New public art on Auburn Avenue in Bethesda (Photos)

The newest piece of public art in downtown Bethesda is a building. A mural is being painted onto an office building at 4927 Auburn Avenue. The artist is Michael Owen. Here is a series of photos as the work progressed over the last week, in chronological order:

Hope mural at Bethesda Metro Center

Bethesda Metro Center has a new public art piece. It is a mural titled, "Hope," something everyone could use in these troubling times. The artwork maintains the graffiti theme begun by the painting that wraps around the edge of the platform above the bus bays in the center of the public plaza.

NEW MURAL UNVEILED IN WOODMONT TRIANGLE OF BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

Greenhill Capital has added a second public art mural to one of its Fairmont Avenue buildings in Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle. Notice the Greenhill signage, including a street sign reading "Greenhill Way.' There are even shout-outs to EagleBank and Bethesda Urban Partnership.

MURAL BEING ADDED TO BOLD BITE BUILDING IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

Are those windows real? This building-size mural is being added to the side of the Fairmont Avenue building currently home to Bold Bite. The Woodmont Triangle is now getting its third public art addition in a month, after local artist Jordann Wine completed murals on Del Ray and Rugby Avenues.

DONOHOE GIVES BETHESDA ARTIST A MASSIVE CANVAS AT GALLERY BETHESDA PLAZA (PHOTOS)

The Donohoe Companies' Gallery Bethesda luxury apartment tower is known for its public plaza LED light sculptures. But the development is in the process of adding an additional public art piece to the outdoor space outside the 4800 Auburn Avenue building.

Jordann Wine, a Bethesda artist and Walt Whitman High School graduate, has been hired by Donohoe to further liven up the outdoor environment with a mural. Wine is now painting the 24' x 90' piece on the blank wall of an old building directly across the plaza from the Gallery. She just recently completed another mural downtown, on the side of the Quantum Building at 4912 Del Ray Avenue (see photo at top).

Wine says the Gallery mural will also utilize triangular shapes like the Del Ray piece. "I love working with triangles," she said Tuesday. "[T]hey are very geometric and sharp, but because of their three sides they have the ability to curve and create an organic sense of movement." The triangles on this new mural will fade from a very dark purple to a very light one, and there will be over 2000 of them in the finished work.

Wine has been working on the project for 5 days so far, and you can see the progress in these photos:

DAY 1

 DAY 3

DAY 5

You'll also notice that by Day 5 (yesterday), she had also painted a matching purple stripe along the top and bottom edges of the wall. Wine said when the mural is finished, it will be her largest work ever. Here is her own photo of her Del Ray Avenue work, to give you a sense of the direction she is going with this piece:

Photos: Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row (top)
All others courtesy Jordann Wine

FREE ICE CREAM AT BETHESDA ROW 4-8 PM TODAY!!

OK, I just typed the magic words.

FREE ice cream.

What more do I have to say?

That it's at Haagen-Dazs at Bethesda Row today.  From 4:00 - 8:00 PM.

Well, it has something to do with the shop's wall mural being completed.  And during the four hours of free ice cream, there's some talk about the mural "coming to life."

I guess it's kind of like Night at the Museum.  With free ice cream.

And we have our priorities in order in downtown Bethesda, don't we?

Stand aside, Ben Stiller, we're here for the free ice cream.