If you live in Catonsville, now’s your chance: You can be part of a public art project that will help point out places in the community with historic significance.

Literally point. A project of the Baltimore County Arts Guild will take stories and silhouettes from residents and transform them into 14-foot-tall signs to help people navigate some of Catonsville’s historic sites.

Tom Moore, chair of the advisory board for the Catonsville Arts District and director of arts and culture at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said the “highly visible” signs will “transform” the look and feel of the suburb along Frederick Road.

“They’ll also help create a sense of place — people will know they’re in the Catonsville Arts District, and in an area rich with history and culture," he said.

Once complete, the signs will point to 10 places of historic significance in Catonsville, including the home a of Catonsville’s first fire department, a Black philanthropist and entrepreneur, and the man who invented postage stamp glue. The sites were chosen with help from the now-defunct Catonsville Historical Society.

Called “Signs of the People,” the project comes from Eva Salmerón and Ciro Márquez, a brother and sister artist duo already known for some work in Baltimore.

Salmerón said Catonsville residents will be “the protagonist of the piece. Without them we have no signs.” They hope to have the signs installed in September.

To that end, conceptual designs for the project are scheduled to be unveiled during a public session at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Catonsvvile Clubhouse (10 St. Timothys Ln). The artists will talk about the project and answer questions from people there.

And until March 27, people can nominate someone — or themselves — to be featured on one of the silhouette signs. Nominees can be living or dead. The nomination form is online.

Once complete, the signs will be highly visible. The bright yellow outlines of the Catonsville residents will point toward the historic site. Below the signs, there will be a map of the area and language describing the sites, plus a QR code to access audio descriptions and a website with even more historic information.

“We transformed a traditional road sign into a public art object,” Márquez said.

Salmerón said the inspiration for the designs came from when she and her brother visited Catonsville in 2024. As they were being shown around town, people would excitedly point at places and things they were talking about.

“Public art is tough,” she said. “The piece is going to be in the street and once it gets there, it doesn’t belong to you anymore. Everybody owns the street.”

The Catonsville Arts District was established in 2020 through official designation and recognition from the state. It was the 29th such district in Maryland and the first in Baltimore County.

This project is supported by a $52,000 grant from the former Catonsville Historical Society, Moore said. The arts guild also received a $30,000 Public Arts Project grant from the Maryland State Arts Council to, at a later date, install additional signs.

The arts district covers a stretch of historic Frederick Road and part of Mellor Avenue in a T shape. The Baltimore County Arts Guild manages the Catonsville Arts District on behalf of the county.

Located between Baltimore and Ellicott City, Catonsville was settled in the 17th century. It was later named for Richard Caton, who had an estate there. The community of more than 40,000 residents is home to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the Community College of Baltimore County, as well as part of Patapsco Valley State Park.

Catonsville is known as “Music City Maryland‚” in large part because of the number of music shops in town. It’s also known for the “Catonsville Nine” — nine Catholic anti-war activists who burned draft files to protest the Vietnam War in 1968.