Mural Arts Program

When violence strikes a family Our mural, "Families Are Victims, Too," in the 1300 block of South 50th Street, is like no other in the city. It makes a statement about an ongoing crisis facing our city. People talk about "closure" when it comes to the death of a loved one. But for most people, there is no closure. When you love people and you lose them, you miss them. They do not have to be famous to be remembered. This mural speaks of "awareness. " Children can learn from it: "Oh, I remember him. He was so young.

The Mural Arts Program has received a $500,000 matching grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help fund a program assisting those suffering from behavioral, addiction, and mental health problems. The grant, given to the program's nonprofit fund-raising unit - the Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates - will support the ongoing Porch Light Initiative, which focuses on three North Philadelphia communities. According to a Mural Arts Program statement, the arts agency will work with the city Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services to draw clients into art-based community projects.

Albert Einstein wrote, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. " In this, the World Year of Physics, celebrating Einstein's impact on science, the Philadelphia School District is taking the physicist's advice. This year, the district began a five-year collaboration with the city's Mural Arts Program to paint 100 public school walls, 20 each year. In a district already burdened with basic educational needs, the commitment to art education is a surprising shift. Still, supporters say, the benefits of art outweigh the program's cost, which will be at least $300,000 a year.

If you've passed Broad and Vine streets recently, you may have noticed that there's something different about the enormous mural there. It's being painted over. The Mural Arts program is restoring the "Evolving Face of Nursing" mural for the third time in twenty years. The cost of restoration: a little less than $300,000. Sponsors include the Independence Foundation, Bayada Nurses, Connelly Foundation, and Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions. The new mural will feature portraits of student and working nurses from area nursing schools and hospitals.

Ever wonder about that mural at 707 Chestnut St., with the three medallions hanging from the young man's neck? And is it really completely made of tiles? Have you questioned why the mural featuring Abraham Lincoln on the corner of Eighth and Ranstead Streets is split into three sections? Inquiring minds now have the opportunity to learn about more than a dozen of the city's murals. All you need is a digital audio player or a cell phone. Podcast and cell phone tours are the new interactive way of bringing to life Philadelphia's pioneering, one-of-a-kind murals.

ALTHOUGH IT is great to see the Daily News endorse the work of a living Philadelphia artist, the photographer Zoe Strauss, the most interesting part of this article is that the Daily News shares the concerns regarding the Mural Arts Program put forth a decade ago by the Heretical Society, which was an independent artists' organization that provided a critique of the culture industry in Philadelphia, and which disbanded in 2001. The final statement of the Daily News editorial is very similar to the last line of the Heretical Society tract, the essay "No More Ugly Murals.

Unspoken stories of pain, frustration and loss are about to be told - stories of families whose loved ones are behind bars. The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, partnering with the Pennsylvania Prison Society, will tell the stories of these families in a mural - "Family Interrupted" - to be painted at 709 W. Dauphin St., in North Philadelphia. Representatives from Mural Arts, the Prison Society and state officials, including Sen. Vincent Hughes and Rep. Ronald Waters, spoke about the project to a crowd of about 60 in City Hall yesterday.

A large mural depicting doves, trees, a lotus flower and the phrase "Service Faith Justice" in six languages was unveiled yesterday at the Neighborhood Interfaith Movement's headquarters in Germantown, where residents gathered before the neighborhood's first piece of art invoking multiple congregations. Inspired by an evolving spiritual landscape, the 17-by-60 foot painting is a joint effort by the city's Mural Arts Program and the Neighborhood Interfaith Movement to establish a religious icon in the "City of Murals.

A commentary critical of the giant outdoor murals in economically challenged sections of Philadelphia drew a large response. Many of the murals are sponsored by the public-private Mural Arts Program. In his Jan. 26 piece, Joseph P. Blake said that many of these murals are "unconnected to anything in the neighborhood or anyone living there. " Here is a sample of the readers' reactions. It's more than just some paint on a wall When the Mural Arts Program takes on a project, the finished painting is only part of the process.

When plans were being made for a mural that focused on race in Philadelphia, the planners knew the project would require bringing people together. At 47th and Chestnut Streets in West Philadelphia yesterday, officials dedicated that mural - by a black artist and a white one - and declared that it captured the essence of community conversations that focused on similarities instead of differences. Titled "Bringing Race Into Dialogue for Greater Engagement," or "Bridge," the brightly colored artwork depicts people of different races working together to scale a mountain.

