Mural Corps Featured Project
"Tremendous energy" is carrying Hartranft transformation
Located in North Philadelphia at 720 West Cumberland Street, Hartranft Elementary School is an enormous compound. Its blank walls are an artist's dream-a veritable blank slate just waiting for a creative makeover. Not for long.
Thanks to MAP's most-rigorous art education initiative, Mural Corps, lead artist Jennie Shanker and a host of community partners, the elementary school is currently undergoing a dramatic facelift scheduled for completion later this fall.
MAP's Restored Spaces Initiative at the Hartranft Elementary School is shaping up as a dynamic, multi-media art public art project pairing elements of traditional mural-making with intricate ceramic tiling, glass mosaic, sculptural metal work, and components of landscape architecture that will include raised flower beds and the planting of new trees along West Cumberland Street. When the project is completed in October, Mural Corps students will have not only transformed the exterior of Hartranft Elementary School, but also changed the face of an entire city block, reclaiming two abandoned lots in the process.
"There are just so many facets to this project," says Shanker, a longtime Mural Corps instructor and the projects lead muralist. "There is a tremendous energy coming from our Mural Corps students. I am thrilled." Mural Corps students have been involved in every phase of the Restored Spaces Initiative at Hartranft Elementary. In addition to working alongside Shanker on the design and eventual creation of the mural, several Mural Corps students have spent several hours at Temple University's Tyler School of Art to create beautiful, handmade ceramic tiles that will feature prominently in the project.
Though her title on the Restored Spaces Initiative at Hartranft Elementary may be "lead muralist," Shanker offers a different take. "I think I am more of a choreographer or a director. This project is just as much about the involvement of Mural Corps students and the wishes of the Hartranft community. I just make it happen."
Shari Hersh, the director of Mural Corps, has been pleased with the scope of the Restored Spaces Initiative at Hartranft Elementary, as well as the valuable partnerships MAP has formed in the surrounding community. "What has been significant," comments Hersh. "is the amount of people coming together for this project. The Restored Spaces Initiative is proving the power of partnership in pulling off something so impressive."
For a photo blog created by lead artist Jennie Shanker visit http://muralartstylerhartranft.blogspot.com/