Who Needs Punxatawney Phil, When We Have Art on Our Streets!
Linda Norton’s painting of the farmer’s market at Eastern Market on a banner, with the Market building itself in the background. Linda felt that the vibrant market scene was perfect for the Capitol Hill theme of the banners. She is “incredibly thrilled” to see her artwork on the streets, feeling it to be a kind of celebration of her 42 years living in the neighborhood.
On the day the groundhog predicted an extended winter, Linda Norton‘s and Tara Hamilton‘s artwork displayed on Capitol Hill lampposts brought a splash of color to our streets. That sight was the outcome of months of work behind the scenes by numerous individuals and organizations.
Tara says this way of displaying art came to her while visiting scenic St. Michaels, Maryland. Banners with varying designs hanging on lampposts throughout the town caught her eye right away. Once she learned that the art on the banners was by local St. Michaels artists, she immediately grasped how Capitol Hill and its artists could benefit by doing the same thing.
The Capitol Hill Art League brought Tara’s idea of banners displaying its artists’ work to an organization of local businesses. The organization set a theme — “It’s All Here on Capitol Hill.” By February, it had produced and hung 100 banners with its top 4 choices from the CHAL artists’ entries, including those by Linda and Tara, shown here.
Now, just when we’re all tired of the short hours of daylight and gray days of winter, we have these colorful banners to cheer and enliven our streetscape for a long time to come. We are all winners: the artists with their work on display, the businesses with a streetscape more appealing to customers, and of course all of us whose world is better for seeing the beauty of art every day.
Tara Hamilton’s painting “Hill Icons” hangs on a block of 7th Street SE, one of Capitol Hill’s main business districts. Tara says her piece depicts sites emblematic of Capitol Hill: its green parks, Union Station and the Capitol dome. She is very happy with how her idea for the art banners turned out and hopes that art on banners will become a lasting feature of our streetscape.
Eileen Leahy
Pastelist
About eileenings
THE WEDNESDAY STUDIO 
Great job, ladies.
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