G. Byron Peck
G. Byron Peck, Founder/Artistic Director, serves as lead artist for all City Arts murals, mosaics, sculptures, and other community art projects. These artworks are conceived with the notion that quality public art can reflect multicultural, historic, and architectural themes; serve as sources of neighborhood pride; and become the vehicle for training at-risk youth. Peck oversees the organization's Urban Arts Mentoring Program, which provides year-round visual arts training and mentoring for disadvantaged Washington, DC public school students who serve as paid apprentices.
Recent City Arts projects include the 2,400 square foot Southwest Gateway Mosaic in the 12th Street Tunnel by the Southwest Waterfront; the expansion of the beloved Duke Ellington Mural on 13th and U Streets, NW; and the completion of a 16,000 square foot art park featuring mosaics, murals, sculptures, and special lighting that will soon be installed at the Nannie Helen Burroughs Bridge, in partnership with the DC Department of Transportation and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Other City Arts projects include a 60-foot mural for the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority's main terminal at Metro Center; the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center Mural on Mississippi Avenue, SE; and two 20-foot murals for the entrance of historic Mount Vernon, Virginia.
Peck is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, where he received a BFA in painting and printmaking. He has created more than 80 murals throughout the United States and abroad. Mural commissions have included The Kennedy Center, the Marriott Corporation, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the American Embassy in Santiago, Chile.
Peck has taught classes at the Corcoran School of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, The George Washington University, and George Mason University. He has been awarded four individual artist grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and two Fellowships for Painting from the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. In 2007, Peck was named a Local Hero by Bank of America. In 2000, Peck received the District of Columbia Mayor's Art Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline.
