The colorful mural that decorates the plaza and bus bay at the Bethesda Metro Station was dedicated Thursday morning.
Artist Juan Pineda of Washington, D.C., was honored by the Bethesda Urban Partnership and the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District as well as real estate and investment firm Brookfield for his work, which decorates the station's overhang, columns and bench with interlocking patterns influenced by Mayan hieroglyphs.
The mural was funded with $30,000 provided by the entertainment district, BUP and Brookfield.
Pineda, who has been painting murals in the area since the mid-1990s, started work on the project in August, and took about six weeks to complete the mural.
The mural was the second installment of Bethesda’s “Paint the Town,” an initiative to promote public art murals in downtown Bethesda. The first, completed last year, is on a 400-foot concrete retaining wall along Arlington Road as it approaches Bradley Boulevard.
“Good public art is the enemy to sameness and blandness,” Brookfield regional counsel Simon Carney said at the dedication. “This type of art makes you stop and think.”
Stephanie Coppula, marketing director for the Bethesda Urban Partnership, said the organization hopes to produce a third mural next year.
