Submitted by: Hal Metzler
Submitting Department: Public Works
Agenda Section: Consent
Item Title:
title
3505 Hamilton Street Mural Restoration
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Suggested Action:
recommendation
I move that the Mayor and Council authorize an expenditure not to exceed $17,000 to Griffin Studios, Inc. for the restoration and repair of the Cedric Egeli mural located at 3505 Hamilton St.
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Summary Background:
The City acquired 3505 Hamilton Street property in 2010 from BB&T. The building was formerly the Hyattsville Building Association of Hyattsville, Maryland, and included a mural painted by world renowned artist Cedric Egeli. The mural was commissioned by the bank to memorialize the Jardella House at 4002 Crittenden St, which was the first house financed by the Hyattsville Building Association in June 1887. From his website “Cedric Egeli, one of the nation's foremost portrait painters and is a member of one of the nations preeminent families of artists. Egeli's father was the renowned portraitist Bjorn Egeli, founder of the Maryland Society of Portrait Painters. Cedric Egeli studied at the Art Students League of New York and at the Cape Cod School of Art in Massachusetts.
Portraits by Cedric Egeli are included in the collections at the Pentagon, Duke and Brandeis Universities, Mount Sinai and Johns Hopkins Hospitals. Recently, Christie's evaluated Egeli's work as among the most valuable in the prestigious collection of contemporary portraits at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Medical School in Baltimore.
Cedric Egeli is widely acclaimed as both artist and teacher. He is an Exceptional Member of the American Portrait Society. His work was awarded the Grand Prize Medal (Best of Show) in the national portrait art competition conducted in 1979 by the National Portrait Seminar in New York. Subsequently, he has served as a faculty member of the National Portrait Seminar, as well as at the Maryland Hall for Creative Arts. In addition, Egeli conducts popular workshops on his extensive Maryland estate and on Cape Cod.”
Cedric Egeli Is in his 80s and continues to paint, working with a number of other artists, including Stephen Griffin, who will be leading the restoration of the mural. Mr. Griffin has studied under and worked with Mr. Egeli for many years. Mr. Griffin will be handling the transportation and logistics as well as the repair of the painting while Mr. Egeli will be doing the painting work. It is rare and an honor to have the original artist bring his artwork back to life more than 50 years after he originally painted it.
Once completed, and the building construction is finished, the mural will be reinstalled in the 3505 Hamilton St building.
Next Steps:
Upon council approval, restoration work will commence.
Fiscal Impact:
NTE $17,000
City Administrator Comments:
Recommend support.
Community Engagement:
N/A
Strategic Goals:
Goal 1 - Ensure Transparent and Accessible Governance
Legal Review Required?
N/A