Afternoon by the Water (formerly Wissahickon)

Afternoon by the Water by artists James Burns, Charles Barbin, Anastasia Wong and Karl Yoder is located in Northeast Philadelphia. This was a restoration and reenvisioning of a mural at the same site entitled Wissahickon by Karl Yoder originally created in 2004.

The original mural depicted a landscape of a river scene. The ca. 400 foot-long-mural began at the north side of the retaining wall, near the underpass, depicting distant trees with a walking path and gazebo situated among a green space along a vast expanse of river, showing people engaged in various activities (walking, bike riding, fishing, relaxing). The scene then expanded along a vast expanse of water dotted by sailboats under a blue sky dotted with clouds. To the south side of the wall, the clouds and water started to blend, eventually dissolving into an abstract patterning of white, green and blue shapes.

In 2009, Burns, Wong, Barbin and Yoder worked with the existing original scene, enhancing it by adding more active people, adding a lush island with a cabin in the middle of the river and including inset images depicting a wider variety of water recreation scenes: kayaking, canoeing, diving off of a dock, swimming and floating in an inner tube. As the scene moves south across the wall, the inset images become larger, adding a dimensionality to the scene and giving the viewer a feeling that they, too, are enjoying a day of fun at the river’s edge.