Hundreds celebrate new community mural

Whatever else may decorate its streets, Philadelphia is home to more than 2,000 murals, the largest collection of public murals in the country. And last Thursday, the City of Brotherly Love was given one more colorful addition.

"Cedar Park" -- the collaborative work of artist Karl Yoder and sponsors Cedar Park Neighbors, the University City District and the Philadelphia Museum of Art -- enlivens the corner of 49th Street and Baltimore Avenue with a depiction of jazz musicians, row houses and a park scene. The mural is surrounded by hundreds of tiles designed by local children.

"A mural is a 30 or 40 foot testament to making a place nice, comfortable and welcoming," University City District's Baltimore Avenue corridor manager Eli Massar said.

Massar -- who spearheads the project to improve the blocks on Baltimore Avenue from 45th to 50th streets -- once thought of the 4900 block as his biggest challenge.

"But it's all coming together," he said.

Also coming together were the neighborhood residents and mural contributors who gathered for Thursday's dedication. The 240 tile artists -- all children from local middle schools who participated in an after school program with the Philadelphia Museum of Art -- were there to celebrate, enjoying 20 dozen donated Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

"The students here today are to be commended for their incredible work," Mural Arts Program Director of Community Murals Cathy Harris said at the ceremony.

Creating a local tie to the neighborhood and the farmer's market on Baltimore Avenue, each of the tiles displays colorful pictures of fruits and vegetables.

"They spent over a month creating their individual sets of tiles," the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Amy Jared said of the young artists.

Jared then pointed out the six or seven different sets of tiles with drawings of curling lemon rinds.

"All inspired by a Dutch master's painting," she said, noting that the children had toured the museum to study famous paintings of fruits and vegetables.

The mural was also a collaborative effort in that different groups in the community all had input.

"I thought as long as you put up a pretty picture people don't care -- but they do," Harris said, adding that this was the first project she has seen through from start to finish in her new position.

It was through collaborative work with the community that Harris discovered and incorporated "elements that we needed to have that really spoke to the neighborhood" into the mural design.

Yoder was chosen because of his recent work on the trolley car mural on 45th and Baltimore.

"Every mural is kind of special that way in its connection to the community," Yoder said.

As local jazz musicians Denise King and Friends concluded the dedication, Cedar Park Neighbors President Maureen Tate complimented the mural.

"It brings a lot of life and color to the corner," she said. "Today's a great day for Cedar Park."

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