On what one Mural Arts installation helped me see, in today's Inquirer

Today, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, some thoughts about "Psychylustro," the Mural Arts installation that has redefined how SEPTA and AMTRAK passengers see—and perhaps think about—Philadelphia's industrial past.

The entire story can be found here.

Read more...

Taking the Berlin Wall to the Science Leadership Academy, today

Later this morning I'll be talking about the Berlin Wall and Going Over with the students of the Science Leadership Academy, a Franklin Institute-affiliated school that is on a mission to instill the values of learning, creation, and leadership.

It's all part of the innovative 4th Floor Chapbook Series initiative spurred by Philadelphia's daring craft publishing house, The Head and the Hand.

(Don't you love how real people keep thinking?)

More on the 4th Floor Chapbook Series can be found here.

More about the Science Leadership Academy is here.

But also, since I'm talking about cool people and places, I share the photo above, taken yesterday afternoon in Old City, following the glorious final Pennsylvania Ballet performance of my friend, the principal dancer Julie Diana Hench. (More on Julie here.) This is the alley facade of the Center for Art in Wood, and the image was painted and installed by ex-offenders and probationers from the Restorative Justice Guild Program. It's all part of the Mural Arts Program, now well into its 30th transformative year. I recently had the great pleasure of talking with Jane Golden, Mural Arts founder and leader, over lunch, and I'll have more to say about her vision later this summer as I reflect on psychylustro, the new installation now going up along a several-mile stretch between Amtrak's 30th Street and North Philadelphia stations.

Take a look if you are traveling that way. Tell me what you think. I've caught early glimpses already—shocking, electric—and will be watching for those intense colorations again as I ride the rails to the city.

Read more...