Garden Wall: Flowering Dogwood / Rose

Garden Wall: Flowering Dogwood / Rose is the fourth mural in the Garden Wall series. It is located in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The mural was designed and painted collaboratively with participants of the Color Me Back: Same Day work and Pay Program. Two triangles, three times the size of the others in the grid, are central to the composition. One is a graffiti-style Rose, and the other is a Flowering Dogwood depicted in a brushy, painterly manner. The Rose element was created by assistant artist Hector Luis Alicea III. The flat colors and outlines reflect his interest and background in street art / graffiti.

Hector was raised in Kensington and joined the CMB team during the Emerald Street mural process. The Flowering Dogwood element was taken from the original Garden mural in the Emerald Street Underpass. Brushy, subtle, and containing a lot of depth, this template was considered by participants to be one of the most beautiful and challenging to achieve.
The juxtaposition of two flower motifs, similar in imagery and palette but significantly different in style and handling, demonstrates the core concept behind the Garden Wall series. Each piece is interrelated but also unique.

The Garden Wall series is an ongoing collaborative mural project in both design and implementation. Participants are invited to contribute to an artwork greater than the sum of its parts. Each composition comprises hundreds of colorful depictions of vegetation, including flowers and grasses. Each triangle is painted by a collaborator who was encouraged to create their own interpretation of the imagery and leave their unique mark on the mural. Just as each seedling grows into a unique representative of a particular plant based on its environment, circumstances, and chance, each painting represents the unique talents, vision, and expression of the person who paints it.

While the system and method remain the same, the content of each mural in the series is unique and ever-changing. As participants learn the process, they are invited to contribute to the imagery, adding to the templates used for each composition.

The Garden Wall series has been developed by Mat Tomezsko, and the Color Me Back: Same Day Work and Pay Program through Mural Arts in Kensington over several projects since 2021 to the present, including murals in three different Philadelphia neighborhoods: three in Kensington, one in Frankford (pictured) and one in Tacony.
Color Me Back is an innovative program that combines participatory art-making and access to social services in a unique model, offering individuals experiencing economic insecurity an opportunity to earn wages. Participants can connect, contribute, and engage with peer specialists who can link them with support services, including social and/or behavioral health services, and potential opportunities for longer-term employment while working in the program.