Melanie Kovacs ’15: As part of Philadelphia’s celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the DaVinci Club and Community Service Board have joined forces with the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program to design a city mural. The mural hopes to illustrate the evolution of education in America and specifically how Dr. King’s message influenced the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.
This project, which has been an integral part of the MLK Day of Service in Philadelphia for many years, involves five other schools in the greater Philadelphia area. Every year, Mayor Nutter selects a theme for the mural and with the help of a professional from the Mural Arts Program, each school designs and paints a 5×8 piece of the wall. Each section serves to create one large mural will be unveiled at a press conference with Mayor Nutter and other community leaders at Girard College High School on January 8th.
“The artists need to know and understand how the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision changed American education and they need to research and understand what it was like to be a young student in America in the early 1950s compared to education today,” explained Susan Swanson, EA’s director of Community Outreach.
The Middle School Student Council and a total of nine Upper School Students comprised of members of the DaVinci Club (Brittany Belo ’14, Brianna Belo ’14, Kira Henson ’14, Amanda Molitor ’14, Julianne Dones ’14, Melina Walling ’16, and Caroline O’Rourke ’14) and the Community Outreach Board (Molly McCarthy ’15 and Emma Vadot ’15) have been working on the mural with artist Nathaniel Lee.
Lee has worked on this project for the past six years and has met with EA students several times over the past month in order to complete the mural by mid-December. During these meetings, the students have brainstormed ideas and created rough sketches in preparation to begin painting on December 7th.
Photo courtesy of Molly McCarthy ’15
The opportunity to be involved with the mural was brought to the attention of the DaVinci Club by Brianna Belo ’14, one of the club’s presidents. “I’m always looking for ways that DaVinci can get involved with cool projects that actually serve a tangible benefit, so when I was talking to Mrs. Swanson and she told me about this project I was more than ready to jump in,” noted Belo.
Melina Walling ’16, a DaVinci club member working on the mural, stated, “This seemed like a good opportunity to work on an art project even though I’m not currently in an art class. It’s also a chance to put what we do at EA in perspective.”
Walling also appreciates the impact the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program has had on Philadelphia over the past thirty years. “I like the ideals that public art works present, like making the world a more beautiful place for everyone, just for the sake of it.”
Episcopal prides itself on its ability to collaborate with others and spread positive messages. The MLK mural project accomplishes both of these things and also helps make Philadelphia a more beautiful place. As Belo said, “People don’t always realize that EA offers so much, so this will be another reminder that there are all kinds of ways we as a community can make some sort of positive impact.”