By Lauren Proudfoot
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Theresa Foggois is putting her mark on downtown Towson.
The Baltimore-based artist has been hired by organizations and businesses around Towson’s main commercial district, including the Towson Chamber of Commerce, to decorate the local urban landscape.
Her work – an array of abstract paintings and portraits – can be seen on building walls and flower boxes throughout Towson.
In all, Foggo has painted over 20 murals and seven flower boxes in the area.
“I want to bring beauty and color to Towson,” Foggo said. “I love making other people’s visions a reality and to be able to do that for them is rewarding to me.”
Foggo, 41, has been interested in art since she was in middle school living in Harford County. What started off as paint on canvas given to friends and family for Christmas gifts soon turned into painting portraits and murals for her city and local restaurants such as The Point in Towson, an American gastropub on York Road.
“We found out about Theresa through the flower pots around the area,” said Mark Kelley, the general manager of The Point in Towson. “We loved her work and thought she would be a good fit for the job.”
Erica Russo, the owner of The Point, asked Foggo to paint portraits of Edgar Allan Poe and Billie Holiday — two Baltimore icons — inside of her restaurant.
“The paintings always get a positive response,” Kelley said. “Guests enjoy seeing them as they sit down to dine here. They add life and vibrancy to an otherwise plain room and we’re thankful Theresa could make this happen for us.”
Foggo’s first project in Towson started in October 2019 when she was chosen by the Towson Creative Partnership (TCP) to create a koi fish mural on the side of Kerb, a restaurant on East Chesapeake Avenue.
“I contacted David Riley, the co-chair of TCP, and he looked at my work and said, ‘I have a donor who wants a mural done; I think you’d be a good candidate,’ and he told me all about the koi fish idea,” Foggo said.
Since the koi fish project, Foggo has spent most of her time painting flower boxes in Towson. She earns $300 for every flower box she paints.
“You get the first $100 when you get approved,” Foggo said. “Then, after you let them know you’ve finished it, then you get the rest of the money. It’s a flat rate, so you could work on it for one hour or 10 hours and still get the same amount of commission for it.”
The flower boxes, also known as Boxes & Blooms, is a project orchestrated by the TCP, which is part of the Towson Chamber of Commerce. The group’s mission is to use public art to strengthen downtown Towson’s economy, according to its website.
“The flower box art started as an idea when I was talking to a local business owner and he said he hated them,” said Deirdre Aikin, the owner of Triple Crown Tattoo on York Road who worked with Riley to co-found TCP. “He said, ‘People come by and rip out the flowers, they put trash in them, throw up in them and just destroy them.’ So, I started thinking about a project where we could have people work with the businesses to design the flower boxes and that way, people wouldn’t destroy them.”
Aikin had started working with local artists like Foggo to bring the flower boxes, and other areas of Towson, to life.
“When people walk by the art and give a positive response, it’s a positive response to the whole community,” Aikin said. “We’re creating an interactive community in Towson, versus it just being people, students who come and go. The art here makes everyone work together for a better community … Theresa is a part of this community and she’s helping it evolve.”
Foggo’s first flower box was completed in August 2020, and her most recent one was finished Oct. 21.
“Painting the flower boxes has gotten me more recognition as an artist because I sit out there and people see me paint,” Foggo said. “They talk to me and say, ‘Oh my God, this is so cool.’”
Not only has the public eye seen Foggo’s work, but other striving artists too.
“I’ve seen the painted flower boxes while walking around uptown and they are super cool,” said Heidi Wiggins, a junior studying illustration at Towson University. “[Foggo] is able to put a lot of emotion into her portraits. Her work is stunning, eye-catching and satisfies the realism that I like in art without being too detailed … As an artist, both her style and method of painting are inspiring to me.”
Inspiring people is exactly what Foggo loves to do.
“I love helping people who can’t do it themselves,” Foggo said. “I love getting to a design where someone is like, ‘Yes! That’s what I was thinking.’ It’s nice when someone has a vision and you can actually bring that to life for them.”
Though Foggo has had great success painting around Towson in the last few years, it hasn’t always been easy for her.
“Every big project I’ve had I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to get so many jobs,’ and you just don’t,” Foggo said. “I didn’t. I would get maybe one little one. There was a time where I thought all my talent would be was giving gifts to people. But every one project still leads to another and even now for me being older and I’m getting more opportunities, it’s totally worth it.”
Nevertheless, Foggo presses on in seasons where she can’t find work.
“I should not give up that starving artist dream because if you keep trying, you can get there, or at least get somewhere and then somewhere after that,” she said.
Foggo can be reached at @painted_by_theresa on Instagram or Theresa Foggo – Freelance Muralist on Facebook.