Pennsylvania Murals- Jim Houser in Philadelphia

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Collage, Mixed Media, Painting / Painters, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture, Street Art
Aug 202026
 

Philadelphia artist Jim Houser created this mural, Wide Open, in 2019 for Mural Arts Philadelphia.

From Mural Arts:

Wide Open by artist Jim Houser features a design that speaks directly to the artist’s view of Philadelphia. Located in the Northern Liberties neighborhood, the mural’s themes include the concept of brotherly love, family and friends, a love of skateboarding and music, and the complex interaction of danger and beauty. The struggle of loss, hope and pride in where one lives intertwine in this striking mural.

His mixed media paintings, seen below, were also recently on view at Philadelphia’s Paradigm Gallery.

Work by Jim Houser at Paradigm Gallery in May of this year

You can find his most recent work on Instagram.

Philadelphia Public Art- Miguel Horn- “ContraFuerte”

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture
Aug 042026
 

In Miguel Horn‘s 2021 artwork ContraFuerte, his figures, made from aluminum plates, appear to be holding up a bridge between two buildings. Located on Cuthbert Street, an alley off of 18th Street in downtown Philadelphia, it was created as part of the city’s Percent for Art program.

For additional information on the work, check out this article from WHYY.

 

Philadelphia Murals- Meg Saligman’s “Philadelphia Muses”

 Art, Artists, Painting / Painters, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Public Art, Street Art
May 052026
 

Artist Meg Saligman has created several murals for the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program including Philadelphia Muses, pictured above, which was painted in 1999.

From the Mural Arts website about this mural-

Intended as a contemporary interpretation of the classical muses, Saligman has created an arts landscape filled with figures and elements symbolizing today’s art and creativity.

In the center of the composition is an arts machine spinning out spheres, symbols of the perfect art form. Each of the nine muses in the composition is associated with a sphere, and there are circular references throughout the composition, such as the compass.

Through portraits of local performing artists and references to works of art by local artists, Saligman honors the following forms of creative expression.

The entire mural was created by the artist in her studio using large squares of a polyester fabric called non-woven media (or parachute cloth). These were then adhered to the wall with an acrylic gel, much like a giant decoupage. Saligman’s style is very painterly yet also very realistic and makes frequent allusions to classical themes and figures like the muses in this composition.

Pennsylvania Murals- Amy Sherald in Philadelphia

 Art, Artists, Painting / Painters, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Public Art, Street Art
Apr 082026
 

This portrait of Philadelphian Najee Spencer-Young was created by artist Amy Sherald in 2019 for Mural Arts Philadelphia.

From the Mural Arts website about the work-

Artist Amy Sherald made headlines around the world with her stunning official portrait of Michelle Obama, portraying not only the beauty and intelligence of the woman herself but the depth and breadth of all that she represents as our first African-American First Lady. Sherald’s overall body of work represents reflective, everyday moments within the lives of Black people, evocative portraits that explore how people construct and present their own identities.

Now Sherald brings her work to a new scale: working with Mural Arts Philadelphia on a massive mural portrait in Center City. The portrait is of Najee S., a young Philadelphian and participant in our art education program. Like the First Lady’s portrait, Sherald’s mural challenges ideas about identity and the public gaze, asking the questions: “Who is allowed to be comfortable in public spaces? Who is represented in art? How can one woman’s portrait begin to shift that experience for others?”

The project began with a field trip to Sherald’s studio by some of Mural Arts’ art education participants. The young people spent a day with Sherald, learning about her unique artistic practice, exploring costumes, and taking photographs together that would form the inspiration for the mural.

Three of Mural Arts’ Art Education assistant artists, Kien Nguyen, Arthur Haywood, and Emily White, also had the opportunity to study with Sherald in order to learn about her artistic process. They shared her unique process in classroom exercises with Philadelphia students, and also began work from Amy’s design to execute the six-story-high mural.

Mural Arts Philadelphia Executive Director Jane Golden says, “We are so honored to be working with Amy Sherald. For years we have admired her painting; there is such strength in her composition, her color and the way she captures a gaze. And now she has teamed up with our art education program to create a unique mural in the heart of our city. What an extraordinary moment for Mural Arts and for Philadelphia.”

 

Pennsylvania Art Shows- Ava Blitz at Philadelphia International Airport

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Glasswork, Installation Art, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia
Mar 262026
 

Ava Blitz created this glass mosaic, Pink, in 2012 for Philadelphia International Airport. It is part of Philadelphia’s Percent for Art Program.

From Art at PHL-

Philadelphia artist Ava Blitz works in various artistic disciplines including sculpture and photography. In either medium, Blitz is inspired by nature and natural forms. In her sculptural work, she is known to mass similar objects together to suggest continual growth and to emulate the abundance of repetitive forms found in nature. Her sculpture is often large-scale and abstract with minimal detail to capture nature’s basic essence and to encourage the viewer’s imagination. Blitz also photographs nature, usually imagery that she has taken while on walks near her home. The photographs, typically of trees, feature variations of dense, lush foliage. Using digital photography, Blitz is able to heighten the color and alter the imagery to emphasize the beauty and mystery that inspires her artwork.

In Pink, Blitz has incorporated her photography and her interest in nature, abstraction, and repetition to create a glass tile mosaic. She describes the artwork as “playing with the edge between realism and abstraction to create a magical forest or garden – a virtual reality that viewers can enter, explore, and experience on multiple levels.” Seen from a distance, the branches and pink blossoms are recognizable. Yet up close, the tree dissolves into an abstraction of tactile, colorful, iridescent glass tiles.

