Bainbridge Green
When Bainbridge Green approached us about creating something festive for their upcoming fundraiser; Philadelphia artist, Kelly Franklin was our first choice. We knew her signature flowers and colorful fare would be an added compliment to Queen Village.
After 3 long days of prep & painting, Kelly tackled her first sidewalk mural at 4th and Bainbridge just in time for Bainbridge Green's "Dining & Dancing Under the Stars" fundraiser to build a usable park.
My Dog Sighs, Calo Buscanigua and Kelly Kozma dropped some amazing work between 3rd and 5th on Bainbridge Street in the Queen Village section of Philadelphia over the 2014 Labor Day weekend.
Our 3 artists beautifully rehabbed these neglected junction boxes as part of our community beautification collaboration with the Queen Village Neighborhood Association.
Afterwards we invited everyone to join us back at Paradigm Gallery + Studio for a fun panel discussion with the artists. Here are some direct quotes from the panel discussion they gave at Paradigm Gallery after completing the boxes...
Paul aka My Dog Sighs
"When Calo and I started chatting, we realized the boxes had something to do with communication.
I use text and lyrics a lot in my work and that has a lot to do with communication. We both were going in that direction, but with a different slant. I knew I was going to do an eye, but I had no idea what text was going to go on it. Every time I walked past the park there were guys sleeping on the benches – it was a space for them. I had my iPod on and a UB40 song came on ‘I am one in 10’, the lyrics go something like, I am a one in ten, a number on a list, I am a one in ten, Even though I don't exist, Nobody knows me, But I'm always there, Statistical reminder of a world that doesn't care.
So there I was walking along and I seeing these guys and thinking …That’s it. I've got my lyrics. So when we started, I got my pencil out and wrote the entire song all over the box. Then I painted over it, most of it disappeared, but for me, it’s always nice to have some link to the space you work in."
Calo Buscanigua
"People in El Salvador can communicate through the patterns that they’re wearing – it can represent what town you’re from, if you’re married, what family you're from, etc… We knew that Kelly was doing something related to that with her box – the knitting patterns aspect. So on the front of my box there is a lady from Guatemala, sewing a pattern. The other side of the box represents another form of communication. There is a little girl, she is selling chilies. In El Salvador you don’t have to go to the produce stands, people bring the produce to you. It’s a completely different form of interaction, people come and approach you, they want to interact with you."
Kelly Kozma
"I've always admired the whole yarn bombing movement, so I used the imagery from something that’s knit, to kind of yarn bomb it with paint. I adapted it so it took on a more organic nature. The box is in the park, so I wanted to reference what was growing around it. It has that patterning of the knitting but it also grows and kind of moves in different ways then if it were just on a needle. I wanted to reference the plants that were around it as well, as this idea of paying respect to the yarn bombing art form."
