Tacony Creek Park (TCP) was very much alive with love, art, activity, and food as neighbors came together on Celebrate Trails and Earth Day 2023, for TTF’s second annual Birds of a Feather! Saturday, April 22 was a day filled with art and unity, as artist Evan Lovett of VURT repainted the beautiful 20 ft. bird murals under the Whitaker Avenue Bridge along the Tacony Creek Park trail in Feltonville. Evan was joined by 28 local artists who live-painted and provided hands-on activities alongside the live painting.
This year’s event attracted lots more community members than last year! PHL17 even stopped by to catch some of our Circuit Trails magic.
Two hundred and fifty neighbors biked and walked to spend the afternoon exploring the park, interacting with artists, learning about upcoming volunteer, leadership, and program opportunities and eating tacos from El Toro Serrano, a local food truck. Artists brought together by Jay Coreano, a.k.a “Art God” displayed artwork and their own merch for sale! A team of dedicated volunteers worked with staff to make this amazing community event happen! At one special moment, Jay led a wonderful activity, in which everyone lined up along the trail and linked arms to demonstrate their commitment to each other and the Earth.
The Wholesome Foundation (Manny and Jaclyn) led another activity that enabled participants to get to know one another, and to recognize Earth Day! Wholesome’s “prime mission is to create social change, and to celebrate diversity and authenticity in our community,” according to Manny. They host interactive events such as open mics and celebrations.
To spark this celebration of diversity and connection in the TCP community, Jaclyn and Manny asked attendees to partner up with someone they don’t know of a similar age, and then to decide who was partner A and partner B.
Each person took turns listening to each other as the other spoke about topics related to Earth. First, Jacyln asked Partner A to speak for two minutes about what they take for granted on Earth. Then Manny asked Partner B to speak for two minutes, answering the following questions: How has your relationship with the Earth changed from the past, to now? Do you feel connected or disconnected to the Earth?
These prompts allowed attendees to think deeper about their connection to the Earth, how the environment plays a part in their daily lives, and what aspects of Earth they should remember to feel grateful for every day!
After Partner B finished speaking, Manny and Jaclyn asked everyone to shout out words they heard during their conversations! We heard “Water,” “Understanding,” “Community,” and “Nature.” Manny and Jaclyn then encouraged attendees to feel even more joyful about Earth Day through fun shout-outs and call-backs like, “When I say Earth, you say Day!,” “When I say community, you say Unity!”, and “When I say Eco, you say Friendly!”
Latino Outdoors joined us on the trail too! Latino Outdoors is a unique, Latinx-led organization working in support of a national community of leaders in outdoor recreation, conservation, and environmental education. They shared a fun environment-themed word search card game with pencils carved from wood, along with stickers, and information about upcoming programs.
Motivos Magazine, a Philadelphia-based bilingual magazine, brought along its newest Advocacy-themed issue! Motivos is a River Alive! Learning Trail partner (Watch for the June re-installation of the Learning Trail!), hosting a Motivos Team Talk Livestream last December with the Learning Trail creative team to share more about how the trail came to life! Stay tuned for their June 2023 Environment–themed issue which will include all things Learning Trail-related!
The many children in attendance draw with chalk on the trail, made TTF pins, played TTF cornhole, and painted wooden birds that will be used for a future Tacony Creek Park nature installation. The atmosphere was vibrant with creativity motivated by Jay Coreano, a.k.a. “Art God,” a local artist who produced the event with TTF, inviting the 28 artists to attend. Jay has been a close, passionate TTF partner as the artist behind the Love Our Park Murals consisting of painted animal and flower murals on the TCP trail. Last August 2022, he painted two crosswalk murals for our River Alive! Learning Trail, and led community mosaic sessions on the animal sculptures.
TTF gave away free snacks and reusable bags and the artists each donated at least one piece of their artwork that were raffled off in an art giveaway at the event. See more of the raffle winners here.
