Temple Alumni Paint the Town… Literally

Jared Bared’s murals, seen in Philadelphia and as far as Tennessee, have a way of capturing the soul of their community. His strength is adapting his style and subject matter to each neighborhood by infusing historical, architectural and allegorical painting genres. What interests him about public art is the ability to directly connect ideas and images to people who don’t look at artwork with a specific agenda like they might within a gallery setting.

A People’s Progression Towards Equality
723 Ranstead Street

History, Commerce, Community: A Short Retrospective on Germantown
Chelten and Wayne Avenues

East Passyunk Street History
Passyunk Business District

Modern artist Charles Burwell enjoys experimenting with complex linear elements and shapes derived from organic and industrial matter. The paintings are constructed layer by layer, starting with layers of drips that have a specific color structure. Burwell’s finished murals allow the viewer to join his process by visually penetrating the layers and forms within them to navigate through the veils of imagery. Burwell is fascinated by exploring how the images interrelate, their construction method, physical perception and how this relates to our understanding of technological space.

Spring Arts District: Charles Burwell
1016 Hamilton Street

Brad Carney’s murals, seen around Philadelphia, often convey a story of character, closeness and community. His aesthetic emphasizes rhythm, motion and playfulness through line, color and composition. His recent projects have been inspired by abstract interpretations of sound and movement in our environment, neighborhood architectural transition and the cultural identity of communities. For Carney, each project is an opportunity to create powerful human connections. “The artworks reflect our history, discuss our present, and reimagine a future together,” says Carney.

Magic Hour
927 Berks Street

Everything the Light Touches
The U School, 2000 N. Seventh Street

The Viaduct
Susquehanna and Diamond Streets
Other Artists: Patrick Dougher, Josh Sarantitis, Andrea Legge, Priscilla Bell and Anthony Torcasio

Paul Downie’s work touches many people because it’s personal, yet it gives a strong voice to many different perspectives. Inspired by a community diverse in spirituality, this piece expresses themes from 60 faiths. The mural consists of doves, trees and lotus flowers along with the phrase “Service, Faith, Justice” in six languages to highlight the commonality of human experience.

Walking Together
7045 Germantown Avenue
Other Artist: David Woods

Beverly Fisher is well versed in environmental justice projects. She uses elements of nature in a whimsical way to draw comparisons to humanity while bringing us, physically and emotionally, closer to the environment. She is also known for how her work complements its space rather than concealing it. Fisher aims to respect, enhance and refer to the site’s colors, textures and general feel while adding a layer of artwork that triggers a train of thought or sets a mood. Fisher is especially interested in surfaces with cobblestones, brick fragments, ivy, old softened paint colors and visual history.

Norris Passage
Norris Street (Front Street + Frankford Avenue)
Other Artists: Eric Gibbs, Michael Reali and Christina D’Abrosio

Sunshine and Shadow
Media and Peach Streets

Reading the Flow and Chainlinkgreen
Bodine HS for International Affairs
Other Artists: Eurhi Jones and Scott Shall

Carolina Gomez’s murals inspire the communities where they’re painted. In addition to “Community Grows Here,” she has worked with Michael E. Reali to add a panel to the mural “Strengthening Hispanic Communities” by Patty Barrera-Richards in Hunting Park.

Community Grows Here
10th and Diamond Streets
Temple Main Campus
Other Artists: Doug Woods and Monica Mathieu

As a city and regional planning major, Andrea Grasso draws inspiration from building and industry. He uses abstract yet architectural themes to reimagine square, bland buildings and infuse the neighborhood with color and energy. Grasso believes that we need to rethink the spaces we live in and the concept of what is considered a standard building. “I try to transform the walls I paint on so that instead of just looking like a ton of bricks, the design will hit you like a ton of bricks when you walk around a corner and see it for the first time,” says Grasso.

Pablo’s Tree: Past Futures
Union Transfer

Kristin Groenveld creates symbolic landscapes of the human spirit. Her work often invents mythology that deals with current social issues and shares moments rich in wisdom, humanity and perseverance. She uses multiple mediums to approach a topic from several angles, extend boundaries, remove barriers to creativity and explore new ways of thinking. Groenveld is inspired by projects that show how things are related and that diversity and uncertainty should not be feared. Broad themes such as the sun and time, life in a village, personal leadership and growth are often used as a focus point.

Dreams of Solitude
504 Morris Street

Dennis Haugh is a contemporary artist who blends a traditional style of painting and color palette with cultural references to add complexity and strength to his pieces. The viewer is granted an individual experience based on their understanding and interpretation of these references. His philosophy is, that “wherever art is placed—in a home, an office or a public setting—it can serve to define, revitalize and complete that space.”

