Poplar Garden

Journey Home – Tiles by artists Jonny Buss, Mike Smash, and Colleen Kane is a multimedia sculptural garden instillation located in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This project was a collaborative effort between students attending the Mural Arts Philadelphia’s summer program at the Lighthouse and Waring School Big Picture sites; Journey Home and students from their “Teens for Good” program; Julia Weekes and “Grow From Your Roots,” neighbors and volunteers.

The idea was to take the space, half of which was a vegetable garden, and create the start of an art garden, including a concrete and mosaic entranceway with metal arches – a windy, whimsical 2000 square foot gravel path bordered by 250 porcelain tile mosaic stepping stones, 14 concrete and glass mosaic sculptures, 2 sculpted concrete leaf shaped benches with porcelain tile inlay and 4 painted murals with stained glass mosaic flowers.