Evan Lovett and the VURT Creative team spent the whole day refreshing and revamping the four bird murals, while other artists live painted on the walls behind these murals.
Thank you, Evan and Kristin, for revitalizing the murals and once again, bringing new life to the park. Thank you, Jay, for bringing talented artists to the park, and showing the community that we all believe that Tacony Creek Park is a beautiful, joyous place. Thank you to all volunteers, attendees, and the wonderfully skilled artists who shared their talent and spirits at this inspiring community event.
View more photos from this event here. Learn more about the brilliant artists who joined us at Birds of a Feather: | Obtenga más información sobre estos fenomenales artistas que se unieron a nosotros en Birds of a Feather:
(Instagram profiles linked)
Luna Azara, Eric Rivera: “Art of a King”, Crafty, Geoffrey Colon, Meagan Roldan, Jonathan Velez, Auqilla, Nicole, Sheen Anthony, Shawn Allen, Theresa, Rebecca: “With-Draw”, The Wholesome Foundation
Featured artists: | Artistas destacados:
Evan Lovett is a muralist and illustrator based out of Philadelphia who focuses most of his subject matter on wildlife and conservation!
- es un muralista e ilustrador basado en Filadelfia que enfoca la mayor parte de su tema en la vida silvestre y la conservación.
Natasha Lynne is a multimedia artist with a degree in Fashion from Pratt Institute. Currently a professional painter. Her business focuses on garment construction, crochet, and lifestyle products. She blends all of her many mediums together through fashion and art.
- es una artista multimedia con un grado en Moda del Pratt Institute. Actualmente pintora profesional. Su negocio se centra en la construcción de prendas de vestir, crochet y productos de estilo de vida. Ella combina todos sus medios a través de la moda y el arte.
Maggie from Wet Paint Studios is a self-taught airbrush artist for over 10 years. Started out doing handpainted shirts and custom sneakers in high school.
- es una artista del aerógrafo autodidacta durante más de 10 años. Comenzó haciendo camisas pintadas a mano y zapatillas personalizadas en la escuela secundaria.
Wheremy (Jeremy) is a Lettering artist with experience in a variety of mediums!
- es un artista de letras con experiencia en una variedad de medios.
Cooper Project 73 – Emerging from the busy artistic streets of Paterson, Cooper Project 73 is an extremely versatile artist who creates pieces both intriguing and refreshing!
- Emergiendo de las concurridas calles artísticas de Paterson, Cooper Project 73 es un artista extremadamente versátil que crea piezas interesantes y refrescantes.
Melanie is an artist who dabbles in markers and acrylic art but mainly loves to work in watercolor. Philly-born and educated. She works as a graphic designer full time but her true passion is in whimsical portrait painting!
- es un artista que incursiona en marcadores y el arte acrílico pero principalmente le encanta trabajar en acuarela. Nacida y educada en Filadelfia. ¡Trabaja como diseñadora gráfica a tiempo completo, pero su verdadera pasión es la pintura de retratos fantásticos!
Q is a painter and textile artist born and raised in Philadelphia. She provides an experience for people that helps them tap into their own creativity!
- es una pintora y artista textil nacida y criada en Filadelfia. ¡Ella brinda una experiencia para las personas que les ayuda a aprovechar su propia creatividad!
Self Made Nation – SMN is a visual artist and brand showing people that there’s more to art than meets the eye!
- ¡SMN es un artista visual y una marca que muestra a las personas que hay más en el arte de lo que parece!
Zdigg – Zaid “Zdigga” Holmes is an artist from Jersey that specializes in multiple mediums of art. From Illustrating to tattooing and painting, Zaid has a belief that anyone can do what they love to do with the right amount of passion and dedication to their craft!
- es un artista de Jersey que se especializa en múltiples medios de arte. Desde ilustrar hasta tatuar y pintar, Zaid cree que cualquiera puede hacer lo que ama con la cantidad adecuada de pasión y dedicación a su oficio.
