Mural Arts Program

The Mural Arts Program is amazing! If you're ever in Philly I would highly recommend going on a tour. So I guess I should explain what it is -

I would see murals around our neighborhood every few blocks and when we would go different places in the city. I soon noticed that in the corner of the murals it said 'Mural Arts Program'. So I did a quick google search and found out about the program. There are almost 3000 murals that have been painted in the city of Philadelphia.

My mom came to visit this summer, so it was a perfect chance to take her on the tour. Obviously I'm a little late on posting about this adventure, but it works out because October is mural arts month as it's the programs 25th anniversary.

We learned a lot on the tour and I can't wait to go on another one. Since there are so many murals, they break up the tours by neighborhood throughout the month. We toured North Philadelphia. The murals are in the heart of the neighborhoods and the neighborhood we toured was predominately Hispanic, which can be seen through some of the murals. I didn't know that it was such an involved process to complete the murals. I learned that they interview people in the neighborhoods to get a feel for what is going on in the community and often ask for influential people in the neighborhood to include in the murals. After the interviews and information gathering, they plan the murals. Most murals are done by 1 artist, but some of them get help to actually paint the murals. I don't remember all the details, but there are a few techniques that the artist can employ to complete the murals. Once the mural is completed there is usually a revealing in the neighborhood in which they have gathering and dedication.

I was really impressed with all the murals. Some of them are even 3D with stones and sculptures in them. I had a hard time picking the murals for this post, but they were all beautiful. I found out a lot of information during the tour, but I can't wait to go on another tour in a different Philly neighborhood.

More Adventures with Rachel

Although I'm a little behind I want to finish blogging about the rest of Rachel's visit since we had so much fun and packed a lot into 3 days. The same day that we visited Eastern State Penitentiary we also visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I must admit I haven't been to an art museum in a few years, so it was a nice treat. I loved the variety they have in the museum. Sculptures, stained glass, paintings from various eras, furniture, clothes, etc. One of my favorite rooms contained modern art, however you are not allowed to take pictures in that room. I also really enjoyed the stained glass and they had a display of uniforms from knights, which was very interesting.

This is the view of the city as we're leaving the museum. Of course I had to take pictures of the infamous Rocky steps. There were kids running up and down them pretending they were Rocky :)

Rittenhouse Square is always a good people watching spot. We grabbed coffee and croissants one morning and enjoyed the sights. This guy was a serious acrobat. He was collecting a decent amount of money from on lookers.

This band was probably my favorite! I'm assuming they are a family and they were really entertaining. As you can see there are young kids all the way up to adults. They were playing upbeat jazz music that made me want to dance. It kind of reminded me of the music hear at parades in New Orleans.

They were also offering free Tango lessons in the square. A lot of people gathered and were having a good time.

City Hall has wonderful architecture. I walk by and through it frequently, but hadn't taken the time to really appreciate all the details until then. I definitely want to take a tour of City Hall to learn more about it because there is so much history there.

We went on a food tour. It was great! We ate cheesesteaks (I had a veggie one), pizza, pretzels, hoagies, and chocolate chip cookies. It was nice to learn a little more about the city and eat along the way. The tour culminated in Reading Terminal Market (which I blogged about previously) and we were so full at the end. Rachel and I also won a Tasty Kake for answering the most trivia questions at the end of the tour. I didn't know that Tasty Kakes were made in Philly and they have sooo many different flavors.

Lastly, we had to go to Love Park to see the Love sign. This was my first visit and I didn't know they had other statures there. They were all game pieces, which I thought was really fun.