Wall Watch

“None of us are home until all of us are home,” said Sister Mary Scullion to an inspired audience at an intimate mural dedication Thursday. Scullion is the co-founder of Project H.O.M.E., an organization that provides a variety of essential resources to people in recovery and in transition, including housing, employment, education and healthcare. 

In partnership with Project H.O.M.E. and the City of Philadelphia Department of Health and Intellectual disAbility Services, the Mural Arts dedicated a mural project to lend a voice to Philadelphia’s homeless and to raise public awareness around the issue of homelessness in our society. 

Tucked alongside St. John the Evangelist Church at 13th and Ludlow Streets, Finding Home is a new, 2200 square-foot mixed media mural created by artists Kathryn Pennepacker and Josh Sarantitis with a team of dedicated community members. The café at 8th and Arch Streets became a hub and studio space where members of the homeless community learned simple weaving techniques and created scarves and other woven products as practice for making the mural. These scarves and other crafts were on display at the dedication.

“[The mural] brought people together with or without a home to work side by side,” said Pennepacker. “It broke down the stigma around homelessness and promoted dignity and visibility with the work of our hands.” 

Participants wove strips of cloth that contained inscriptions of peoples’ personal reflections on what it means to have a home and feel welcome, and the fabric forged from those strips and those conversations was then adhered to the wall and painted upon. Elements of print, sheet metal and cable were also incorporated into the finished design.

After the mural was blessed with holy water, Mural Arts Executive Director Jane Golden closed the dedication with encouraging words for all, “…the artist paints the mural but never underestimate what you can do,” Golden said. “Let it be a world filled with equality, hope and home.”

Finding Home is sponsored by the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Service, the Hummingbird Foundation, and St. John the Evangelist Church.

-Mary Kate O’Keefe

On October 5th a vibrant new mural was dedicated along north Broad Street, entitled How to Turn Anything into Something Else. 

The mural project paired 12 artists from nationally recognized art collective Miss Rockaway Armada [www.missrockaway.org] with roughly 30 Mural Arts art education students over the summer to develop the concept, artistic flow, and imagery for the mural. This team of artists taught the students, ranging in age of eight to 15 years old, creative exercises that helped them access their vast imaginations. 

“Each student took a piece of paper and drew the head of an animal at the top,” said Aly Perry, one of the artists on the project. “When the head was finished, they folded the paper down until only the neck of their drawing was visible. Then the paper was then passed to the next student to draw a torso and the folding and passing was repeated until an entire invented creature was drawn on the paper.”

This exercise was meant to show students that not everything has to end the way it began. “Through the workshops, the artists wanted to teach students to view obstacle as opportunity,” Perry said. “The hundreds of images created by students over the summer were directly incorporated into the mural.”

During the dedication, the artists danced in celebration through the crowd, boasting about the new mural and their experience with the students. Closest to the mural were the students, who were clearly proud of their creation, as they skipped around, basking in the attention. 

SEE THIS MURAL: Travel south on N. Broad Street to 207 N. Broad Street - the mural will be on the left side of the Street. Its large size, vibrant colors, and whimsical characters make it hard to miss!

Sponsored by: City of Philadelphia Department of Human Services 

In partnership with: Miss Rockaway Armada, The Lighthouse, Southwark Elementary, and Wissahickon Charter School.

-Laura Edgar, Intern

6607 Chew Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19119

Join us as we dedicate prominent muralist Parris Stancell's new mural on the Maternity Care Coalition building in East Mt. Airy, titled Universal Principle of a Mother's Love. This vibrant work of art depicts a young mother and her thoughts about the future for her child.

Sponsored by: City of Philadelphia

    A dedication ceremony on the morning of August 23rd celebrated the hard work culminating in the successful completion of both interior and exterior artwork at the Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM) building on Rising Sun Avenue. Betsy Casañas, who is an avid painter, teacher, poet, singer, and well-respected artist with the Mural Arts Program, worked alongside some determined individuals at APM, which is a Latino-based health, human services, community and economic development non-profit organization that assists families in Philadelphia in achieving their full potential. Remarks at the event were made by Nilda Ruiz (President and CEO, APM), Dr. Cheryl Pope (Deputy VP of Human Services, APM), Jane Golden (Executive Director, Mural Arts), Betsy Casañas, and Adolfo Gonzalez (Director of Behavioral Health and Quality Assurance, APM.) Attendees also enjoyed entertainment by Papo Gely.

    The Porch Light Initiative at Mural Arts is a three-year program designed to improve individual and community health in the 19121, 19132 and 19140 Philadelphia zipcodes. For more information about Porch Light please contact Sara Ansell, Program Manager: sara.ansell@muralarts.org. For more information about Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha, please visit apmphila.org

-Mary Kate O'Keefe

 Phillies player Chase Utley and his philanthropist wife Jennifer Utley joined the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PSPCA) and the School District of Philadelphia at 22nd and Dauphin Streets to premiere and dedicate the Be Kind To Animals mural.

“Together we are trying to inspire change in our behavior through art,” said Jane Golden, executive director of the Mural Arts Program and one of three artists on the mural, including Willis Humphrey and Gabe Tiberino. Humphrey said it is important to raise awareness about animals, and wanted to be apart of the mural with hopes that it would beautify the North Philadelphia neighborhood while initiating conversation about animal cruelty. “This area in particular was noted as one that had a lot of dog fighting so the Utley Foundation and Mural Arts thought it would be good to raise awareness around how to treat animals and the positive relationships we should build with them,” said Humphrey.

Patricia Mazzuca, Assistant Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, recounted the time, effort, and money that were invested in the project, and hopes that it will build the self esteem of neighbors and show that others believe in the success of the community.

Sixth grade valedictorian Shakirah Brumbly and other students welcomed The Utley’s and were proud they had the opportunity to help paint the mural, and inspire the overall design. “I like that you can see a story behind the whole picture in the mural. My friend Shanay wrote a sad story about a dog and she won a contest and her picture got to be on the mural,” said Brumbly. “It helps for kids my age to see the beauty in animals and that they should be treated well, too, because they are living creatures.”

Sponsored By: The Utley Foundation, City of Philadelphia

- Mercedes Lee, intern