Plumb line

Adjustment to site contours. Working with assistants to plumb top edge of the mural

Stripes of Many Colors

We're on schedule. Our days work is careful attention to edges. Michael Hammond, Jose Piedra and I are working on stripes.

Anne Marchand

Jose Piedra

Anne Marchand and Michael Hammond

RED DAY Team, Crystal City, VA

We're at the halfway mark today. Our work schedule has been 9:30 - 5:30 daily. Since it's Saturday, we started an hour later and finished an hour earlier leaving time for the assistants to play in the evening. I'm doing inventory of how much more paint and supplies we will need. We had more visitors and great comments today.

Saturday and the team tunes in to the color RED.

Anne Marchand, Washington, DC Artist

Siobhan Gavagan

John Grunwell joins us for a day.

Eve Hennessa

A day's work on Prism Mural, Crystal city, VA.

Friday at the Prism Mural

South side of the 18th Street Underpass in Crystal City, VA

Today we do finishing details on the previous days work and begin drawing panels 17, 18, and 20. The weather is cooler and the paint is drying faster. I'm happy with the middle passages of greens which creates a soft glowing luster against the light blues. - Anne Marchand

Valerie Theberge Mosaics

Everyday, my team and I look across to the north side of the 18th Street Underpass in Crystal City, VA and watch the dazzling mosaics go up on the wall. Valerie Theberge's team is at it all week installing the last mosaics that adorn the wall. The mosaics are simply gorgeous! Sparkling and Radiant. The piece is called Radiance and the mirrored tiles twinkle and light up the underpass like fireflies. When the sun is low, rays of sunlight bounce off the tiles. Now that's dazzling.

The Crystal City Business Improvement District commissioned Valerie Theberge to create a mosaic mural on the 18th Street underpass outside the Crystal City Metro. The mosaic consists of individual mosaic pieces ranging from 4-9 feet in size spanning the length of the 160 foot wall. The mosaic is created from colorful glass tiles, stained glass,and mirror. Each piece is hand-cut and assembled in Valerie's studio.

Prism Mural / Crystal City, VA

At the end of the day/
Today's work in progress....

Mural Audience Speaks

Delightful! Lovely. It brightens up my day. I love it! Great job. This used to be such a drab walk. What kind of tape are you using? What a great idea for the underpass. It's coming along really well. Hi, love it. Who is the artist? You're kinda famous around here, aren't you? Did you have a design first? It really adds a lot of color to the space. Did you do the one across the street too? (No, that's the lovely Valerie Theberge's mosaic mural gracing the north side of the underpass.)

Thank you to all the lovely people who keep coming by with well wishes and accolades. We love you too!! - Anne Marchand and the mural team

Crystal City Metro Mural Panels by Anne Marchand


Mural In Progress

Anne Marchand and Mural Assistants

One of the beauties of making a mural is the collaborative effort. President/CEO, Angela Fox and Operations Director, Rob Mandle at the Crystal City BID, are actively promoting the arts in Crystal City. I have a great team of mural assistants working with me. Michael Hammond and Jose Piedra are onboard this week and Eve Hennessa joined us today. Another wonderful aspect of making a mural is the reaction of people on the street. We have daily "visitors," folks walking and driving by, who are delighted at the impact the mural is having in their community.

Anne Marchand
Meet the Team of Mural Assistants:

Siobhan Gavagan (stay tuned)

Michael Hammond


Jose Piedra
Eve Hennessa Mural assistants, artist Jose Piedra and Michael Hammond, visual arts and murals instructor for the Midnight Forum Hip-Hop youth program in Washington DC working on the Crystal City mural.

PRISM - A Color Poem

Beginning the mural, Prism, is a wonderful experience. It's thirteen feet up and down the scaffold, taping and painting the concrete panels. The colors are starting to come together like the color chords that they are. The colors sing with a second coat of paint.

Crystal City Metro Mural

The Crystal City Business Improvement District commissioned Washington-based artist Anne Marchand to add a colorful mural to the Route 1 Overpass along 18th Street. The piece, titled Prism, will welcome pedestrians and cars entering and exiting the Crystal City Neighborhood along 18th Street. The mural will be painted on thirty five concrete panels sized 4 feet x 9 feet spanning the length of the 160 foot wall. The design phase of the project began in July and the fabrication is taking place in September 2008. The mural will be created in vibrant hues that reflect a theme of light and color.


Anne Marchand with President/CEO of the Crystal City BID, Angela Fox.