Words and photos by Streets Dept Editor Conrad Benner. If you’ve walked around Old City in the last week, you might have noticed something new on Independence Mall, along Arch Street between 5th and 6th Streets. From afar, you see a staged glass room. Another park Starbucks? Rest assured–it is not. At night, the room is brightly illuminated in a cold white light, making it especially curious for passersby. Moths to the art flame for the post-dinner Old City crowd. Looking more closely, there appears to be something in the room–human shapes become clearer. Closer still and you realize tha ..read more

A look at Janet Echelman‘s “Pulse,” located at Dilworth Park in Philadelphia. Created 2018, the artwork is the first phase of the public art project that uses colored mist to both pay an homage to the site’s history as well as the public transit that pulses beneath the park today ..read more

Flower Show visitors standing in front of “Remember To Water” murals by artists Melissa Rothman (left) and Natalie Flor Negrón (right). “Remember To Water” mural artist Tai Corrienté (center) with Mural Arts’ Executive Director Jane Golden (right) and Director of Project Management Ellie Clark (left). Words and photos by Streets Dept Editor Conrad Benner. Streets Dept’s was thrilled to curate an exhibition at the 2024 Flower Show for the fourth year in a row–and for the second year with Mural Arts Philadelphia! For our 2024 project, titled Remember To Water, three 12-foot by eight-foot mu ..read more

Words and photos by Streets Dept Editor Conrad Benner (except where indicated). Art Outside is a podcast from Streets Dept’s Conrad Benner, created with WHYY. And for our fourth episode we talk with Nilé Livingston! In talking to prolific Philadelphia muralist Nilé Livingston, we learn about Philly’s famous ballroom scene and their most recent project that pays tribute to it. Nilé shows us that their practice is more than just putting paint on a wall. Making a mural takes a commitment to the community. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, includin ..read more

Words and photos by Streets Dept Editor Conrad Benner. Love this new mural, titled Manayunk Textile, by Philly-based artist Henry Morales! Located at Shurs Lane and Cresson Street in Manayunk, the mural honors the neighborhood’s history as a textile-manufacturing hub as well as the artist’s own family heritage. Created with support from Mural Arts Philadelphia and assisting artist Daniel Lipshutz, work began on the mural last November and wrapped up in January. “His experience as a first-generation Guatemalan American inspires him to explore themes of labor, immigration, identity, and hybrid ..read more

(Photos provided by Streets Dept reader, Shay Rutkowski) It appears South Street’s “Angel” mural is going away. Located at 5th and Bainbridge Streets, this mural has been a bit of a mystery from its beginning. Known mostly for its religious themes that are best summed up as “God is love,” the mural was painted in 2018 after a pair of adjacent rowhomes were demolished to make way for a six-story apartment building with a Target on the first floor.  (Google Maps’ photo of 5th and Bainbridge in 2017, with the future mural wall blank in the background.) When I first ..read more

This is the sixth post in our fourth season of Philly Street Art Interviews! This season is sponsored by Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) and its @PHLAirportArt program, which curates museum-quality art exhibitions that introduce millions of visitors from around the world to the vibrant artistic culture of the region. PHL proudly supports Philly arts and culture/365! Interview and photos by Streets Dept Lead Contributor Eric Dale. If you’ve ever seen an arrangement of glass pieces hanging from a fence in Philly, you’ve had the opportunity to be transformed by the power of light, than ..read more

(Engine 49 in South Philly has a brilliantly punk mural painted by the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School.) Words and photos by Streets Dept Contributor Siena Christopherson. Have you ever been walking by your neighborhood fire station and noticed a work of (un?)ironically cool, fire-related art? You’re not alone. We’ve been noticing them for years. And today, we look at a few in-particular that have caught our eyes and work to understand how these murals ever came to be. (Engine 12’s mural in Manayunk; we would buy this design on a T-shirt in a heartbeat!) At a station in Mana ..read more

Words and photos by Streets Dept Contributor Siena Christopherson. WET is an artist, musician, and muralist from Philadelphia. In the beginning of 2023, he painted a mural, called A Prediction of Unity, at 4202 Main Street in Manayunk. It’s a mural that changed the street forever. “The lady who was working in the gallery next door came outside, she’s a Black woman, And she was in tears and was like, ‘it was beautiful to see somebody of color put up a mural this big in this town.’ And it just means so much on so many levels. So the wall was bigger and it was more impactful than even I exp ..read more

This is the fifth post in our fourth season of Philly Street Art Interviews! This season is sponsored by Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) and its @PHLAirportArt program, which curates museum-quality art exhibitions that introduce millions of visitors from around the world to the vibrant artistic culture of the region. PHL proudly supports Philly arts and culture/365! Interview and photos by Streets Dept Lead Contributor Eric Dale. Luíza Cardenuto is a Philly-based linocut printmaker born in São Paulo, Brazil. A week ago, I would have said that she’s known for her botanical wheatpastes ..read more