UPC Westside CDC is working with three local artists and Upton Renaissance LLC to beautify the community with art. Upton Renaissance LLC is spearheading a 10-million-dollar project to renovate 38 abandoned homes in the 800 block of Harlem Avenue and the 800 block of Edmondson Avenue for homeownership. Upton’s Block Beauty Project has commissioned three local artists to develop uplifting art to be featured in the windows of vacant buildings waiting for revitalization. While development is underway there will be beauty adorning the streets and forecasting the life soon to come.
Meet the artists whose work will be featured in Upton’s Block Beauty Project.
Lauren Howie is a visual artist and arts educator from Baltimore City, Maryland. Her artistic practice is comprised of animations and illustrations that center African diasporic identities, African and African American religious practices and community based arts education. She has illustrated children’s books and worked as an arts educator in Manhattan, Bed-Stuy Brooklyn and Baltimore City. She obtained a Bachelor s Degree in Fine Art from The Cooper Union School of Art in 2018.
LaTosha Maddox is a visual artist who was born and raised in Frederick Maryland. Her art education began at a young age through The Delaplaine Art Center, and the Arts and Communication Academy of Frederick MD, where she focused her studies on photo re alism and pop art. After 3 years of studying fine arts at Louisiana State University she moved to Baltimore Maryland to pursue her dreams to revitalize the black community through mural art
Onyinye Alheri is a multidisciplinary artist born in Lagos, Nigeria and based in Baltimore, MD. Her work draws upon myth and ritual, calling in the unseen to bring attention to the complexities of earth-bound life. Alheri is a member of Aguas Migrantes, an artist collective composed entirely of working-class, migrant artists from El Salvador, Mexico and Nigeria.
