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Philadelphia mural artist Barbara Smolen has a quote from the Talmud in her head she is trying to sketch out: "Each blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers ‘grow, grow.’"
To make this verse come to life, she is working with the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, the Jewish Community Center’s Stiffel Center, 604 Porter St., and the city’s Mural Arts Program (MAP) to create a mural that will be painted on the Fifth Street side of the John H. Taggart Elementary School.
The joint project is part of the federation’s Mitzvah Mania program, a citywide day of service taking place Oct. 21. The word "mitzvah" (the plural of the Yiddish word "mitvot") refers to one of the 613 commandments given in the Torah. In recent years, though, it has come to mean any act of human kindness, which is the philosophy behind the event. Along with the mural, Mitzvah Mania will include multiple projects, such as a dance-a-thon, soup kitchen and blood bank for the Red Cross, among many others.
"We’re being very ambitious and are estimating that we’ll have about 5,000 volunteers" at service sites around the city, the federation’s Special Events Manager Debby Engelmeyer said.
Given October is Philadelphia’s annual Mural Arts Month, excitement for the project is building and, even though it’s months away, plans for the artwork are in full swing.
When members of the federation decided to do a mural project about a year ago, they contacted MAP, who presented them with the work of two different artists. "We chose Barbara, and then she presented her design and met with nine students at Taggart," as well as the school’s Principal Diane Scott and several seniors at the Stiffel Center, Engelmeyer said, adding the design is not yet finalized and will be tweaked per community and student feedback.
With the Fourth-and-Porter-street school and the Stiffel Center just a couple blocks apart, Engelmeyer said, "We want the neighborhood’s input, because after it’s painted, we leave and it belongs to them."
Smolen is working closely with MAP Director Jane Golden to create a design that adheres to the mitzvah theme and will be visually pleasing to the community. "I’ve got to get the elementary students represented, and I’ve got to get the Stiffel seniors and the federation represented," Smolen said.
According to MAP Director of Development Kathryn Ott Lovell, the Taggart School was chosen primarily because of its proximity to the Stiffel Center and because it’s in an area that played an important role in the city’s history of Jewish immigration. It is commonly known many of the Eastern European Jews who came to Philadelphia in the late-19th century never left the Washington Avenue port area.
Striving to keep its roots planted in local ground, Stiffel offers services, like a food pantry, health and exercise classes and various support groups, to help solidify the Jewish community’s relationship with the city.
The mural will no doubt be a visual representation of that relationship. Lovell said it will soon become part of Philadelphia’s mural-tinged landscape. After the Taggart project is completed, Engelmeyer said it will become a stop on the South Philadelphia MAP tour.
The project also gives community members the opportunity to come together and create art, regardless of age or background.
Smolen drew much of her design inspiration from the students. "When I first visited Taggart, they referred to the school as a ‘vegetable soup school,’" the artist said. "There doesn’t seem to be a prevalent majority or minority at the school."
Of Taggart’s about 500 students, 27 percent are African American and 40 percent are Asian, according to the School District’s Web site. Because of the many nationalities represented, as well as the mural’s themes of growth and charity, Smolen decided to integrate the word "grow" into her design in as many languages as possible, including Spanish, Yiddish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian.
Which takes her back to the quote from the Talmud. "It makes you think about the elderly tending to the younger generation, watching over them. It’s also a reference to people’s responsibility to nature and the environment," she said.
"I’m also trying to represent the idea of angels whispering without doing it literally," she added with a laugh.
Smolen unveiled her design at an open community meeting yesterday at the Stiffel Center. The input received from residents will be integrated into the design, and then Smolen can begin painting. Most of the legwork will be done on parachute cloth — five-by-five-foot quilt-like panels that make the project more manageable than painting directly on the wall. The sections will then be adhered to the site wall with acrylic gel. The advantage of this technique, Lovell said, is anyone can participate and the painting can continue regardless of the weather.
"It’s an intergenerational project," she said. "It’s especially good for the seniors, since they can’t really be up on the scaffolding."
The director estimates about half of MAP’s nearly 3,000 mural projects around Philadelphia have been done using the parachute-cloth method.
While Smolen will have already begun to work on the mural, volunteers may register on the federation’s Web site at www.jewishphilly.org to contribute in painting shifts during Miztvah Mania day. After the mural is complete, Smolen will put on the finishing touches. Lovell is hoping for a spring dedication date.
In the meantime, the leaders at MAP, the federation and the JCC are hard at work spreading the word about the project. Smolen, for her part, keeps returning to the quote. "Murals beautify the neighborhood, but it’s not just about aesthetics," she said. "It’s about bringing people together, different groups, and making the world a better place through art."
For more information about the project, contact the Mural Arts Program at 215-685-0750.
