PENN TREATY PARK
Beach Street at East Columbia Avenue (off Delaware Avenue)

Within this oasis of greenery is a pylon marking the site of the Great Treaty elm tree, depicted in Benjamin West’s 1771 painting Penn’s Treaty with the [Lenni-Lenape] Indians. More than a century after the legendary signing, Penn’s son, Thomas Penn, commissioned the oil-on-canvas masterpiece. It hangs in Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Penn Treaty Park provides excellent views along the Delaware River.

MURAL ARTS PROGRAM
PHILADELPHIA DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION
www.muralarts.org
www.gophila.com/murals
215/686-8366

Established in 1984 (initially as an anti-graffiti initiative), the Mural Arts Program has created more than 2,000 painted walls. This extraordinary, nationally recognized program emphasizes collaboration between the artist and the community—resulting in bold, colorful compositions that have altered the architectural landscape of the city and fostered civic pride. In the words of director Jane Golden, the murals "serve to provoke thought, to inspire dreams, to bear witness, and to remind people that they are part of a larger world." In 1996, the program became part of the Philadelphia Department of Recreation. Murals locations near Tour Stop 10 include:

2602 East Dauphin Street (at Almond Street)
ITALIAN LANDSCAPE
Artist: Diane Keller. 1996.
Notes: Originally titled Mountain Vista, the mural was created using a small garden print from the 1920s as a model. At the neighbors’ request, artist Diane Keller added the mountain. The wall of the building was particularly crusty; Keller had to spray paint a base “underpainting” and then layer color on top.
Sponsor: Philadelphia Green.

Frankford and East Susquehanna Avenues
THE MUSIC MURAL
Artist: Barbara Smolen. 1999.
Notes: This parcel was one of the first to be “cleaned and greened” as part of the community-wide program in Kensington and Fishtown to enhance vacant land. The mural beautifies the party wall that once separated the extant row house from the now-demolished end house. It was a collaboration between the artist Barbara Smolen and a composer, Tina Davidson. Each conducted a month-long workshop (mural making and music composition) with a 3rd-grade class at nearby Hackett Elementary School. The musical notes of Davidson’s composition are incorporated into the mural. The students helped paint the mural, sang the song at the dedication, where they ate a cake frosted with a picture of the mural.Smolen says ,“You can’t ‘see’ music,” so she made the design an abstract, but she worked with the jagged outline of the house and used colors found in the neighborhood. “Music and art convey community,” Smolen observes.
Sponsor: The Philadelphia Foundation.

2144 East Arizona Street (at Trenton Street)
TROPICAL LANDSCAPE
Artist: Diane Keller. 1999.
Notes: To create the design for this mural, Diane Keller made a collage of pictures from various sources, including an illustrated dictionary, used for making the undersea animals.
Sponsor: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

Penn Treaty Park as depicted in Benjamin West's painting, which hangs at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Mural artist Diane Keller painting Italian Landscape.

Italian Landscape. Mural by Diane Keller.

Music. Mural by Barbara Smolen.

Tropical Landscape. Mural by Diane Keller.

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