Baltimore longshoreman turns to his art to make ends meet after bridge collapse

A longshoreman turned to his art to help himself and others who’ve lost work at the Port of Baltimore when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed.

Wendell Shannon, a second-generation longshoreman at the port, realized almost immediately following the collapse of the bridge that his financial situation was about to collapse as well.

“I knew that the paychecks would abruptly stop and I just had to figure it out just like the rest of my longshoremen brothers and sisters,” he said.

Port operations and the ships that mean work are at a standstill, and it could be months before the entire Port of Baltimore reopens.

But the port workers are a strong unit, Shannon said.

“One of the things that I’d say clicked was this quote: ‘Do what you can with what you have,’” he said. “So, I just tapped into everything that was available at the time.”

For Shannon, that meant his gift as an artist. He’s selling prints and canvasses that he’s been fortunate to paint over the years at the port, and some of the proceeds will go to families and the longshoremen at the Port of Baltimore.

He showed a commissioned piece titled “Solidarity.”

“That’s a term that we use down at the port, which is what happens to one happens to all,” Shannon said.

“An experience like this just impacted us all to come together and realize how human we are, how fragile life is,” he said.

A lot of work is happening to help the thousands of workers at the port whose pay has stopped, said Shannon, who has two sons to support.

“It’s not can we,” he said. “We have to. However long it takes, that’s what we’re gonna have to do.”

The state of Maryland estimates about 140,000 jobs are linked to the critical shipping hub. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the port produces an estimated $2 million in wages each day for the workers who make a living there.