Utley Foundation teams up with Vare

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“I think it’s important to have a voice,” Chase Utley said May 30 to the student body at Universal Vare Charter Middle School, 2100 S. 24th St. “So if you are or if you become aware of abuse, say something.”

The Phillies’ second sacker and his wife Jennifer Utley ventured to the West Passyunk site to explain their eponymous animal-cruelty fighting foundation’s work and their support for a mural that will adorn the Vare Recreation Center, 2600 Morris St. The creation will mark the third element of the couple’s “Be Kind to Animals” series and will align the elementary learners with Passyunk Square inhabitant and recent Knight Arts Challenge honoree David Guinn.

Kindergartners welcomed the five-time All-Star and member of the 2008 World Series championship club with banners and songs, including “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Advancing to the auditorium’s stage with his 5-year-old pit bull Jack, the athlete beamed as he and his spouse accepted cheers before hearing from Jane Golden.

“We love the great spirit and enthusiasm here,” the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program’s executive director said, noting her excitement over Vare’s helping her organization to add to its tally of 3,800 murals. “You’re going to back up my belief that art saves lives and ignites change.”

Since their foundation’s formation two years ago, the Utleys have developed relationships with Golden’s employer and the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. They relied on the latter to unite with Jack, a rescue from a North Philly-based dog-fighting operation, and have enlisted the former to stress art as a medium for evaluations of animals’ integrity. With two pieces offering North Philly residents such visual lessons, the foundation heads earlier this spring approached their allies to determine an area in need of similar tutelage.

“We wanted to learn about the hot spots and select a location where we could affect the population in the most positive ways,” Jennifer Utley said, relaying that correspondence with her associates revealed the surrounding community’s high rates of animal abuse and neglect, with dog fighting as a chief predicament. “We’ve become aware that animal cruelty touches all parts of Philadelphia, and we want it ended.”

With her accomplished husband overseeing their dog, who drew giggles as he stretched, yawned and drank from his water bowl, the advocate introduced a five-minute video on the local chapter’s endeavors. The clip showed images of scarred participants from numerous dog fighting enterprises and discussed the impending suffering from which officials saved Jack, who although never an aggressor, was among the offspring of combative canines.

“We can’t stand for all of that pain to happen,” Principal Taryn Roane said following the segment. “The more we interact with animals, the more we get to understand that they really do have personalities.”

The second-year leader gladly accepted the Utley’s offer to bolster her charges’ knowledge of the need to respect all constituents of the animal kingdom, deeming Vare’s involvement “a no-brainer.”

“We stress paying attention to the least among us,” A. Rahim Islam, president and CEO of Universal Companies, 800 S. 15th St., which oversees the school, said. “What’s going on here today makes it clear who that is.”

Showing their support for the Utleys’ cause, Vare learners will assist a local artist with the mural’s creation.

Photo by Kathryn Poole

To guide Vare’s acceptance of added communal responsibility, Mural Arts is again calling upon Guinn to devise a vibrant symbol. The Columbia University-schooled figure has painted more than 30 murals since 1998, with five works in South Philly, including “Autumn (Your House in the Forest),” 719 Catharine St.; “Summer: The Meeting,” 235 Queen St.; and “Winter: Crystal Snowscape,” 10th and Bainbridge streets. In part because he had shown his penchant for portraying creatures a decade ago for Center City’s Morris Animal Refuge, Golden offered him the assignment in April, leading the animal lover to plot how best to convey a far-reaching message of preservation and protection.

“Some of my other pieces have had individual aims, but this one will really have me striving to make something beautiful to express the anti-cruelty sentiment,” the resident of the 1100 block of Cross Street, who teaches mural painting at Center City’s Moore College of Art and Design and who in April won an endowment for the installation of outdoor wall-painting elements, said. “The mural is not going to change everyone’s views, but it can have an impact, especially among the youngest members of the community.”

Guinn soon will share his skills with those children at the Grays Ferry recreation site, which hosted a pet photo shoot Tuesday to determine which animals’ images they will reproduce. They will tend to the northern and southern walls and add elements along the space facing the athletic field.

“I’m excited about the possibilities,” Guinn said of partnering with artistically-inclined children, with whom he hopes to complete the endeavor by September following a much-anticipated August painting day. “I know I’m expecting a great time and am grateful to have Chase and Jennifer on board.”

The ballplayer and his bride also have striven to fund nonprofit organizations with aspirations similar to the Utley Foundation’s goals and yearn to make all animals safe, especially those who can find placement in a forever home.

“Jack is among the fortunate ones,” Jennifer Utley said, adding that his parents underwent euthanizing because of their wounds and hostility. “We can’t afford to have anyone else become a casualty, so please speak up when you notice mistreatment.”

The esteemed guests received a framed Vare T-shirt from four eighth-grade students and commended them and their peers for being local leaders. They will return for the mural’s opening, with Golden giddy about what it will mean for Mural Arts’ mission.

“We already have more murals than any other city in the world,” she said. “In two years we will probably be up to 5,000, so we thank you for your role in making that so.”

“You have a great task ahead of you,” Chase Utley added. “Have fun painting the mural.”

Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.

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