Art

High-tech ‘art incubator’ planned for Mount Rainier

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An internationally-renowned sculptor plans to build a unique art studio, built partially from shipping containers, in Mount Rainier. When complete, the facility will have 10 small studios for artists, gallery space and will provide access to 3D printers and laser engravers. The project, dubbed the High-cube Art Incubator Community, is the vision of Davide Prete, an Italian sculptor now living in Washington, D.C. His work has been shown at the Louvre and has been featured on PBS’ Craft in America series. The proposed studio will be located at 3602 Oak Lane, a small strip of land on Mount Rainier’s southern border. According to state property records, Prete bought the land back in 2014 for $37,500.

Art notes: Sculptors sought; Street art hits Hyattsville signal boxes

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Local officials will pay for five sculptures to grace Riverdale Park neighborhoods. It’s part of the Riverdale Park Public Art Initiative, a collaboration between the town of Riverdale Park and the Hyattsville Community Development Corp. The initiative has been active since 2015. This year, they’re seeking five sculptures of various styles and sizes to display at publicly-accessible sites within Riverdale Park. Organizers want “site-appropriate sculptural work fitting of each chosen location.”

Art
A photo, taken from the center lane of the Baltimore Avenue-slash-Route 1 corridor looking directly south from the intersection of Oglethorpe Street and Baltimore Avenue, shows an urban vista. The green hills of Bladensburg are in the far distance, set against a cloudy evening sky and above a ribbon of roadway. Nearer to the photographer, an urban streetscape reveals row-houses and mid-rise commercial buildings south of Madison Street set against tree-lined sidewalks. Light traffic is seen on the roadway.

Gateway Arts District impact on local artists hard to quantify

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Is the Gateway Arts District helping local artists? Anecdotally, the answer seems to be “yes.” Over the past 20 years, a number of arts organizations in the Gateway Arts District have sprung into life and created new visibility for the local arts industry along Prince George’s County’s southern Route 1 corridor. For instance, the Hyattsville Arts & Ales festival, formerly the Hyattsville Arts Festival, has grown dramatically, spanning multiple city blocks in downtown Hyattsville and attracting thousands of arts-oriented revelers to the corridor. But numbers to back up these anecdotes are hard to come by, or – worse – very fuzzy. The Gateway Arts District can informally refer to two things.

Art
Photo by Michael Theis/Route 1 Reporter

Wanted: Sculptural courtyard art, will pay $35,000

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Calling all sculptors and artistic architects: The Hyattsville Community Development corporation has a commission out seeking proposals for three sculptures to grace the grounds of an affordable housing complex near Magruder Park. The property in question is the Parkview Manor apartment complex next to Magruder Park at 5042 38th Ave. in southern Hyattsville. The property is owned by the Silver Spring-based Montgomery Housing Partnership which recently undertook a $3.4 million refinancing to fund renovations to the property. In addition to the art, the work will include new roofs, electrical wiring, water lines, sanitary infrastructure, new HVAC units and windows, among others. The property also will have asbestos removed or sealed.