  PHILADELPHIA ARTIST Caryn Kunkle has had her eyes set on developing the Divine Lorraine Hotel since she was an 18-year-old Kutztown University student. She was a student-government representative when a state legislator asked what she would do to change Philadelphia. "I would develop the Divine Lorraine because it is the kingpin of the city," she replied. "Nationally historical, a beautiful striking landmark, and completely derelict, just six blocks from City Hall.

ALTHOUGH IT is great to see the Daily News endorse the work of a living Philadelphia artist, the photographer Zoe Strauss, the most interesting part of this article is that the Daily News shares the concerns regarding the Mural Arts Program put forth a decade ago by the Heretical Society, which was an independent artists' organization that provided a critique of the culture industry in Philadelphia, and which disbanded in 2001. The final statement of the Daily News editorial is very similar to the last line of the Heretical Society tract, the essay "No More Ugly Murals.

A RECENT editorial deservedly praised the citywide billboard installation of Zoe Strauss' photographs, as part of her exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The article also cited the importance of "non-mural" public art, and specifically questioned the level of city support for the Mural Arts Program. Since my office oversees the city's Percent for Art program and is responsible for conserving and maintaining the vast array of city-owned public art, as well as advocating for and coordinating public-art efforts in general, I would be the first to agree that we need more investment in our public-art collection and new, innovative public-art projects.

I WAS DISTRESSED to read my words misrepresented and applied negatively to the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program on the editorial page: "[W]e can't help thinking that the city is, to riff on a phrase from Councilwoman Blackwell, a little 'muraled-out.' " This is not something I ever said, and I was surprised to read my name in the piece, since I was not contacted to comment and did not speak with the writer. If we had spoken, I would have been able to tell you that I have known Jane Golden and her work since her days with Anti-Graffiti, work that would ultimately lead to the formation of the Mural Arts Program.

I WAS HAPPY to see your editorial celebrating the work of Zoe Strauss, as I, too, am thrilled that her work is now on display not only at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but also on billboards throughout the city. But I was startled that the editorial counterpointed her work with that of Mural Arts, as though we were two opposing forces rather than two complementary elements, in Philadelphia's growing world of public art. Seeing Zoe's billboards makes me realize how far our region has come in embracing a diverse range of public art, and I am proud that the Mural Arts Program has played a role in that evolution.

Fans have selected the final two players for a giant Phillies mural in Center City: Chooch and the Bull. Current catcher Carlos Ruiz and former outfielder Greg Luzinski, that is. After about 10,000 fan votes for the final spot, they were so close both were selected, according to the club. Their likenesses have already been added to a mock-up of the colorful design that, sometime this summer, will cover eight stories of a building at 24th and Walnut Streets. Facing the Schuylkill, the mural, created by artist David McShane, will easily be seen from cars on the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76)

Among Philadelphia's thousands of outdoor murals, many are worth restoring when they become battered by the elements over time. But some should not be saved. The city's iconic Common Threads mural by Meg Saligman at Broad and Spring Garden Streets is worth preserving. So it was welcome news that funding was found to conduct repairs that enabled the city's Mural Arts Program (muralarts.org) to rededicate the mural recently. Mural Arts director Jane Golden also took the occasion to announce a new push to bolster a much-needed restoration fund.

SUDDENLY, THERE'S a new garden and mural at East Passyunk and Wharton Street in South Philly where there once was dilapidated mess. But things are still a bit of a mess. For decades - since 1947, according to lot owner Maria Olivieri - the concrete plot was a parking area and a Dumpster area for Pat's King of Steaks. (Back then, Pat's belonged to Harry and Pat Olivieri, her father and uncle.) In recent decades, the slab had become an eyesore encased in drooping chain link. Its main use?

Joe Boruchow has a surgeon's grace when armed with his X-Acto knife, carving intricate patterns and austere scenes into sheets of black paper hardly bigger than his hand. If he slices a millimeter too far, it may create what Boruchow considers a flaw. But "sometimes if you've looked at something for awhile, your eye corrects little mistakes," he says, scrutinizing the freshly sliced checkers in a taxi he's cutting. Awareness of tiny flaws seems appropriate for Boruchow, who works seven hours a day in minuscule detail.

Considering that Frank Sinatra was head and shoulders above all the rest, maybe it's fitting that now that's all you can see of him on Broad Street. A three-story building under construction on Broad Street near Wharton, between a mural of Sinatra and the gas station at the corner, now obscures the massive wall-art of Ol' Blue Eyes. "It was really a landmark on Broad Street," said Jane Golden, director of the Mural Arts Program. "Many people feel that Philadelphia was [Sinatra's]