PROJECT BACKGROUND 
North Avenue plays a vital role in Baltimore as a corridor that connects neighborhoods and institutions across the City. One of the few east-west roadways that span the Jones Falls Expressway, North Avenue is an important corridor for the local economy, as well as the daily lives of many residents. The avenue is an important transportation corridor for the Baltimore, connecting the Maryland Transit Administration’s Metro Subway and Light lines and is traversed by Baltimore’s second-busiest bus line, carrying nearly 4 million passengers annually- a figure that has grown since the MTA has grown since the MTA implemented the BaltimoreLink bust network.

North Avenue also acts as a connector between a number of longest standing educational and cultural institutions such as Coppin State University, The Arch Social Club, Maryland Institute College of Art, The Great Blacks in Wax Museum, and the Duncan Street Miracle Garden, as well as the Station North Arts & Entertainment District. At first glance, it’s easy to notice the vacant residential and commercial properties and deteriorating pedestrian and roadway infrastructure that signify the economic disinvestment that Baltimore and Baltimoreans have suffered from for decades. However, the entire corridor has a rich cultural history and daily life that is worthy of celebration. Through multiple incentive programs, investment projects the City of Baltimore, the surrounding communities, and multiple public and private partners have come together around the goal of revitalizing the corridor to its full potential and improving the everyday quality of life on the street.

THE ROCKING HORSE VENUS MEMORIAL
The original sculpture installed in the median of North Avenue is the "Rocking Horse Venus Memorial, 1990–2008." This metal sculpture features a torso suspended above a rocking horse base and is installed on a concrete pillar at the intersection of Maryland Ave, and E. North Ave.

LAYERS OF LOVE
Wesley Clark's "Layers of Love" will be installed at the intersection of Charles and North Ave. His goal, from the start, was to project a universally positive idea or sentiment desired by all: love, protection, safety, and family. These are the concepts that, in all stages of life, we humans, at our core, need to thrive.

"Layers of Love" depicts these ideas through a nesting doll-like family embrace. This sculpture portrays what some may call the archetypical or ideal family structure – a father and mother holding their two children. Yet, while the family as an institution is still held in high regard, what constitutes family in today's society has broadened.

In acknowledgment of this, Clark chose to incorporate this quote about family: "Having somewhere to go is home. Having someone to love is family. Having both is a blessing." This quote will be engraved into the sculpture, wrapping around the back and sides, providing visual interest from all sides. The font will be large enough to be read at a distance when traveling east on North Ave.

The sculpture's outer finish will be layered to a thickness of 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches, stamped and carved concrete, designed to resemble rough-hewn slate. At its outermost dimensions, the sculpture will stand 6 feet tall, 5 feet wide, with a depth of 6 feet. With a curb height of 6 to 8 inches and roughly an additional 16 inches of height for the existing concrete slab, the final height of the sculpture will stand about 8 feet in relation to pedestrians.

Target installation September 2023