Historical Tour GuideEarlier today, I rode my bike up from the Center City Philadelphia area to the nearby neighborhood of East Kensington to attend the formal debut of a new mural which joins thousands completed under this city's Mural Arts Program. It was a moving event, featuring as it did a beautiful painting depicting two Philadelphia firemen who died on April 9, 2012 in a large blaze of a 19th-century structure which had housed the one-time Buck Hosiery Company.
The main ceremony involved several speakers, including Jane Golden, the intense and dynamic head of the city's Mural Arts Program (in case out-of-towners are reading this:)), Phila. artists David McShane, Jesse Gardner, and Kien Nguyen (mural collaborators here), seen just below (from L to R at the podium) with Jesse Gardner speaking....
Following stirring bagpipe music, the speeches, and other components, including the quiet repeated ringing of a fire bell, a number of attendees followed the bag-piping band for two blocks, as seen here....
looking west on Arizona towards Jasper Street
to lay two wreaths next to the now-empty lot where the Buck factory once stood....
looking northwest from the corner of Jasper & York Streets, with a "Market-Frankford" El train riding north in the background
After walking back, with scenes of the mural greeting you along part of the route....
I spent time with guests who enjoyed the "Unsung Heroes" Gallery....
where Jesse Gardner shows several of the works which are part of an ungoing project since the early 90's, when he began a passionate mission to honor unheralded firefighters, including minorities and women. Roughly halfway through his "Unsung..." project so far, the attacks of September 11, 2001 highlighted firefighters in an unprecedented way, one example in Gardner's work being a portrait of New York City fire lieutenant Dennis Mojica, who died in his response to the events at the World Trade Center that day and is seen here in close-up...
The Gallery is part of a former industrial building which hosts the mural, and where Jesse Gardner works as a painter and interior designer, and the reception there today was a very friendly affair, made up in part of quiet conversation, sandwiches provided for donations (or not, as we wished) by a Philadelphia Fire Department family association, and ice cream scooped out for free by "Little Baby's", perhaps the most successful new Ice Cream entrepreneur locally in recent years, and seen here after its offerings reached the "empty" stage....
While at the gathering, I had the pleasure of meeting Jesse Gardner, seen here in front of paintings he had done of Robert Neary (to the left) and Daniel Sweeney, with those works being bases for David McShane and Kien Nguyen, the lead artists for the Mural program of today's new mural.....
Additionally, my thanks go out to Joe Rosato, a theater and tech services professional who shares office space at the building with Jesse and who greeted today's visitors with a circuit of photos he had taken during and after the "Buck Hosiery" fire, including two just below.
Undoubtedly, Joe's two images here are among thousands which document the losses of so many buildings which were part of Philadelphia's immense role in American industry, while some nearby one-time industrial structures such as the one occupied by Jesse Gardner are being saved as East Kensington experiences a revival....
[Here is further information regarding Jesse Gardner, with the caution once again that urls here would need to be cut and pasted.
On Gardner, courtesy of "Mural Arts" and a site for his studio and work overall:
https://www.muralarts.org/artist/jesse-gardner/
--and--
http://www.jessejgardnerstudio.com,
....and, for map lovers in part, here is a url for the studio address of 2020 East Arizona Street in East Kensington....
https://www.google.com/maps/place/2020+E+Arizona+St,+Philadelphia,+PA+19125/@39.9836349,-75.1326287,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c6c83d689531db:0xe4316f9891bd033c!8m2!3d39.9836349!4d-75.13044
-- JS/July 2, 2017]
