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28 September 2003, 05:06 PM
Mural program lets graffiti artists put their talents to good use
06:31 PM CDT on Friday, September 26, 2003
By KENNERLY CLAY / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/travel/thisweek/stories/092803dntramurals.2198c.html
PHILADELPHIA – Awash in a three-story rainbow of color on 20th Street just north of Market, a young black girl, eyes lifted, reaches, stretching as high as she can. Out of her hands, tree branches burst with leaves and intertwine, rooting the child to the earth. "Reach High and You Will Go Far," the title of the mural insists.
On city walls throughout Philadelphia are murals of hope, community, heroes and nature – as much a part of the cityscape as Independence Hall. The murals reach deeply into the heart of day-to-day Philadelphia, the part visitors don't get from the typical icons of Ben Franklin and the Liberty Bell.
Thanks to the Mural Arts Program, which got its start in the early '80s as a means of channeling the creative energies of graffiti artists, more than 2,000 murals have transformed city walls, not to mention the lives of countless young people who have participated in the program. Each mural project is headed by a professional artist supported by other artists who may come from the community or from neighborhood schools, juvenile detention programs or adult rehabilitation centers.
The vibrant displays have attracted such attention that the murals program has established self-guided walking, biking and driving tours, plus regular trolley tours such as Murals & Meals, the 90-minute guided tour I'm able to join one Saturday morning. (The guided tours sell out regularly and are populated by locals as often as tourists.) The tour is followed by lunch at a local restaurant and a talk by Jane Golden, the program's director.
"People go to cities to see museums," says Murals & Meals guide David McShane, also a muralist. "Here you have the largest outdoor art gallery in the country – and it's free."
Our trolley pulls up opposite an empty lot backed by a giant wall painted with bright red tomatoes, green vines, white wildflowers and a fiery sunflower of magenta and gold.
"This is actually one of mine," Mr. McShane says modestly, explaining that the piece was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to commemorate Philadelphia Green's 25th anniversary. The work pays tribute to the urban beautification group's relationship to the community and its ability to bring color and life to concrete and pavement.
"My style's a bit different," continues Mr. McShane, pointing out that every mural reflects the unique approaches of the numerous artists involved in the program. You can tell the long, colorful slashes of Josh Sarentitis – a muralist from San Francisco who painted in the Mission District – from, say, Michael Webb's trompe l'oeil shadows and reflections that magically deceive the eye.
Mr. McShane narrates the stories behind murals such as the "Philadelphia Muses," an 80-foot-tall marquis mural on the Avenue of the Arts; "Metamorphosis: Blueprint to End Homelessness" at the Ridge Avenue Shelter; "History of Chinatown," conveying protest against the convention center encroaching on the community; and the giant portrait of former basketball star Dr. J, now a successful businessman who supports city youth programs.
The trolley squeezes down streets where cars are parked on both sides. Occasionally an impatient driver honks from behind. "Sometimes we try to stop and see a mural but there's too much traffic," says our driver, Ed Gillis, of the Philadelphia Trolley Works. "South Philly, especially, where they park up on the curb on those little streets. Then it's like fuhgeddabouddit! We just keep going."
South of Washington Avenue, Frank Sinatra crooning in a spotlight's haze stands as tall as a building, casting his gaze all the way down Broad Street. (It's said that Old Blue Eyes loved good pasta and sauce at a little place called Palumbo's in South Philly.) Former Philly cop and tough-guy mayor, Frank Rizzo, presides sternly over the Italian Market. A crisp portrait of Edgar Allan Poe at 7th and Green reminds us that the distinguished author wrote "The Masque of the Red Death," among other great works, while living in Philadelphia from 1838 to 1844.
Sprung from the shared vision of the city's communities and artists, each mural speaks for a neighborhood. In fact, says Mr. McShane, the life of a mural may be dictated by the relevance of its message several years down the road.
But some murals – like the one on Dirty Frank's Bar – have staying power.
"That was a wild place," trolley driver Gillis says of the unassuming dive at 13th and Pine Street that enjoyed its heyday in the late '60s. "Lawyers, judges, street people, all walks. It was nuts."
Stopped in front of Dirty Frank's, it takes everyone a minute to get the connection between the images of St. Francis, a hot dog, Frankie Avalon and Aretha Franklin. "Famous Franks," prods Mr. McShane, continuing down the complete list of faces on the corner walls, among them FDR, Frank Sinatra, Frank Lloyd Wright and Ben Franklin.
Here the tour wraps up and we finish off at Pasión, a Latin fusion restaurant. Director Golden arrives to talk about how the murals have changed the lives of many young people, starting with the graffiti artists she trained in the early days. She reports that the murals also help people see their neighborhoods in light of their potential, not of their liability.
In Philadelphia, a city of neighborhoods, unlimited potential is written on the walls.
Kennerly Clay is a freelance writer in Philadelphia.
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Something like this could probably work well in Dallas. I'd have to say that the murals all over Philadelhia really add to the character of the city.
