Artist Refreshes Iconic Mural In Severna Park

About 20 years ago, artist Cindy Fletcher-Holden turned two sides of the Carr Building — off of B&A Boulevard — into vibrant murals. One side of the building represented Severna Park’s past and the other depicted its present.

This July, she returned to the scene to give a “face lift” to one of the murals that has been aged by sun, dirt and graffiti.

“It took 20 years to get a little bit faded, so it didn’t fade that much,” Fletcher-Holden said, taking a pause as she worked. “I’m going at it with beefier colors this time so that if it does fade, it has more room to fade.”

Fletcher-Holden specializes in murals, paintings and boat lettering. The Severna Park High School graduate’s work is featured all over Maryland, including the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie, The Goddard School in Linthicum and Baltimore, all over Annapolis and Bladensburg, and in several other areas.

For the Severna Park mural, which highlights the town’s birthdate with the words “Est 1906,” she wanted to preserve a historic aesthetic.

“We’re giving it kind of a tie-dye, parchment paper look with the background colors and then the letters will get a whole new coat,” she added.

With intern Liza Love helping her one day and her brother, Keith Fletcher, assisting her the following day, Fletcher-Holden restored the artwork. She explained that she came up with the original concept, while the other wall, which faces the B&A Trail, came from a collaboration with building owner Chip Carr.

“This is my idea because Olde Severna Park beach is such a loved spot for people to gather, use the water, and sail to or from, and I grew up on this beach, so this is Olde Severna Park beach looking out to Round Bay out on the Severn River,” she said. “The other side is celebrating 100 years of Severna Park. It used to be very rural, farmland and cars came in, then it became a major train stop and then they had this great Fourth of July parade, and (Chip’s) dad was always in the parade.”

Before she left, Fletcher touched up peeling parts of the mural on the train side of the wall. She expressed her heartfelt thanks to all the people who applauded her work on the mural, both in person and online.

“Liz and I were both commenting on how friendly the people around this area and this strip are,” Fletcher-Holden said.