Peace Like a River
Mount Laurel Cemetery

Cohocksink
Third Street above Poplar at Liberty Lands Park

Aspiration–An Homage to Aaron Douglas
5630 Vine Street
Other Artists: Judy McAnulla

Cavin Jones draws inspiration for his collage-style murals from history, the African American experience, popular music, comic book art and environmental exploitation. His process involves culling images from disparate sources to create a visual statement and combining dissimilar pictures to create many layers of meaning and association that drive deep thought and discussion. Some of his most popular themes are endangered species, politics, race and the environment. Jones’ work has also been featured in publications such as Time Magazine.

Cecil B. Moore Home
Jefferson and Bouvier Streets

Heads to the Sky
22nd Street and Lehigh Avenue

In Honor of Lucretia Mott
2904 Germantown Avenue

Virgil Marti creates hybrid objects and environments informed by various art-historical and pop-cultural references. Known for inserting high décor into fine art contexts, his installations are rich in humor and shrewd observation. For example, the piece “Five Standard (Dazzle)” references early naval camouflage, and the shadows and reflections are meant to produce a sense of flowing water underneath.

Five Standards (Dazzle)
Philadelphia Navy Yard, 5 Crescent Drive

Eric Okdeh combines mural and mosaic making while focusing exclusively on socially engaged public art tackling complex subject matters like gambling, addiction, mass incarceration and mental illness. His process includes interviewing communities, bringing narratives to life in his art, and continuing the conversations on social media to create catharsis, empathy and understanding. Okdeh has worked with city governments and organizations and facilitated art and mural-making workshops for a wide array of communities.

Contemplation, Clarity, Resilience
5630 Chestnut Street

The Promise of Biotechnology
Location: 1109 Sansom Street

The Only Way Out is Through
4629 Lancaster Avenue

Oyéjidé is an artist, designer, writer, musician and lawyer who combats bias with creative storytelling. He’s the founder of Ikiré Jones, a fashion design brand that celebrates and illuminates the nuanced lives of marginalized people. Oyéjidé is also a TED Fellow, and his apparel design can be seen in films like Black Panther and Coming 2 America. His work was also part of the Making Africa Design Exhibit in various global museums and the Creative Africa Exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Legacy
Lucien E. Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library

Paul Santoleri’s abstract murals are inspired by letting rhythms, repetitions, emotions, patterns, movement and his direct instinctual response to the landscape create a narrative. He frequently incorporates collected objects and borrows lines and images from the surrounding environment to enable the work to help create itself. Consequently, the pieces become part of the architecture, almost as if they’d grown out of the walls using lines and objects to carry their weight. The outcome reflects the process itself: organic, boundless and lush with repetitive motion.

Water Under the Bridge
Fountain and Umbria Streets

Waters of Change
Manayunk Towpath

Concrete Tree
116 Fountain Street
Other Artist: Beth Clevenstine

Jason Slowik’s practice is primarily driven by his interest in the people and places he encounters that evoke a sense of transcendence. When working in the public realm, Slowik is interested in bringing about a sense of comfort and peace for others through his work and the process involved. His tribute portraits for lost loved ones help comfort individual families, collaborative work with victims and offenders groups help facilitate healthy and healing dialogue, and public murals help drive positive change in a community.

A Tribute to Urban Horsemen
3222 W. Montgomery Avenue

Celebrando Nuestra Cultura - Celebrating Our Culture
Fifth and Somerset Streets

Seasons of Youth
Blaine Elementary, 30th and Berks Streets
Other Artists: Brad Carney, Keir Johnson and Charles Barbin

Mat Tomezsko creates abstract paintings, public art installations and community art projects based on participation and everyday visual language. His approach to composition is informed by mid-century formalism and conceptualism. Tomezsko recently created “Revolutionary Philadelphia” at Temple University Main Campus to confront inequality and challenge viewers to do the same.

Revolutionary Philadelphia
11th Street entrance to Main Campus

Flowering Axes
Fifth Street Pedestrian and Vehicular Tunnels

Look Long and Look Good
Along Main Street in Manayunk

Michele Tremblay uses art to delight and surprise viewers. After working with fresh flowers for over 30 years, Tremblay uses materials like paper, glue, paint and pins in surprising ways to recreate their beauty. She’s inspired by the unique mood and energy of a flower’s petals, colors, shadows and the unpredictable way these elements play together to make a visually intoxicating adventure. Her sculptures have been exhibited in Philadelphia at various galleries and venues and the Philadelphia International Airport. Apfelbaum is best known for combining abstract expressionism, minimalism and pop art to create pieces she refers to as “fallen paintings.”

These larger-than-life installations contain hundreds of swatches of velvet arranged on the floor. Apfelbaum’s work features bold colors and geometric forms along with textiles and other physical domestic materials to playfully highlight an affirmative view of femininity. This highly awarded artist has held hundreds of solo and group exhibitions worldwide. During Tremblay’s battle with cancer, she was disappointed with the dreary view from her hospital room and enlisted Apfelbaum to partner in making a change when she recovered. Today “Floating Dogwoods” sits across from Tremblay’s former Thomas Jefferson University Hospital window to inspire those who need it most.

Floating Dogwood
1102 Chestnut Street