All Five of Station North's Light Installations Are Finally On. November Is the Month to Walk Them.

Above North Avenue Market, sculpted figures sit on the bell towers and the balcony, glowing and pulsing blue. Zoë Charlton built Third Watch to turn the security lights common on city buildings into something closer to protective beacons. The project's page on Charlton notes that North Avenue was once a grand boulevard where people went to "see and be seen." The work went up in March 2025 as the first piece of Inviting Light.

For most of the time since, Inviting Light was incomplete. The five pieces arrived in stages across about a year. The last one, Ekene Ijeoma's Harmony Park on Barclay Street, opened on April 17, 2026, after most of the year's long evenings were already over. On October 20, 2026, the project's site said all five works were still on view and invited visitors to tour them. The clocks went back on November 1, and darkness now comes well before dinner. For the first time, the whole set is lit through the darkest stretch of the year.

Built One Piece at a Time

Baltimore was one of eight U.S. cities picked for Bloomberg Philanthropies' Public Art Challenge in fall 2023, out of 154 applicants. The Baltimore Banner reported the award as a $1 million grant, and artist Derrick Adams was brought on as curator. Adams invited five artist teams to rethink how light could work as public art in the district. José Ruiz curated the events that launched each piece through 2025 and spring 2026.

The opening dates show how spread out the rollout was:

Last winter had four of the five. Soft Gym opened in mid-November 2025, and Harmony Park was still five months away. Bloomberg Philanthropies is the principal sponsor. The National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, the Baltimore Community Foundation and BGE are also funders. The project was produced with the Baltimore City Mayor's Office, Central Baltimore Partnership and the Neighborhood Design Center.

The Route the Artists Walked

The district already settled on an order for the loop. On the October 9 Art Walk, Adams led a "Starlight Stroll" with the installation artists through all five sites. The route started on Barclay Street and ended on North Avenue. Here it is with the viewing spots used that night:

1. Harmony Park, 1707 Barclay St. A checkered rock garden with 11 light poles that turn on through touch. People connect the poles by touching them or holding hands, and 11 stone stools nearby are linked by sight.
2. Big Ass Snake (Plant)s On a Plane, viewed from outside Tapas Teatro, 1711 N. Charles St. Across the street, Phaan Howng's oversized, brightly colored, camouflage-patterned leaves grow out of the Charles Street Garage, as if plants were taking the building back.
3. Aurora, viewed from across 1813 N. Charles St. Tony Shore, who teaches painting at MICA, took the style of his paintings on black velvet and enlarged it across the former Gatsby's façade. The scene shows neighborhood people gathered in a welcoming hangout.
4. Third Watch, viewed from in front of the McDonald's at 15 W. North Ave. Look up at the market's towers and balcony.
5. Soft Gym, Ynot Lot, 101 W. North Ave. The stroll ended here, and Club Car at 14 W. North Ave. was the gathering spot afterward.

The 1800 block has one more change coming. Laverne's, a lounge planned for the former Trip's Place at 1813 N. Charles, opened only for a sneak peek during the October stroll and was still listed as coming soon. A few doors south, Baltimore Fishbowl reported in August that Gratitude, a cocktail bar and restaurant, had been announced for 1709 N. Charles, the former Foraged space.

Two of the Five Need You to Take Part

Three of the works are meant to be looked at, from the sidewalk and often from across the street. The two at either end of the route only work when people use them.

Harmony Park needs more than one person. Its poles connect through touch, so the piece is fullest when a few people hold hands across it. That makes it a better stop with friends or visiting family than as a solo detour.

Soft Gym asks for your body. Wickerham & Lomax built a space that looks like a gym or playground, with padded walls, gym rigs, illuminated mixed-media pieces and spots to sit. It's designed for touching, leaning and moving through, and it isn't meant for actual workouts. The project describes it as "at once a gym, sculpture, and social experiment" about how shared spaces shape the way people support and stretch one another.

The project's descriptions don't list nightly hours for any piece, so the safest plan is to go right after dark.

Only One Was Built to Stay

The rollout timing matters because Inviting Light was designed to be temporary. Bloomberg's Public Art Challenge funds temporary public art projects, as Baltimore Fishbowl noted when Harmony Park opened. In June 2025, The Baltimore Banner reported that the grant covered two years of operations. It also reported that the installations could stay longer if the building owners and the city worked out the logistics.

The Banner named Soft Gym as the exception, a permanent change to the formerly vacant lot at 101 W. North Ave., which became the new Ynot Lot performance pavilion. The Neighborhood Design Center described its opening as relaunching the Ynot Lot at its new location. Baltimore Magazine gave a narrower estimate in November 2025, saying the piece was expected to stay for three to five years.

By the Banner's account, the other four depend on that two-year grant unless owners and the city arrange to keep them. As of the project's October 20 update, all five are on view. The figures on the market towers, the leaves on the garage and Shore's tableau on Charles Street are guaranteed only for now.

What Else Is On Along the Route

The loop passes several of the district's busiest doors, so it's easy to pair with a ticketed evening. These are the dated listings after publication:

• Thursday, November 5, 7 p.m. The Great Experiment with a filmmaker conversation at the SNF Parkway Theatre, 5 W. North Ave., across from the Third Watch viewing spot. Motor House, 120 W. North Ave., hosts Lighthouse Writers Workshop the same day.
• Monday, November 9. Dat Feel Good Jazz Jam at Motor House, a short walk from Soft Gym.
• Wednesday, November 11. Art of Comedy Open Mic at Motor House.
• Thursday, November 12, 7 p.m. Caught Out There with a Q&A and panel at the Parkway.
• Wednesday, November 18. Brooke Candy with BbyAfricka and Mel 4Ever at the Ottobar.
• Tuesday, November 24. Kurt Vile and the Violators with Twisted Teens at the Ottobar. Motor House has Karaoke with DJ Black Reignbow the same night.
• December 2 and 3. The Art Gray Noizz Quintet, Genre is Death, Sexfaces and Credit play the Ottobar on the 2nd, followed by Sheer Mag & King Tuff on the 3rd.

The sixth annual Station North Holiday Market is on Saturday, December 12, 2026, indoors and outdoors at Historic North Avenue Market, 12–30 W. North Ave. About forty vendors based in Baltimore City will be selected, and the outdoor vendors will work from custom pink-and-green huts built by Open Works. That's the building with Third Watch on its towers, so anyone shopping into the evening will be standing under the first piece Inviting Light installed.

For more about the blocks around the route, see our Station North neighborhood guide, along with neighboring Mount Vernon and Charles Village.

Public art like Inviting Light shapes how a block feels after dark. If you own a home near North Avenue or Charles Street and want to know how the district's recent changes affect your property, Jessica Dailey is happy to walk through it with you. Request a Home Valuation and Concierge Consultation.