Dara Haskins, Yellow Snapper, 2023. Photo by Steve Weinik.

  • location

    Various

  • Neighborhood

    Citywide

  • completion date

    June 30, 2024

Wanda E. Payne, Highwire, 2018. Photo by Steve Weinik.

For the 2024 (Re)FOCUS citywide exhibition, Mural Arts is partnering with Smalls Museum Consulting (SMC) to present the Icon Series. In consultation with a committee of iconic curators of color, Smalls Museum Consulting presents a curatorial exercise that uplifts visionary women artists in a billboard series across the city.

The series includes artists featured in Philadelphia Focuses on Women in the Visual Arts/1974, identifies additions to the original list of artists, and places them alongside artists in the contemporary iteration of the exhibition titled Feminist Focus: Fifty Years of Women’s Art in Philadelphia at Moore College of Art and Design. The series will encapsulate the strong history of women and female-identifying artists as iconic Philadelphians and community leaders in the fine arts.

The featured artworks draw connections across historic and contemporary art movements that continue to anchor Philadelphia as a pioneering arts hub. The Icon Series presents exemplary works of museum-quality art throughout the city for citizens to discover the new legacy of iconic women of color in the arts. Artists will include: Brittany Baum, Edith Emerson, Dara Haskins, Violet Oakley, Wanda Payne, Ellen Powell Tiberino, and Ellen Tiberino.

Funded by The City of Philadelphia

Project Partners: Smalls Museum Consulting, (re)FOCUS, Clear Channel

Sites & Dates 

April 1 – April 29:
Dara Haskins at 52nd & Market Street
Wanda Payne at Spring Garden & 5th Street

April 15 – May 13
Wanda Payne at Ridge Ave & 10th Street

May 6 – June 3:
Brittany Baum at 26th & Hartranft Street

May 20 – June 17:
Violet Oakley & Edith Emerson at 43rd & Walnut Street

July 1 – July 29:
Ellen Powell Tiberino & Ellen Tiberino at 52nd & Lancaster Ave

Artist

Brittany Anne Baum

Edith Emerson

Dāra Haskins

Violet Oakley

Wanda Payne

Ellen Powell-Tiberino

Ellen Tiberino