Feeling artistic, Frankford? How about doing a little painting?
Neighborhood residents who want to add their touches to a series of murals that will be placed in the Frankford business corridor can participate in two “community paint days” this Saturday and the following Saturday, Aug. 11, at the Second Baptist Church, 1801 Meadow St.
Installation of the four “Imagining Frankford” murals created by Cesar Viveros for the cityís Mural Arts Program will begin in August on Kensington and Frankford avenues. The murals’ images are based on a lot of community input, which included videotaped interviews with residents.
Paint days participants will do things by the numbers — literally, said project manager Netanel Portier.
Viveros will have 5 feet by 5 feet pieces of “parachute cloth” in which pieces of mural designs will be outlined. Each outline will be divided into numbered segments and neighborhood artists will brush on numbered colors from cups of paint.
“It’s really simple,” Portier said in an interview. “It’s a giant paint-by-numbers.”
Parachute cloth is a special fabric used for the program’s murals, she explained in an interview last year. Murals are painted onto the cloth then placed on walls when ready.
When all the 5×5 pieces are put together, they’ll be big, very big, Portier said.
“You’ll see the murals from the ground and the El,” she said.
Three of the murals are planned for “three really huge walls” near Womrath Park, where Kensington and Frankford avenues meet, Portier said, creating “a really strong gateway to the [business] corridor.” One will be farther north on Frankford Avenue.
“We’re a little bit later than planned,” Portier said. “There was so much to learn about Frankford … We wanted to feel confident we were representing the community.”
She said Mural Arts faced many challenges in finding sites that were large enough and in good enough shape.
The mural at 4122–50 Kensington Ave. will face Womrath Park and depict pre-independence and independence and revolutionary history.
At 4248 Frankford Ave., the images will be of key figures or moments in Frankford history.
The idea of the neighborhood’s potential is the focus at 4241 Frankford Ave.
The mural for 4428 Frankford Ave. still is being designed. Community and family will be its theme.
Reporter John Loftus can be reached at 215–354–3110 or jloftus@bsmphilly.com
Colors of Frankford
Residents can help paint the murals that will be installed on Frankford’s business corridor from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4, and Saturday, Aug. 11, at the Second Baptist Church of Frankford, 1801 Meadow St. For more information, call Netanel Portier at 215–685–0725.
Visit www.muralarts.org
