Maryland is launching a new public arts project that will display crowdsourced art online and offline. The portal for the project called Love Maryland, was created and coded by students in the STEM Engine program at the Digital Harbor Foundation. Individuals are invited to submit tweets, photos, or stories about why they love Maryland. Over the summer, an artist from the Baltimore Love Project will interpret the online submissions and create a mural for display in Baltimore City.
The Maryland Love Project is a partnership between the State of Maryland, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Baltimore Love Project and the Digital Harbor Foundation’s STEM Engine program. The online portal was created by four middle school and high school students and two mentors during a 7-hour hack-day at the recently opened Digital Harbor Foundation Tech Center.
“By designing and creating the website for the Maryland Love project, high school students in the Digital Harbor Foundation’s STEM Engine program took a little piece of ownership on a project that they should be proud of and that all of Maryland should truly love,” said Shelly Blake-Plock, Co-Executive Director of Digital Harbor Foundation.
Members of the public can add submissions to the site by tweeting using the hashtag #MDLove or adding an entry directly to the website.
“From concept to execution, this will be an exciting project for all those involved. The call for response from the entire State of Maryland will make for a rich dialogue and product, and I am confident that this mural will be a major accomplishment for the state of Maryland. The Baltimore Love Project is very honored to be a part of it,” said Michael Owen, Lead Artist and founder of Baltimore Love Project.
