The temporary art… Peace, Love and Petworth… over the damaged Petworth mural. — The temporary art… *Peace, Love and Petworth*… over the damaged Petworth mural.

After it was discovered that the Petworth mural on the 800 block of Upshur Street NW was tagged and damaged, Petworth News put out the call for neighbors to help repair it. People have really responded to the GoFundMe campaign, a sign of how much this mural means to the neighborhood.

We reached out to Tom Pipkin, who helped spearhead the initial design of the mural in 2015, to see about next steps.

On Thursday night, Pipkin covered the damaged part of the mural with primer paint, and on Friday had another artist create a temporary piece: “Peace, Love and Petworth.”

"Public art, and murals specifically, are temporary in nature,” said Pipkin. “While no one ever wants to see their neighborhood mural ‘tagged’ without permission, it's a reality that is always present. The Petworth mural was created by prolific local artist Juan Pineda, with generous permission from Marc Dosik to use his property wall at 843 Upshur Street, now Federal City Realty. We worked with Juan to develop an energetic, vivid, typography-driven design that was by all accounts a bright spot in the alley and enjoyed by many. The mural was tagged on Wednesday night, on Thursday we removed those tags with primer, and on Friday afternoon had another artist create a temporary remix of the original.”

Next Steps…
According to Pipkin, the mural is public art for the neighborhood to enjoy and be proud of, so he wants all interested residents to able to determine the next design direction.

“Together with ANC 4C Commissioners Clara Botstein (4C08), Paul Johnson (4C07) and Adrian Ferguson from Art of Noize at 821 Upshur Street, we are going to put out a call for artists to submit designs and will come up with a way for folks to comment and vote on their preference.”

Pipkin said he wants the process to be inclusive and transparent.

“The approved design installation will be funded by the GoFundMe campaign started by Petworth News — the generosity and support has already been amazing, yet another reason why Petworth is an incredible community,” Pipkin said.

“We are also open to other suggestions all together on how to move forward. Ultimately, the wall is private property, and as such Marc Dosik will still need to approve the final design. He was terrific to work with on the original mural and will no doubt be on board for the new design and direction.”

If you have suggestions or comments about the mural and next steps, you can email Tom Pipkin.

If you can, donate to the GoFundMe to help cover the cost of repairing or replacing the mural.

More to come on that and next steps — and thank you to everyone who has donated so far!