Stay socially distanced and masked, but still get a tour of Philadelphia’s great murals. Mural Arts walking tours are back. Philly Live’s Aunyea Lachelle gets a personal tour from Cari Feiler Bender.
Read the article in Spanish here.
Philly, the City of Brotherly Love, despite being one of the most historic cities in the entire country, is also well known for its distinguished murals.
Being Dubbed the “Mural Capital of the World”, Philly has hundreds of community-based murals that are scattered across the city.
Now that spring has arrived, and temps are becoming increasingly warmer, here are 10 different murals to visit across the town:
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1. Personal Melody
This incredible mural was painted by the Spaniards How & Nosm in 2012 with the help of Mural Arts students.
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According to Mural Arts, the nation's largest public art program that organizes artists across the country to paint murals in Philadelphia, the work of both brothers has been featured in newspapers like the New York Times and the New Yorker.
Location: 13th and Drury in Center City.
2. MaskUp PHL Latinx
The Mask Up Latinx Philadelphia mural was painted by artist Danny Torres at the Julia de Burgos Elementary School north of the city.
This mural is part of the "Latinx Heroes" collection that pays tribute to different Hispanic figures such as the Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos.
Location: Julia de Burgos Elementary School, 401 West Lehigh Ave.
3. How to Turn Anything Into Something Else
This colorful mural is located in Center City and required the collaboration of 13 artists from all over the country.
The project had the participation of different art students between 10 and 15 years old who each drew parts of the mural together.
According to Aly Perry, one of the artists of the project, the mural is composed of small drawings of animals which were then folded and drawn over by other students.
“When the head was finished, they folded the paper down until only the neck of their drawing was visible. Then the paper was then passed to the next student to draw a torso and the folding and passing was repeated until an entire invented creature was drawn on the paper,” she said.
4. Autumn Revisited
This long and colorful mural is located in a park in the southeast of the city.
Painted by artist David Guinn in 2012, this piece covers two walls of the Fleisher Art Memorial Park. The largest part of the piece shows a forest in the fall, and a deer grazing the grass.
The park is ideal for taking photos and sitting on one of the several benches available.
Location: 719 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
5. Floating Dogwood
One of the most recent in the city, this mural was painted by artist Michele Tremblay in January 2021 and its located right across from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Tremblay was inspired by her battle with cancer. Since those on the oncology wing are not allowed flowers, the artists wanted to provide beauty to them in a different way, according Mural Arts.
"The mural includes ladybugs hiding everywhere as a way to continually entertain those who are admitted to the hospital," notes Mural Arts.
Location: 1102 Chestnut Street
6. Convergence
This modern and futuristic mural created by artist Rebecca Rutstein is located right next to the Schuylkill pedestrian bridge across from University City.
Created in 2019, this mural represents the different connection routes that University City has with Center City.
Location: 1102 Chestnut Street
7. The Phillies Mural
The mural was painted by artist and team fan David McShane and depicts the two World Series victories the team had in 1980 and 2008.
"Mural Arts has created a mural that captures the passion of the fans and reflects how the Phillies have been tightly woven into the fabric of Philadelphia’s culture and spirit", says the organization.
Location: 24th and Walnut streets
8. Water Gives Life
This incredible and imposing mural is located in the heart of the city. Created by artists Eurhi Jones and David McShane, this mural seeks to celebrate Philadelphia's connection to the waterways and the Delaware River.
"Water Gives Life reinvents McShane's 1998 mural in the same location, building on a history of working with Pennsylvania's Horticultural Society to open discussions on sustainability and the urban landscape", says Mural Arts.
The mural was completed in 2018 and includes paintings of flowers and blue all over its canvas next to a building.
Location: 13th y Arch Street
9. Sanctuary City
Latino artists Betsy Casañas and Ian Pierce painted this mural in West Kensington to honor the Hispanic presence in the neighborhood.
The mural depicts a Caribbean woman with Central American and Mexican touches.
This colorful piece was painted on top of what was a 2000 mural of the Virgin Mary in a dress of the Puerto Rican flag when the building served as the neighborhood's Puerto Rican education center.
Location: 2557 N 5th St.
10. No Title by MOMO
This incredible mural painted on the side of a skyscraper features various geometric shapes and different colors.
According to Mural Arts, the author, MOMO, used the technique of Practical Geometry, a technique used by masons and carpenters, to render these fluid geometric shapes in this mural of 2015.
The artist painted the mural together with art students and used his characteristic geometric figure technique to come up with this modern and abstract piece of art.
Location: 1800 Market Street
Mural Arts offers several walking tours divided in sections and neighborhoods for those interested in getting to see these and other murals across town.
The tours last generally an hour and a half and Mural Arts lists on their website the upcoming dates of the next tours.
