"Honoring Hampden"

Dr. Bob appeared on WJZ's People are Talking Live on 9/14/06 with Ron Matz to promote his new mural, "Honoring Hampden" on 36th and Roland. The official dedication ceremony for the mural took place at Hampdenfest on September 16th at 12 noon.

http://wjz.com/video?cid=24 (click on Search tab and type in "Honoring Hampden" to see archived video)

Historic Hampden Mural Gets a Facelift

”Honoring Hampden”

September 16, 2006, 12 PM – Dedication Ceremony
from Main Stage at “Hampdenfest”

(BALTIMORE, MD,  August 31, 2006) -- A successful collaboration between neighborhood activists, artists, businessmen and the city’s office of promotion has resulted in the resurrection of a Hampden treasure.  Since 1975, Hampden residents have identified with the landmark on 36th and Roland Ave.  Formerly titled, “The Hampden Bicentennial Mural”, it was painted in less than 3 weeks by artist Bob Hieronimus under commission of Mayor Schaefer’s Advisory Council of Arts and Culture.

“I decided to feature the famous World War II heroes from Hampden,” remembers Hieronimus, “as it’s extraordinary that a tiny neighborhood like Hampden would be home to not one, but TWO winners of the Congressional Medal of Honor.”  He also worked in several other symbols pertaining to Hampden’s past, including the old Hampden Line trolley (the first in the nation), and Hampden’s coat of arms.

The new owners of the building, Joe Preller and Bob Geis, have converted it to loft apartments, and after repairing the bricks and adding a porch, they were willing to work with the community to resurrect the mural.  Residents were sad to see the old mural go, calling it, “respectful of the hard-working residents of the neighborhood,” and, “the kind of mix that makes Hampden feel like home to me.”

The Hampden Community Council and the Baltimore Main Streets program worked together with the Baltimore Office of Promotion and Arts (BOPA) to raise funding to have the mural redesigned and repainted.  With the addition of the porch, the proportions of the available space had changed, so an entirely new design was necessary.

Original artist, Bob Hieronimus, now 62, agreed to adapt the design for no fee.  From a list provided by BOPA he selected a recent graduate of MICA, Jennifer Rattigan, to transfer it to the wall.  Rattigan accomplished the majority of the painting between May and June of 2006, with assistance from Tommy Rouse.  “Jen Rattigan did a fine job of translating my design to the wall,” says Hieronimus. “And she did it all while working on scaffolding under the most challenging conditions and in all kinds of weather.”

Hieronimus took 6 weeks to complete the new design.  Retained from the old design are the names of Hampden’s Congressional Medal of Honor Winners: Navy Lt. Milton Ricketts and Army Pvt. Carl Sheridan.  The Baltimore Hampden Line Trolley from 1885 and the dove of peace are still there as well.  But with the switch from vertical to horizontal, the main concept of the design shifted radically from a bald eagle holding flowing scrolls, to a vibrating American flag with 13 stars.  The handling of the stars and stripes in the American flag in this mural are repeated in Hieronimus’s new artcar, “Founding Fathers”, which is based on his new book, Founding Fathers, Secret Societies.  Both can currently be seen on the History Channel’s “Secrets of the Dollar Bill” and the National Geographic Channel’s “Secrets of the Freemasons”, as well as on the Discovery Channel’s 3-part series on the Masons, which will begin airing in the fall of ’06.  More here: SecretDestiny.org.

Neighborhood reactions to the newly retitled “Honoring Hampden” mural have been overwhelmingly positive.  “The coming together of various members and organizations in our community to see this mural realized not once, but twice, speaks volumes about the commitment that Hampden has in working together to honor and preserve our history,” said Genny Dill, President of the Hampden Community Council.  Said another resident, “It tells you something about where you are and suggests you’re in an interesting place, somewhere out of the ordinary.”

The official dedication ceremony of “Honoring Hampden” will take place on Saturday, September 16th, at 12 PM from the Main Stage during the annual “Hampdenfest”.

CONTACT: Shawn James
Community Arts Coordinator, BOPA
tel: 443.263.4318
sjames@promotionandarts.com