Yemi - Making Frederick County Beautiful

Frederick’s mural-covered buildings, numerous art galleries, art-themed events and more, have given Frederick notoriety as a place well-known for its beautiful art. In fact, the City of Frederick recently made a national ranking of the “40 Most Vibrant Art Communities.” One of the people helping to make the Frederick community so vibrant is local artist Yemi Fagbohun. Known for his large-scale murals and glass art pieces across the county, Yemi has made a name for himself in Frederick County and beyond… so much so that he is known to most as simply “Yemi.”

Born in Nigeria, Yemi made the trek to the U.S. to study art at the age of 19. After spending several years in New York, he decided to leave the busy city life behind and find a place to raise a family. That landed him in Frederick County.

Over the years, Yemi has created several large outdoor and indoor murals in our area, including the Baker Park Bandshell, the “Pillars of Frederick” on the McCutcheon’s building, several inside Aysé Meze Lounge, and a Thurmont mural showcasing the town’s railroad history. Yemi’s favorite project so far is a mural inside St. Joseph-on-Carrollton Manor Catholic Church in Buckeystown. The colorful painting was designed to mimic classic stained glass windows, and features images of prominent Catholics from Maryland’s history. Besides buildings, Yemi’s artwork has also been featured on postage stamps, prints and greeting cards.

A lover of various methods of art, Yemi decided to branch out in 2005 and started a line of glass gifts. Known as the “Yemi Line,” the gift collection includes ornaments, wine glasses, and jewelry. After a successful first year selling more than 600 ornaments, he saw the demand for these locally-inspired pieces. The Yemi line is sold in a number of shops in Frederick, Thurmont, New Market and Baltimore as well as the Frederick Visitors Center. While many of Yemi’s glass gifts feature iconic images of local towns, he also customizes gifts. Just this year, the artist rolled out a line of custom-made gifts for Frederick area businesses. This allows companies to give personalized and locally-made gifts to their customers and employees. 

The local artist isn’t slowing down any time soon. He is currently working on two new local murals: one on Main Street in Thurmont, and one just inside the entrance to the Frederick Fairgrounds. See more examples of Yemi’s work online at https://www.yemiartist.com/.