Kensington has many works of commissioned art located in public places throughout Town. Murals and carvings are located in parks and on buildings large and small. Put on your walking shoes, grab your bike, or drive your car to take in all the culture.

Town Murals

 Click here to view TOWN CARVINGS.

 Click here to access an ART WALK MAP that shows the location of each work of art.

1894

Artist: Matt Corrado and Meaghan McNamara
Location: M&T Bank | 10420 Montgomery Avenue
Details: 75-by-28 foot mural
Inspiration: Celebrating the community’s local history
Date of Installation: October 2017, Kensington’s first major mural

BabyCat

Artist: Nicole Bourgea
Location: BabyCat Brewery | 10241 Kensington Parkway
Details: A fun, colorful celebration of our Town’s new Brewery Mascot. Come have a beer in our own Kensington jungle.
Inspiration: Owner, Sam Mussomeli, named the brewery after his cat Alice, a.k.a, “Baby Cat,” whose life consisted of hiding, until the first day she smelled Sam brewing beer in the kitchen. From that day forward Baby Cat became the supervisor.
Date of Installation: 2022

Book Plants

Artist: Nicole Bourgea
Location: Kensington Row Bookshop | 3786 Howard Avenue
Details: Whimsical, colorful, growing book plants in terra-cotta pots and on balconies reminiscent of Kensington Row Bookshop owner’s native Barcelona.
Inspiration: Commissioned by Kensington Row Bookshop to express a way of sharing the magic that is happening inside the shop. 
Date of Installation: 2021

Butterfly

Artist: Nicole Bourgea
Location: Jubilee Association of Maryland | 10408 Montgomery Avenue
Details: 20-by-25 feet.
Inspiration: Inspired by Robert G. Ingersoll’s quote, “We Rise by Lifting Others” includes a scene of a migration of monarch butterflies using vibrant purples and blues and will have taken about ten days to complete.
Date of Installation: Setpember 2019, Kensington’s second mural

Dog Columns

Artist: Jason Swain,Thomas Ruttkay, Max Stumpf, & Beth Meyer
Location: Dog Run Park | 10450 Metropolitan Avenue
Details: Concrete piers were remnants from a previous concrete plant. Once the Dog Run was complete, the Town wanted to them, but they were full of graffiti. The Town decided to paint dog art and enlisted local artists to enhance them.
Inspiration: Well dogs, of course!
Date of Installation: 2019

Eyes Open

Artist: Nicole Bourgea
Location: Frederick Avenue Bridge | Near 10251 Frederick Avenue
Details: Native plants, wildflowers, and an epigraph are painted on the side of the bridge.
Inspiration: Commissioned by the Town of Kensington’s Greenscape Committee. The mural concept was drawn from a line from the journal of one of the Town’s original residents, Ms. Bertha Clum. She wrote, “Finding wildflowers is not all luck. You have to keep your eyes open”. 
Date of Installation: 2020

Giraffe

Artist: Nicole Bourgea
Location: Blick Building | 3720 Farragut Ave
Details: This five story high giraffe was painted with just two paintbrushes!
Inspiration: Commissioned by John Blick, owner of The Blick Building. The artists inspiration came from ‘Love over Fear.’ Put in the work, let go and thrill in the ride. In 2023, Nicole added Jasper, the dog.
Date of Installation: 2022

Hold Your Light

Artists: Nicole Bourgea & Meaghan McNamara
Location: Summit Avenue Bridge | Near 4000 Howard Avenue
Details: Residents used a glow-in-the-dark paint to “light” the lanterns on each of the buildings depicted in the mural. The mural serves as a call to hold a light to every person we meet, to really see one another’s humanity and to treat each other with dignity and respect
Inspiration: Commissioned by the Town of Kensington, MD in recognition of neighboring Ken-Gar, a tiny, close-knit neighborhood of strong souls, many of whom are descended from formerly enslaved people.  The mural title comes from one of the older African American spirituals traditionally sung call-and-response style. 
Date of Installation: 2020

Musical

Artist: Kasey Ott, Ricky Sears & Meaghan McNamara
Location: GIGS Studio | 3762 Howard Avenue
Details: Mural designed by Sean Gaiser and family, and brought to life by amazing friends and KTown neighbors.
Inspiration: Information coming soon.
Date of Installation: 2022

Safeway Window Art

Artists: Vicky Surles, Jennifer Lynn Beaudet,  & Debra Halprin
Location: Safeway (rear entrance) | 10541 Connecticut Avenue
Details: Four window panels on the back of the Safeway building contain works of art by four local artists. The panels represent the Kensington community in four ways: Community Spirit; Creative Arts; Nature’s Beauty; and History.
Inspiration: The beauty of Kensington landmarks was the inspiration. The artists that created the original paintings found this beauty on their own and generously shared their creations with Town.
Date of Installation: June 2019

Silver Creek

Artist: Nicole Bourgea
Location: Silver Creek Senior Living | 3910 Knowles Avenue
Details: This 50-foot mural  is integrated with a green screen located at the lower 20 feet. This green screen will fill with climbing vines planted at the base.
Inspiration: The Silver Creek Senior Living logo is a majestic tree that is reflective of the importance of maintaining our tree canopy in the Kensington Community and  Rock Creek Regional Park. The artist and the owner worked together to reflect ideas for a majestic tree mural.
Date of Installation: 2022

Stardust

Artist: Nicole Bourgea
Location: Old Town Market | 3762 Howard Avenue – rear
Details: An enormous wall with subtle texture changes that sing at different times of day. Named for a poem, ’93 Percent Stardust.’ We are all passing through, but what a privilege to have really loved and been loved by another person/star in this lifetime.
Inspiration: This mural was painted in honor of Jack Gaffey, a beloved fixture of Kensington. His friends and family tell many sweet stories, including his tradition of standing up at the end of every Town Council Meeting to report on the night sky over Kensington.  His love for mathematical equations and Euler’s number, where digits go on forever, is represented in the mural.
Date of Installation: October 2023

Summer Days

Artist: Meaghan McNamara and Kasey O’Boyle
Location: Old Town Market | 10251  Kensington Parkway
Details: Commissioned by the owner of Old Town Market to add a splash of color and interest to the front of the shop.
Inspiration: Summer days of biking, sun and soft ice cream.
Date of Installation: 2021

Pets are required to be leashed at all times when visiting both Town and County Parks. Pet waste is the responsibility of the pet owner/handler. Pet waste must be picked up and disposed of either in trash or pet waste containers provided within the park or removed from the park and properly disposed of by the pet handler. Visitors to Town and County parks are responsible for adhering to any posted rules or regulations within the parks.

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3710 Mitchell Street
Kensington, MD 20895

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