Following a successful character design workshop through Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Local Exposure Visiting Artist Program, artist Shawn Alleyne returned to Northeast High School to collaborate with Art Education after-school students on a new public artwork. Building upon the 2024 Art Education theme, Fairytales and Folklore, Alleyne guided students through an imaginative design process that explored cultural identity, myth-making, and creative storytelling. The resulting mural,
The World Tree: Folklore and Fairytales, transforms the school’s Sparc Wing into a vivid celebration of imagination and community. At its center stands a radiant, golden World Tree, its roots growing from open books that symbolize learning and the power of stories. Branches reach into a cosmic expanse of purples, pinks, and indigos, where glowing orbs represent different worlds and dimensions — a visual metaphor for how folklore, history, and fantasy intertwine. Around the tree, a diverse group of student figures read, dream, and reach toward the glowing orbs, embodying the act of creation itself. To the left, an astronaut stands atop a stack of books, bridging the mythology of the future with that of the past. To the right, a Viking warrior — inspired by the school’s mascot — adds a spirit of adventure and courage. The mural’s background features Northeast High School itself, grounding these fantastical scenes in the students’ real-world community.
The design was developed through collaborative workshops where students shared stories from their own cultural heritages, reinterpreting traditional folklore into original characters and symbols. These original characters are represented in the orbs, redrawn in Shawn Alleyne’s signature style. This process encouraged creative agency and cultural pride, empowering participants to see their identities reflected in public art. Visually, the mural draws inspiration from comic book art, with bold outlines, saturated hues, and a sense of movement that captures Shawn Alleyne’s signature style. Text elements — including the title, artist and student credits, and program sponsors — frame the work like a storybook introduction, while an inscription at the base reads like a mythic prologue: “Once upon a time there was a world where all the grownups had stopped having dreams, and the children now had to do the dreaming to save the future…” Through its fusion of folklore and futurism, The World Tree honors the imagination of Northeast High’s youth — portraying them not only as readers of stories, but as the authors of new worlds yet to come.
