“I have to do this,” was how St. Mary ‘s Community Development Art Director Roz Racanello explained the latest addition to the Wings mural on Art Alley off Great Mills Road in Lexington Park, MD.
The more-than-life size thank you is the first serious piece to join what is otherwise a wall of whimsy created in the alleyway across the street from Showtime Deli on Great Mills Road in Lexington Park. The alley runs alongside the former Raley’s Furniture building, now undergoing major renovation.
Although it is next to impossible to tell, the model for the homage to the nurses and medical workers battling on the front lines of the coronavirus, is Ms. Racanello’s nephew, a nurse on the front lines in New York, NY.
The Wings are one of three murals St. Mary’s Community Development Corp. has overseen in Lexington Park, with significant support from St. Mary’s County Arts Council.
A contributor to the Art Alley wall of wings previously, Ms. Racanello also designed, produced, and painted Artist Rainbow. A slice of that mural is visible in the photo above, on the Bank Square Building in the upper right corner.
On the other end of Bank Square Building is Lyn Wescoe’s Lexington Park Live! mural, winner of the Community Development’s first mural contest.
The mural is two blocks west of Gate 2 on NAS Patuxent River. The mural is visible from Great Mills Road at the Shangri-La/Willows Road intersection. It is located on southbound Shangri-La/Willows and visible from Great Mills Road. The complex mural details the history of St. Mary’s County and Pax River. It faces the parking lot behind Mr. Tire on Great Mills Road.
Ms. Racanello, a North Beach artist has worked with the Community Development Corporation since 2016, producing murals and art events bringing creative endeavors into Lexington Park.
For more about Lexington Park, visit the St. Mary’s County Community Development Corporation’s Leader member page.
46940 South Shangri-La Drive, Suite 7; Lexington Park, MD 20653; 301-863-7700.