PEARLS

The project was described by project manager Todd Bressi on the Artfulplaces.com blog:

Pearl Street dates from Philadelphia’s earliest days. Just four feet wide (plus sidewalks) it runs four blocks between 10th Street and Broad Street. Callowhill, just north of Chinatown, is a rapidly changing confluence of the expanding Chinatown community, young urban professionals, and the homeless. It is characterized by loft-style studio space, new infill apartments, and a smattering of long-standing bars and new restaurants tucked into tiny old buildings. It is threaded by an old railroad viaduct that community advocates hope can become a community park.

Pearl Street connects all of this.

Volta’s concept consisted of three parts. Before the block party, crews laid down a color field on the street. Then, Volta and his team painted a ribbon, whose design was inspired by the flow of music and of water, along the street, using a vinyl stencil technique. Finally, on the day of the block party, Volta organized a community event during which visitors took luminescent pearls, painted on various materials, and glued or wheatpasted them all around the alley.