Citywide Mural Project "This We Believe"

I recently was selected to be a finalist in the "This We Believe" Citywide Mural Project.
This will be a groundbreaking new project that incorporates a series of workshops across the city to gather info for a Mural design all of Philly can get behind.

I put together an artist team of myself, and fellow muralists Michelle Ortiz and Kien Nguyen. Kien and I are currently in collaboration for a mural that will be displayed in Rockefeller center for 2 months this spring (but thats another blog for another time). Our team will be in competition against another group of artists. Once our designs are finished, everyone will get an opportunity to vote online and in person on thier favorite design.

The winning team gets to paint the mural with the involvement of volunteers across the city. The final 35' x 120' mural will be displayed at 30th St. Station, then moved and displayed for a period of time in the Gallery. In the end the mural will eventually be broken up into sections and permanently installed on buildings across Philadelphia.

The workshops begin tomorrow in South Philly. I will attach the email thats been going out, it has all the dates and times. More on this as it develops!

This year is your chance to be part of an historic & uniquely Philadelphia project

In celebration of twenty-five years of art education, mural-making and working in communities, the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program invites you to participate in our first city-wide mural project.

Centered around the theme "This We Believe," this initiative will provide the opportunity for you to share what you believe about our city. Facilitated community forums in neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia will give audience to your voice, which will in turn direct and inspire two teams of artists who will interpret your vision to create two proposed mural designs. These community-driven designs will be put to a city-wide vote, with the winning mural becoming the canvas for a series of community paint days. The finished mural will be temporarily hung in central locations in Philadelphia, with pieces ultimately being installed all over the city.

Between February and July, there will be opportunities for you to participate in community forums, vote for your favorite mural design, and participate in a paint-day with your family, friends and neighbors.

The Mural Arts Program is partnering with Leadership Philadelphia on this exciting initiative. Over eighty participants from the Leadership Philadelphia Core Class are volunteering on this project and assisting with community organizing and outreach.

Dates and locations for meetings:

SOUTH
Tuesday, February 24
6:30 - 8:30 pm
Church of Philadelphia
17th and Snyder Streets


NORTHEAST
Wednesday, February 25
6:30 - 8:30 pm
John Perzel Community Center
2990 St. Vincent Street


CENTER CITY
Thursday, February 26
6:30 - 8:30 pm
WHYY Independence Mall West
150 N. 6th Street


NORTHWEST
Monday, March 2
6:30 - 8:30 pm
St. Martin's Church
8000 St. Martin's Lane



WEST
Tuesday, March 3
6:30 - 8:30 pm
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
Rosenberger Hall
600 South 43rd Street


NORTH
Monday, March 9
6:30 - 8:30 pm
Project H.O.M.E.: Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs
1936 Judson Street


SOUTHWEST
Tuesday, March 10
6:30 - 8:30 pm
Meyers Recreation Center
5800 Chester Avenue


Final Culminating Meeting:
(all are invited to attend)
Thursday, March 19
6:30 - 8:30 pm
Daily News/Inquirer Building
Broad and Callowhill Streets

During this final meeting, representatives from all of the community forums will help present the information from their area of the city. This will be the final meeting before the artists begin their design phase.

Artist Teams:

Team 1: Kien Nguyen, Eric Okdeh & Michelle Ortiz
Team 2: Phillip Adams, David Guinn, & Damon Reaves
To see work by the artists, we invite you to look at our new site http://www.muralfarm.org.

Voting
Check here at the end of April/beginning of May for the two designs. You will be invited to vote for your favorite design.

Paint Days
Beginning in June and continuing into the summer, we will be holding paint days for people of all ages to come and join us in painting the winning design!

Dedication and Celebration
The dedication of the mural is planned for September 2009, as part of our 25th Anniversary. More details to follow.

Sponsors and Partners

The Mural Arts Program is very grateful to the following sponsors and partners:







Facilitators:
Chris Satullo
Executive Director of News and Civic Dialogue, WHYY
Harris Sokoloff
Director of the Penn Project for Civil Engagement
Daily News

In-kind donations:

IATSE
Amtrak at 30th Street Station
PREIT & the Gallery at Market East
Make your donation to the Mural Arts Program today!

This message was sent to subscribers to the Mural Arts Program mailing list. If you do not wish to receive further mailings, please follow this link to unsubscribe and you will be promptly removed.

Graterford Press

Recently in the past few weeks, we had a small dedication for an indoor mural my Graterford Prison class painted in the institution. The mural was installed in the senior visitor's center. The class' design focuses on life reflection as well as valuing the time you have with family during a visit. Poetry was written to this effect and included in sections of the design.

Here are some images of the final mural







The dedication was a big event and the funders from the Violette de Mazia Foundation arrived and brought the press. The following two links are articles written about the event.
The second article focuses more on the class' response to the economic crisis and its effects on the Mural Arts Program.

Graterford Prison Gets a New Paint Job

Inmates band together to save Mural Arts prison program

I was recently granted permission to bring my camera into the institution to photograph the murals that we've done inside. I finally have hi-res photos of everything! So I wanted to post a few shots of a mural that's long overdue.

In 2005 we painted a wall in the Prison's gym, the mural was in honor of Bernard Hopkins who has spent his formative years as a boxer incarcerated at Graterford. In interviews, Bernard doesnt shy away from questions about being an inmate, which is a good thing. People can stand to hear more about men and women who go through the system and emerge reformed. The high recidivism rate in our prisons casts a shadow on many of these success stories. The class decided to paint this mural in Barnard's honor, depicting his time training in the institution, and emerging as Champion. At the time Barnard had successfully defended his middleweight title a record 20 times.



Hopkins puts his finishing touch on the wall.


Bernard speaks at the dedication. This one of my most memorable moments on the job. This ones going on my highlight reel

Photo by Jack Ramsdale