Icon Billboard Series

For the 2024 (Re)FOCUS citywide exhibition, Mural Arts is partnering with Smalls Museum Consulting (SMC) to present the Icon Series. In consultation with a committee of iconic curators of color, Smalls Museum Consulting presents a curatorial exercise that uplifts visionary women artists in a billboard series across the city.

The series includes artists featured in Philadelphia Focuses on Women in the Visual Arts/1974, identifies additions to the original list of artists, and places them alongside artists in the contemporary iteration of the exhibition titled Feminist Focus: Fifty Years of Women’s Art in Philadelphia at Moore College of Art and Design. The series will encapsulate the strong history of women and female-identifying artists as iconic Philadelphians and community leaders in the fine arts.

The featured artworks draw connections across historic and contemporary art movements that continue to anchor Philadelphia as a pioneering arts hub. The Icon Series presents exemplary works of museum-quality art throughout the city for citizens to discover the new legacy of iconic women of color in the arts. Artists will include: Brittany Baum, Edith Emerson, Dara Haskins, Violet Oakley, Wanda Payne, Ellen Powell Tiberino, and Ellen Tiberino.

Funded by The City of Philadelphia

Project Partners: Smalls Museum Consulting, (re)FOCUS, Clear Channel

Sites & Dates

April 1 – April 29:
Dara Haskins at 52nd & Market Street
Wanda Payne at Spring Garden & 5th Street

April 15 – May 13
Wanda Payne at Ridge Ave & 10th Street

May 6 – June 3:
Brittany Baum at 26th & Hartranft Street

May 20 – June 17:
Violet Oakley & Edith Emerson at 43rd & Walnut Street

July 1 – July 29:
Ellen Powell Tiberino & Ellen Tiberino at 52nd & Lancaster Ave