06:31 PM CDT on Friday, September 26, 2003
By KENNERLY CLAY / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/travel/thisweek/stories/092803dntramurals.2198c.html
PHILADELPHIA – Awash in a three-story rainbow of color on 20th Street just north of Market, a young black girl, eyes lifted, reaches, stretching as high as she can. Out of her hands, tree branches burst with leaves and intertwine, rooting the child to the earth. "Reach High and You Will Go Far," the title of the mural insists.
On city walls throughout Philadelphia are murals of hope, community, heroes and nature – as much a part of the cityscape as Independence Hall. The murals reach deeply into the heart of day-to-day Philadelphia, the part visitors don't get from the typical icons of Ben Franklin and the Liberty Bell.
Thanks to the Mural Arts Program, which got its start in the early '80s as a means of channeling the creative energies of graffiti artists, more than 2,000 murals have transformed city walls, not to mention the lives of countless young people who have participated in the program. Each mural project is headed by a professional artist supported by other artists who may come from the community or from neighborhood schools, juvenile detention programs or adult rehabilitation centers.
The vibrant displays have attracted such attention that the murals program has established self-guided walking, biking and driving tours, plus regular trolley tours such as Murals & Meals, the 90-minute guided tour I'm able to join one Saturday morning. (The guided tours sell out regularly and are populated by locals as often as tourists.) The tour is followed by lunch at a local restaurant and a talk by Jane Golden, the program's director.
"People go to cities to see museums," says Murals & Meals guide David McShane, also a muralist. "Here you have the largest outdoor art gallery in the country – and it's free."
Our trolley pulls up opposite an empty lot backed by a giant wall painted with bright red tomatoes, green vines, white wildflowers and a fiery sunflower of magenta and gold.
"This is actually one of mine," Mr. McShane says modestly, explaining that the piece was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to commemorate Philadelphia Green's 25th anniversary. The work pays tribute to the urban beautification group's relationship to the community and its ability to bring color and life to concrete and pavement.
"My style's a bit different," continues Mr. McShane, pointing out that every mural reflects the unique approaches of the numerous artists involved in the program. You can tell the long, colorful slashes of Josh Sarentitis – a muralist from San Francisco who painted in the Mission District – from, say, Michael Webb's trompe l'oeil shadows and reflections that magically deceive the eye.
Mr. McShane narrates the stories behind murals such as the "Philadelphia Muses," an 80-foot-tall marquis mural on the Avenue of the Arts; "Metamorphosis: Blueprint to End Homelessness" at the Ridge Avenue Shelter; "History of Chinatown," conveying protest against the convention center encroaching on the community; and the giant portrait of former basketball star Dr. J, now a successful businessman who supports city youth programs.
The trolley squeezes down streets where cars are parked on both sides. Occasionally an impatient driver honks from behind. "Sometimes we try to stop and see a mural but there's too much traffic," says our driver, Ed Gillis, of the Philadelphia Trolley Works. "South Philly, especially, where they park up on the curb on those little streets. Then it's like fuhgeddabouddit! We just keep going."
South of Washington Avenue, Frank Sinatra crooning in a spotlight's haze stands as tall as a building, casting his gaze all the way down Broad Street. (It's said that Old Blue Eyes loved good pasta and sauce at a little place called Palumbo's in South Philly.) Former Philly cop and tough-guy mayor, Frank Rizzo, presides sternly over the Italian Market. A crisp portrait of Edgar Allan Poe at 7th and Green reminds us that the distinguished author wrote "The Masque of the Red Death," among other great works, while living in Philadelphia from 1838 to 1844.
Sprung from the shared vision of the city's communities and artists, each mural speaks for a neighborhood. In fact, says Mr. McShane, the life of a mural may be dictated by the relevance of its message several years down the road.
But some murals – like the one on Dirty Frank's Bar – have staying power.
"That was a wild place," trolley driver Gillis says of the unassuming dive at 13th and Pine Street that enjoyed its heyday in the late '60s. "Lawyers, judges, street people, all walks. It was nuts."
Stopped in front of Dirty Frank's, it takes everyone a minute to get the connection between the images of St. Francis, a hot dog, Frankie Avalon and Aretha Franklin. "Famous Franks," prods Mr. McShane, continuing down the complete list of faces on the corner walls, among them FDR, Frank Sinatra, Frank Lloyd Wright and Ben Franklin.
Here the tour wraps up and we finish off at Pasión, a Latin fusion restaurant. Director Golden arrives to talk about how the murals have changed the lives of many young people, starting with the graffiti artists she trained in the early days. She reports that the murals also help people see their neighborhoods in light of their potential, not of their liability.
In Philadelphia, a city of neighborhoods, unlimited potential is written on the walls.
Kennerly Clay is a freelance writer in Philadelphia.
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Something like this could probably work well in Dallas. I'd have to say that the murals all over Philadelhia really add to the character of the city.