Bright and Inviting Learning Sanctuary Created at Bodine High School

Mural Arts continues to explore ways to engage communities, educate young people, and create accessible public art with the Environmental Justice Initiative. This ongoing effort targets commercial corridors, civic spaces, and schools that promote stewardship of the environment. Professional artists partner with Mural Corps art education students (ages 14-21) to develop final works of art using techniques like mural-making, greening, sculptural structures, and mosaic-work.

At Bodine High School in Northern Liberties, artists Eurhi Jones and Beverly Fisher have created a bright and inviting learning space by transforming of the school’s walls with their murals, Reading the Flow. In addition to developing environmental imagery on the school’s exterior through layering paint and mosaic tile, the team worked with the Philadelphia Water Department to improve storm water management with sidewalk planters, slated for installation in spring 2012.  Mural Arts invited nearby residents to participate in this exciting project by helping plant gardens in the school yards and trees on the blocks surrounding the school.

In addition, science classes at Bodine High School have helped to maintain the green space and writing classes have written haiku about their relationships with water, which is a symbol found throughout the murals. The last component of the project, a trellis/bench structure called chainlinkGreen, uses parking lot material that was removed when the gardens were constructed, donated salvaged wood from old local theaters, and donated concrete rubble from numerous local construction sites to create a sanctuary and outdoor classroom space for Bodine. The dedication will be during Mural Arts Month in October.