So u t h S t r e e t B e a t
Art on the Street A new initiative transforms the hippest street in town into a canvas for local artists
Doggy Treats (at Starbucks), a whimsical piece by local illustrator and teacher at the University of the Arts Tara
Reported by Nancy Brokaw with photos by Riley Loula
T
hanks to a new project called South St.Art, the work of six local artists will be housed in empty storefront windows along the street’s 300 block—windows that provide the perfect canvas for inspiring local artists and revitalizing the streetscape. The project is a collaborative effort of the South Street Headhouse District (SSHD) and Vision Urban Renewal & Transformation (V.U.R.T.), a Fishtown nonprofit founded and supported by local artists and advocates to inspire, unify, and renew urban communities through public art. Last year, SSHD Executive Director Mike Harris and his board began brainstorming ideas about ways to activate the street’s unused spaces and celebrate local talent. Their
idea? Recruit Philly artists to create work for display in vacant storefront windows. Richard Perry, a SSHD board member and proprietor of Tattooed Mom, who knows a thing or two about street art, suggested V.U.R.T. for the project. (A mecca for artists, Tattooed Mom’s second floor features an ever-changing gallery of graffiti, wheat paste, and other street art.) V.U.R.T.’s creative director, Evan Lovett, describes the collective, rather modestly, as “a group of artists, activists, and community members who are just trying to make things look better.” In fact, the group has strong public art cred—it created some 30 rolldown gates along Frankford Avenue’s commercial corridor—and was a natural to spearhead the project.
Kristin Scholes—her artist’s moniker is Sea of Doom—is showing Moth Bat, which riffs on the bat motif that’s garnered her a coast-to-coast following. Split between two windows of the old Indulgence Boutique, this piece depicts bat ears that seemingly morph into moth wings.
Queen Village Quarterly Crier \\ spring 2020
Jacoby, depicts three dogs, each dreaming of a particular food that bears an uncanny resemblance to them.
With SSHD funding and a grant from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the artists created a series of murals and printed them on large-scale vinyl banners for hanging in three empty storefronts on South Street: 325, which housed Indulgence Boutique; 328, site for the former Boyler Room; and 347, where Starbucks caffeinated Queen Villagers until December, 2018. “And when a property is rented out,” Lovett explains, “the work can be easily transferred to another space.” South St.Art isn’t the District’s first foray into art patronage—nor will it be its last. SSHD commissioned its first public art back in 2016, with a call for artists to transform the utility boxes that dot the street, explains SSHC Executive Director Mike Harris. “Then, in 2018, we did the Eyes mural over Johnny Rockets.” “Every empty wall, every vacant window is a canvas for us,” says Dana Feinberg, who serves as project coordinator for the District. “We’re building on a strong artistic heritage, and we want these projects to reflect our diverse, art-centric community.” As for South St.Art, “we’re at the beginning stages of identifying the next set of South Street locations to activate and the next set of artists to feature,” says Harris. “Robert [Perry of Tattooed Mom] is going to be putting more art in more windows and talking about expanding to other mediums—lighting, sculptural work, and video projections.” ■
