Quick Shots # 18: More on Liz....the Official Word

From Shaw Main Streets;

Woodley Park has Marilyn. Now Shaw has Liz:

Three-Story Tall Mural of Young Elizabeth Taylor Debuts in Shaw, October 3, 2013

Shaw Main Streets, elected officials, neighborhood residents, the arts and GLBT community, and the owners of Dacha Beer Garden will join muralist Byron Peck in formally unveiling a 50-foot-tall mural of a young Elizabeth Taylor on Thursday, October 3, 2013, at 6:00 PM. The event is free and open to the public.
 
Ilya Alter and Dmitri Chekaldin, owners of Dacha Beer Garden, which opened on September 4, 2013, at 1600 7th Street, NW, commissioned noted Washington, DC muralist Byron Peck to create an iconic image of the late film superstar and humanitarian that will overlook the outdoor drinking establishment.
Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) was one of the 20th century’s most popular movie actresses, starring in such noted films as National Velvet (1944), Father of the Bride (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), Cleopatra (1963), and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Taylor won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Butterfield 8 (1960).
In 1985, following the announcement of close friend and Giant co-star Rock Hudson’s AIDS diagnosis, Taylor co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR), and became an HIV/AIDS activist and fundraiser. She raised over $270 Million for AIDS causes, and also founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) in 1993. In 1993, the Whitman Walker Clinic opened the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, offering DC residents a variety of clinical services.
 
Bryon Peck is well known for a number of community art projects around DC, including the Duke Ellington mural on U Street, NW, and the Metro Center mosaic. Peck was commissioned by Dacha Beer Garden co-owners Chekaldin and Alter to pay respect to Elizabeth Taylor for her foundation’s generous support of the Whitman-Walker Health Center, helping to prevent the spread of AIDS and providing treatment to those affected by HIV/AIDs and needed healthcare to the community.  

At the ceremony, Peck will sign the mural, formally completing the project. The public and elected officials will toast this latest addition to the growing number of works of public art along the 7th and 9th Streets, NW commercial corridors.
 
Dacha Beer Garden, 1600 7th Street, NW
(202) 524-8790
Twitter: @DachaBeerGarden
Facebook: Dacha Beer Garden
Shaw Main Streets is a designated DC Main Streets local program, funded in part by the DC Department of Small and Local Business Development, Vincent C. Gray, Mayor.