Wall Watch

Remember all those colorfully painted Philly Phanatics that GPTMC scattered all over the city in time for opening day? Mural Arts staff artist, David McShane is responsible for the 80/08 championship adorned statue that greeted people up in Northern Liberties. Over the years Dave has become our go-to sports theme artist (Jackie Robinson, Eagles, future Phillies mural).

But where are the Phanatics now? Last night I was sitting around watching the Phillies beat the Braves when Tom McCarthy mentioned that they’re all being auctioned off (just in time for the holidays) over at the mlb website. If I’d been a little more on the ball, I would have mentioned this sooner. Dave’s sold last Thursday for $14,900, making it a top earner. There are still a few left, most for a lot less than 15k. What better gift for the person who has everything... and room for a 6 foot tall, fiberglass Phillie Phanatic?

The Candadian Tourism Comission has installed giant touchscreens in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago that diaplay twitter feeds from Canadian tourists. Passers by in the U.S. cities are encouraged to stop and interact in real time with their vacationing neighbors to the north.

While it's technically a big advertisement and Canadian "tourists" in the feed seem mainly to be locals promoting local shops and events, it still wins an award for being an innovative use of social media in a public space. It's an idea that the right artist could turn into something very inspiring.

While you were scanning the radio for traffic and weather updates during yesterday evening’s downpour, you might have stumbled across an excellent National Public Radio piece on Mural Arts. The spot features an interview with Executive Director Jane Golden and managed to hit all the right notes in just over 4 minutes.

In case you missed it the first time, or if you just want to hear it again, you can find it online (and view images of some of the murals highlighted in the story) on the NPR website. Thanks NPR!

Artist James Burns put together this awesome time lapse video of his Personal Renaissance project at 4th and Berks. To learn more about what you see above, check out a full interactive feature on the project here.

This week, the Eakins I students learned how to thinset the stained glass to the wall and were finally able to see the results of two weeks of hard work. Once everything was ready, the class learned how to grout in the spaces between their glass cuts.

The artwork is being installed on a wall that is 40 feet wide. They will be spending the next week cutting and installing this work.