Mural Arts project along the El featured in New York Times and Wall Street Journal

A message from the Mural Arts Program:

Exciting News! The Mural Arts Program’s Love Letter project is featured in today’s issues of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program is collaborating with Philadelphia native and New York based artist Stephen Powers to create Love Letter, a public art project consisting of a series of 50 rooftop murals from 45th to 63rd Streets along the Market Street corridor. The murals, which are best viewed from the Market-Frankford elevated transit line, collectively express a love letter from a guy to a girl, from an artist to his hometown, and from local residents to their neighborhood of West Philadelphia. Love Letter, which will be documented in two books, a film, and a gallery exhibition, speaks to all those who have loved and for those who long for a way to express that love to the world around them.

Love Letter is made possible through the generous support of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative. Additional support is provided by the Brownstein Group, SEPTA, Dock Street Brewery and The Stratum.

Art to Make You Laugh (and Cry)
— The New York Times
“Mr. Powers said the idea was to create a single, serial urban work whose hopeful messages might resonate with a kind of universality in a neighborhood in need of hopeful messages. And as a fringe benefit, he said the murals might even help in a more practical way.”
Love Letter to Philadelphia:
A new series of murals runs along an elevated train route
— The Wall Street Journal
“A team of 40 painters led by artist Stephen Powers is putting the final touches on an ambitious art project in Philadelphia this week. The results of their labor won’t be in one of the city’s museums or galleries, but on buildings along the elevated train route in West Philadelphia.”