BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Public artist Ellie Balk has created a colorful mural for the vintage store RePop on the corner of Metropolitan and Roebling in Williamsburg.

Her design is an abstract version of a neighborhood map, incorporating rectangles of solid color. The piece has a soothing quality with its clean, geometric design and brings a bright flash to the street corner. Balk worked with volunteers to paint in early September, completing it despite a persistent drizzle of rain.

No stranger to executing murals to adorn a neighborhood, Balk painted Soundwaves in a dark corner of Clinton Hill under the BQE in 2011 and she’s done several projects in local Brooklyn schools with the goal of bringing students and their neighborhood together and helping them take charge of beautifying their environment.

Unlike graffiti, which can divide a community, Balk’s public paintings invite volunteers from the community to participate. After its completion, her abstract works demand interpretation by the community. Since she gathers her artistic vision from the people she works with – such as the neighborhood map on RePop – the project acts to make onlookers realize their connection to the area.

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