Pennsylvania Art Shows- Arden Bendler Browning at Philadelphia International Airport

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Painting / Painters, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Public Art
Mar 052026
 

Nonstop (2107) by Arden Bendler Browning was commissioned by Philadelphia’s Percent for Art Program and is on view at Philadelphia International Airport.

From Art at PHL about the work-

Philadelphia artist Arden Bendler Browning is known for creating large-scale, highly energized, gestural paintings inspired by her urban surroundings. Browning’s paintings are mostly abstract, yet include hints of realism with the suggestion of architectural structures, roadways, telephone poles, and green spaces. Browning’s paintings envelop the viewer with their scale, intensity, and sense of movement. Her imagery is derived from photos taken while traversing the city. The photos enable her to see the city from various vantage points and, as she has described, “jump through time and space.”

Browning’s paintings visually capture that sense of timelessness as she often conveys a disorienting landscape where colors and shapes collide and overlap, where only glimpses of reality come into focus. She speaks of the urban environment as “a vast sea of fluctuating boundaries arguing claim to the demarcation of space.” This statement also describes Browning’s work as she depicts the urban landscape using an amalgam of colors, shapes, and painterly marks adrift and influx.

Browning has said, “Nonstop is multifaceted and dense, full of action, and vibrancy in unexpected places with pockets of space and clusters of commotion. It is just like Philadelphia.”

Browning is currently part of the group exhibition, The Landscape: Lost and Found at Ellen Miller Gallery in Boston, on view until 3/28/26.

Pennsylvania Art Shows- “King Saladeen: Create Your Gold” at Philadelphia International Airport

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Installation Art, Painting / Painters, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Public Art
Feb 182026
 

King Saladeen created these murals for the Philadelphia International Airport’s Exhibitions Program.

From Art at PHL about this exhibition–

Philadelphia artist King Saladeen has created his largest painting installation to date currently on view at Philadelphia International Airport. Saladeen’s art is motivational and energetic. His paintings are filled with vibrant colors, shapes, patterns, markings, and text, along with representational imagery that includes his trademark JP the Money Bear and Philadelphia’s skyline. The work represents his passion to inspire as he says, “Dream Big, Love What You Do!” A message evident in this epic four-part painting.

Saladeen created this artwork partially in his studio as four paintings scaled to the proportions of the four gallery walls. The original paintings were scanned, printed on vinyl, and adhered on site. Over two nights, Saladeen painted atop the vinyl to complete his vision. It was an amazing performance to watch as he intuitively added more colors, shapes, and details until it was deemed complete.

 

Pennsylvania Art Shows- “Jawn 8” at Philadelphia International Airport

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Painting / Painters, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Public Art
Feb 132026
 

Anuj Chandra Shrestha, “Sumud”

If you have a layover or arrive early to Philadelphia International Airport, make sure to take some time to check out some of the art on display.  Works like the murals in this post, are part of the airport’s Exhibitions Program.

About Art at PHL:

The Airport’s Exhibitions Program is a nationally-recognized, award-winning visual arts initiative.

In 1998, Philadelphia International Airport established an Exhibitions Program – a visual arts initiative to humanize the Airport environment, provide visibility for Philadelphia’s unique cultural life, and to enrich the experience of the traveling public.

The Exhibitions Program is responsible for organizing and presenting rotating exhibitions that are located throughout the Airport. The exhibits change throughout the year to provide a variety of educational and cultural programs. This forum for presenting visual arts attests to the Airport’s commitment to supporting arts and culture.

The Exhibitions Program provides millions of visitors from around the world access to a wide variety of art forms by artists and arts institutions from the Philadelphia area.

The artists in this post- Anuj Chandra Shrestha, Lale Westvind, Steve Teare, Olivia Fredricks, and Amze Emmons are all part of the exhibition, Jawn 8. Jawn, a slang term local to Philadelphia, is defined as- “a placeholder word that may refer to a thing, place, person, or event, substituting for a specific word/name”. For even more on the word jawn, check out this article on Atlas Obscura.

Lale Westvind, “They Grew The Garden”

Steve Teare, “The Art Museum Games”

Olivia Fredricks, “The City is Our Playground”

Amze Emmons, “Philly Birdsong Onomatopoeia”

 

Pennsylvania Public Art- Roxy Paine in Philadelphia

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Installation Art, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture
Feb 052026
 

Symbiosis (2011) by artist Roxy Paine has been on display in Iroquois Park on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia since June 2014.

About this work from the Association for Public Art (aPA), which organized the installation and acquisition-

Hand-fabricated from thousands of pieces of stainless steel pipe, plate, and rods, Symbiosis suggests both ecological and anatomical branching systems.

Rising 34 feet high, the more than 3.5 ton sculpture was created from standard industrial piping that was welded, formed, and polished in the artist’s studio to create two shimmering, interrelated organic forms that both buttress and weigh on one another, referencing the darker aspects of nature and the fierceness of its laws. Symbiosis represents the collision of two dendroids that result in stasis, a questionable relationship that teeters between support and detriment.

Roxy Paine’s work consistently blurs the lines between the natural and artificial. He is known for work that explores the collision of industry and nature, and his series of stainless steel “Dendroid” sculptures are exemplary manifestations of this practice. The “Dendroids,” a term combining “dendron” (Greek for “tree”) and -oid (a suffix meaning “form”), are monumental structures that convey a fusion of industrial and organic forms. They evoke arboreal structures, vascular systems, synaptic networks, and industrial pipelines, interpreting the natural world through a man-made lens. The structures represent search, growth, and the branching of systems that suggest dormant energy and potential, a theme Paine has explored in his work for the last 15 years.

Nearby you can also find Mark di Suvero‘s painted steel sculpture Iroquois (seen in the second image posted).