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MBTA Mural Artist Reflects On Works

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One of the MBTA murals, now on display at the Transportation Building in Boston (Jamie Bologna/WBUR)
One of the MBTA murals, now on display at the Transportation Building in Boston (Jamie Bologna/WBUR)

Part of Boston's history was recently up for sale: the murals that hung for some 35 years on the walls of the Green line T stop at Government Center. They're large, colorful scenes of people and life on the T, all painted with Benjamin Moore house paints on plywood panels.

They were supposed to be temporary, and the artist who made them, Mary Beams, had never seen them installed.

(Image courtesy of Skinner, Inc. www.skinnerinc.com).
One of the 19 murals from the Government Center T Station (Image courtesy of Skinner, Inc. www.skinnerinc.com).

Guest

Mary Beams, artist who created the murals from the Government Center T station.

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The Boston Globe: MBTA Tracks Down Artist Who Created Iconic Murals

  • "Rendered in Benjamin Moore house paint on plywood, the murals have a strong graphic quality reminiscent of silk screen, depicting quintessential Boston scenes of trolley cars and commuters. Beams created the works by taking film and photographs while riding the T, images she and her staff of volunteers later traced and painted on the plywood."

This segment aired on November 10, 2015.

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