I have a story to tell you . . . (2003)
Pepón Osorio (1955–) with Congreso de Latinos Unidos
216 West Somerset Street

This project focuses on the recently renovated headquarters of Congreso de Latinos Unidos in North Philadelphia. In the windows of the main building, the artist has installed a series of large-scale photographic images. A more intimate casita (little house), also fabricated with photographic images on glass, is located in the adjacent courtyard. To create this "community photograph album," Osorio collected photographs from community members, seeking images that reflect "shared experience" and "depict local events that have impacted community life." Congreso is the leading provider of social, economic, health, and educational services to the Latino community of Philadelphia. Representatives from Congreso worked with the artist to develop the proposal through the Art Association’s New•Land•Marks program, which brings together artists and communities to develop new public artworks for Philadelphia.

Embodying Thoreau: dwelling, sitting, watching (2003)
Ed Levine (1935–) with the Pennypack Environmental Center Advisory Council

Created for the Pennypack Environmental Center, a 100-acre site in the northeast territory of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park, the project consists of a series of small wood structures described by the artist as "between sculpture and architecture." Together these structures explore the study and enjoyment of the natural world, as well as the relationship between nature and culture. Elements of the project include Thoreau’s Hut (pictured above), which has the same dimensions as Henry David Thoreau’s famous cabin at Walden Pond; Benches, which provide a location for people to sit together in nature; and Bird Blind, a wildlife observation structure that resembles a woven nest. The project was developed through the Art Association’s New•Land•Marks program, which brings together artists and communities to develop new public artworks for Philadelphia.

Work'n Progress: A Monument to Philadelphia's Role in the American Labor Movement (in progress)
John Kindness (1951–) with the Friends of Elmwood Park

Developed for a park in a once-thriving working-class neighborhood in Southwest Philadelphia, Labor in the Park is dedicated to the neighborhood's working class and celebrates the contributions of organized labor nationwide while building on community initiatives to revitalize the park. The project was developed through the Art Association’s New•Land•Marks program, which brings together artists and communities to develop new public artworks for Philadelphia. Drawing its symbolism from historic labor photographs and from the typical uniforms once worn by laborers, especially the uniforms' metal work buttons, the project includes two central seating areas. One is designed as a meeting place: benches face circular bronze tables with work-button-like images commemorating important moments in trade union history. In the other area, benches face outward, with local historic labor photographs in porcelain enamel mounted on the backs of the benches.

Pavilion in the Trees (1993)
Martin Puryear (1941–)
Lansdowne Glen, Horticulture Center grounds, off North Horticultural Drive, West Fairmount Park

Martin Puryear's Pavilion in the Trees (1993) is a wooden amenity located near the Horticulture Center in West Fairmount Park. Pavilion was developed as part of the Art Association’s Form and Function program initiated in 1980 to bridge the gap between public art and daily life. Inspired by the universal childhood longing for a tree house, Pavilion consists of an open structure supported by a series of posts. All of the materials—western red cedar, heart white oak, heart redwood—were selected for their natural durability. A sixty-foot walkway leads across a natural basin to an observation platform—a square deck covered by a latticed canopy—that rises twenty-four feet above the ground. Situated high among the treetops, the work has become a much-favored place to relax and contemplate nature from a bird's-eye view.

Sleeping Woman (1991)
Stephen Berg (1934–) and Tom Chimes (1921–)
Kelly Drive on the Schuylkill River retaining wall between Cowboy and Playing Angels, Fairmount Park

Poet Stephen Berg and visual artist Tom Chimes describe Sleeping Woman as a "choral voice rising out of the site." The collaborative work was created specifically for this location and was commissioned by the Art Association with support from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The text, on the top of the stone retaining wall that separates the Schuylkill River and the grass bank of Kelly Drive, was applied with a series of polyurethane coatings so that the words "emerge" from the stone. Depending upon the variable light and the angle of the observer, the letterforms appear and disappear. The center of the text is marked by the word "RIVER."

Fingerspan (1987)
Jody Pinto (1942– )
Wissahickon Creek trail near Livezey Dam, Fairmount Park

Jody Pinto's Fingerspan is a pedestrian bridge that leaps across a deep gorge along the Wissahickon Creek in Fairmount Park. Fingerspan was developed as part of the Art Association’s Form and Function program initiated by the Fairmount Park Art Association in 1980 to bridge the gap between public art and daily life. When Jody Pinto began to develop her project, residents of nearby neighborhoods vaguely remembered an old wooden span that once served to get people across the gorge; later, a staircase from an old ship was put in its place. To replace the deteriorating staircase, Pinto conceived Fingerspan, which offers an aesthetic and practical response to its Fairmount Park location. The perforated steel covering prevents people from falling but also allows a spectacular view of the gorge below. The artist, who sought to link the human body to the natural environment, describes the experience of Fingerspan as "passing through the finger so that the public becomes the muscle or the bone marrow."

Bolt of Lightning . . . A Memorial to Benjamin Franklin (conceived 1933; installed 1984)
Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988)
Monument Plaza, Base of Benjamin Franklin Bridge, near 6th and Vine Streets

Isamu Noguchi’a 58-ton Bolt of Lightning refers to the famous experiment in which Franklin flew a kite in an electrical storm. A four-legged painted-steel base supports an image of the key that Franklin attached to the kite. On top of the key is the lightning bolt, a 45-foot truss clad with multifaceted stainless steel plates. From the bolt emerges a 23-foot tubular steel structure with a representation of the kite—all balanced by the tension of four steel guy cables. The sculpture is based on a proposal originally submitted by Noguchi in 1933 that was exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1979. The proposal was commissioned after it caught the eye of the Trustees of the Fairmount Park Art Association.

El Gran Teatro de la Luna (1982)
Rafael Ferrer (1933–)
Fairhill Square, 4th Street and Lehigh Avenue (currently in storage)

Rafael Ferrer, a native of Puerto Rico who moved to Philadelphia in 1966, created El Gran Teatro de la Luna for the Art Association’s Form and Function project. Now temporarily in storage, the work formed a tropical crown around the roof of a concrete utility building that was removed from the site. Vividly colored aluminum acrobats tumble and cavort. The silhouette figures include a female dancer-gymnast, a juggler balancing on a pyramid of spheres, a person with a bright red dress and a mustache standing on his/her head, and strange, devilish performers doing tricks on wheels. Lowercase script letters spell out the title, El Gran Teatro de la Luna—"The Huge Theater of the Moon."

Louis Kahn Lecture Room (1982)
Siah Armajani (1939–)
Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial (interior), 709 Catharine Street

For his contribution to the Art Association's Form and Function project, Siah Armajani wanted to create a work for a school. The result was a room dedicated to Louis Kahn that serves as a lecture room and meeting place as well as a gallery for displaying reproductions of Kahn's architectural drawings. The Louis Kahn Lecture Room is designed to accommodate about 35 people. Wooden pew-like benches extend at an angle from the walls. In the middle of the room, Armajani left enough open space to allow a "meditative quality." Mounted on the cornice are quotations from Kahn, one of which reads: "Schools began with a man under a tree who did not know he was a teacher, sharing his realization with a few others who did not know they were students." A inlaid wooden rectangle in the floor bears a verse by Whitman that begins: "When the materials are prepared and ready, the architects shall appear."