Bank of America Sponsors Free Love Letter Tour

Mural Arts tour guide Mary Jo “MJ” Baum met a group of tour guests at the Bank of America branch located at 39th and Chestnut Streets for a free Love Letter tour on Saturday, October 15.

Braving the wind, Baum brought her group to a small park nearby to share information about the history of Mural Arts Philadelphia and details about the artist, Steve Powers.

The Love Letter Tour takes guests on a trip along the Market Street elevated train line, traveling west and then east along the route, experiencing 50 romantic murals (created in the summer of 2009) between 45th to 63rd Street station stops. Powers painted the murals in West Philly in 2009 and created a corresponding book and documentary.

Typographical and vibrant, all 50 of the murals convey a different love note from the artist to the object of his affection. Baum cleverly pointed out that each mural relates contextually to the location in which it appears.

“The Co-Sign on Our Lifetime mural was painted at the back of an empty lot between row homes, creating a play on the words,” said Baum.

All of the murals express Powers’ witty sense of humor; they succeeded at evoking at least a handful of chuckles from participants on the tour. The mural tour is the best way to view Steve Powers’ work and is surely a unique way to explore the city!

Love Letter is a project by Stephen Powers with the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Philadelphia, and is sponsored by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative.