Vacant Window Project


If you know you are walking in downtown Martinsburg - but suddenly get the feeling you might be entering a forest – you must be passing 110 N. Queen Street – where Inwood muralist Ruth Hagen has painted a remarkably realistic pathway through the familiar foliage of West Virginia.

Designed as an invitation to Art Berkeley’s Earth Day Festival in War Memorial Park on April 18 – this “Forest” is part of a new project of Main Street Martinsburg – filling vacant windows with exhibits by, for and about the people, organizations and events of Berkeley County.

As Main Street Martinsburg’s Executive Director Randy Lewis told “The Journal” in January, when this effort began, “perception is reality” - http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/514558.html - and having so many vacant store windows is counterproductive for the entire community.

So far, windows in the central block of Queen Street have included displays of front-pages of newspapers from around the world on the election of President Obama and a “bus seat” and “I have a Dream Speech” commemorating Martin Luther King Day sponsored by the Civilian Conservation Corps at 145 N. Queen Street – plus work by students at Martinsburg High School on the eminent 20th century artist Pablo Picasso at 133 N. Queen Street.

Plans are underway to bring more visibility to “off-main street” members of Main Street Martinsburg by filling two large windows of 110 N. Queen Street with displays of their merchandise.  Another window at 112 N. Queen Street will celebrate young artists in the Afterschool Program of the Art Centre at the Burke Street School – welcoming families downtown to enjoy the work of their children.

This project is under the direction of the Main Street’s Design Committee, chaired by Dan Hall - http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/515335.html. If you or your organization is interested in participating, or you have ideas for future windows, please contact Marcia Ruth – ruthmarcia@yahoo.com or (304) 268-6027.