Nov.-Dec. 2011 - Maryland Institute College of Art

32 ALUMNI
Alumnus Jim Pollock Brings Art to Baltimore’s
miraCle on 34th street
When four ColleGe friends Graduated from miCa
in the late 1980s and needed a house with studio space, they
found themselves living in the middle of one of Baltimore’s
quirkiest holiday attractions: a block of row houses in
Hampden known during the winter as the Miracle on 34th
Street. Every December, neighbors deck the street out in
thousands of Christmas lights, glowing candy canes, model
trains, and other displays of holiday cheer.
Roommates, neighbors, and holiday decorations have come
and gone over the years, but Jim Pollock ’89 has been keeping
the tradition of sharing art with his neighbors alive. Pollock
ended up buying the house he once rented with his college
buddies and for the past 15 years he has been welcoming
passersby into his front room, which now serves as an exhibition
space. Last year, 27,000 people came through Pollock’s front
door to check out his art displayed there, along with the art of
seven of his friends.
Amongst all the over-the-top holiday kitsch, Pollock’s studio
is a reminder that art brings communities together. “It’s a
wonderful gift to share, and I always encourage people who show
in the house to stand in the house. The whole point of being an
artist is meeting the public,” said Pollock.
Pollock, who considers himself a folk artist despite his formal
training at MICA, makes his work out of salvaged materials
from the Potomac River, flea markets, and “wonderful treasures”
left on his front porch by admirers. Among his signature pieces
are bike wheels stacked and welded together to form snowmen,
National Bohemian Beer cans that take the shape of angels,
crisscrossing strands of pencil steel that look like snowflakes, and
crabs with wrenches for appendages.
But what Pollock is most known for is stringing hubcaps
together to create the form of a Christmas tree, which he has
done every year since 1995.
Although his neighbor originally had the idea for the hubcap
tree, Pollock has expanded the sculpture from three feet to a
towering 10 feet tall. There are now more than 100 hubcaps
that make up the sculpture, a collection that was mostly aided
by a historic snowstorm in 1996 that left the nearby streets
riddled with potholes, allowing a large number of hubcaps to be
“loosened” from passing cars.
Today, the hubcap Christmas tree is a sculptural landmark
amongst all of the glitz and glamour of the rest of the street.
Jim Pollock’s Christmas tree made of hubcaps during the 2010 holiday season. (Photo by Libby Zay)
Although more artists seem to be moving to the block and
taking part in the Miracle on 34th Street, Pollock said many of his
creative neighbors who should consider themselves artists don’t
see their glowing creations in the same light.
“Most of the people here don’t want to call themselves
artists and don’t want to be tagged,” he said. “Although there
are finally artists moving in, it ebbs and flows as people move
into rented spaces.”
According to Pollock, however, when all the neighbors come
together and decorate, “it feels like the whole block lights up.”
Visitors who come to see the block in all its shining glory can
stop by Pollock’s studio at 708 W. 34th Street.