Over the course of two years, local artist Laura Meilman traveled around the city of Boston and sketched all 121 stops on the MBTA. In doing so, Meilman proved that there’s beauty in the everyday: her massive art series, “Project T-Scapes,’’ immortalized (and beautified) the transit stations we visit on a daily basis.

But in a city full of landmarks and historic sites, why did Meilman choose to sketch the MBTA?

“I wanted to do something different,’’ Meilman said, noting that the idea for the project came to her during a conversation with a coworker.

“I was saying, I need to get out and explore the city. What could I do?’’ Meilman said. “[My coworker] suggested, what if you did all the commuter rail stops? And I figured, I was already buying my regular monthly Charlie Card. And it kind of evolved that way.’’


That was in January of 2013. Meilman started sketching the E branch of the Green Line, and then moved on to the Red Line (starting all the way down at the Mattapan high-speed line). She then sketched the Orange Line, then the B Line, C Line, Blue Line, and D Line. Her final sketch was of Assembly Square station, which formally opened after she’d already finished illustrating the Orange Line.

And all of this did not happen in one fluid motion, according to Meilman.

“T-Scapes, it definitely ebbed and flowed,’’ Meilman said. “One time I took a hiatus that took about four months.’’

“At different points in this project, I had different amounts of time and energy,’’ Meilman said. “I thought, ‘do I have another one of these in me? Can I finish this project?’ And it definitely felt like, when I got back into it, [I was] exercising a muscle I hadn’t used in a while.’’

Meilman finished all 121 illustrations in January of 2015. Then she revisited and re-sketched some stops that she didn’t feel she captured properly the first time around, and her diligence pushed the project all the way into the Spring.

Apart from being time-consuming, project T-Scapes presented a few challenges to Meilman along the way. Like, for instance, the limitations she faced when met with Boston’s unforgiving winter climate.


“I started with a lot of the outdoor stops [in January 2014]. But I managed to make it work the first winter,’’ Meilman said. “I would just stand out there until my fingers got too cold. The second winter, I tried to do that again, but it was as though my fingers said, ‘Nope. Not this year.’’’

Since finishing the project, Meilman has been in contact with fans across the country, all of whom offer support and praise.

“You have a unique association with this not-even-unique-looking structure,’’ Meilman says of folks’ deep connection with T stops. “I’ve had people from other parts of the country, who used to live here, say, ‘these are a piece of home for me.’ Which has been nice.’’

Meilman has also begun to merchandise her artwork, and hopes to get in contact with a publisher about potentially turning them into a book.

In regards to future projects, Meilman says she has a few ideas in the works, one that “expands’’ on the concept behind Project T-Scapes and one that “takes it narrower.’’

“I’d love to get an Amtrak rail pass and sketch as I go,’’ Meilman said. “And I live near the Minuteman Bike[way] now, in Cambridge. And I think it would be neat to go and do a series of drawings on that path.’’

To see all of Meilman’s sketches of the MBTA as well as her other artwork, visit her website.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Meilman began Project T-Scapes in 2011, not 2013, and finished her illustrations in two years.