing a fraction of those visitors to the Point neighborhood stands to be a transformative economic development boom to immigrant-owned businesses. It will also begin to break down the invisible barriers between the Point Neighborhood and the rest of Salem by creating a beautiful, walkable destination within the Point Neighborhood for people to visit.

From an art standpoint, I also like Jeff's better.

I believe there will be more murals created in years to come; I plan to continue to visit.