The past few years we’ve been working closely with a variety of artists to bring to life the stories and beauty of the trails and parks of Riverfront North. Take a look at some of the work they’ve been doing to highlight the nature and humanity of our urban green spaces along the Delaware River.
Lisa Kelley
Lisa is a Philadelphia based artist who works in a variety of formats. The common thread throughout the work is: typography, words, stories and color. She was selected by Mural Arts Philadelphia/Tacony LAB and Riverfront North Partnership as a 2023 Artist in Residence, concentrating her project on the riverfront trails and parks in the Tacony section, and exploring the intersection of those spaces with the indigenous history of the land.
Aislinn Pentecost-Farren
We are thankful to have worked with Philadelphia artist Aislinn Pentecost-Farren on multiple multi-year projects that highlighted and promoted the rich history and fabric of everyday life of the neighborhoods surrounding the Riverfront North park and trail system.
Visit Aislinn’s “Bridesburg River Ways” Video History Project.
Learn about Aislinn’s inventive Pizza Box Project Here
“Take Us To The River”, a collaboration with Frankford Friends
Billy Dufala
Billy is an artist with RAIR (Recycled Artist in Residency), located along the northern portion of Riverfront North. Billy helped us create a world of nature by building a temporary nature-based play space at Bridesburg Recreation Center in 2021.
See Billy’s work at our UnOrthodox project page.
Jaime Alvarez
Jaime is a photographer that worked with us in the summer of 2021 profiling the Bridesburg section of Philadelphia and the riverfront space that will become Bridesburg Riverfront Park.
See Jaime’s Bridesburg Project
Rebecca Schultz
Rebecca is an artist working through us via a collaboration with the Tacony Arts Lab. Through environmental education and hands-on arts activities, Rebecca allows participants to gain a greater understanding of the riverfront ecosystems along the Delaware River.
Learn more about Rebecca’s Project in Tacony
Ken Johnston
Ken collaborated with us in Winter 2022 to highlight the stories of the Underground Railroad in the Frankford section of Philadelphia and along the Delaware River.
Summer Portraits: The Faces of Bridesburg
Funded by a BIG grant, this summer twenty teens aged 12-14 participated in a Smart Phone photography workshop that was led by Bridesburg resident Stacy Schwab. Based on a theme of “Portraits of Summer”, the students were taught how to capture faces around Bridesburg. They learned about lighting, composition, and how storytelling plays such a big role in taking a picture.
The teen photographers captured playground goers, swimmers and lifeguards, firefighters, businesses around Bridesburg and saved families for the last week during walking tours around the neighborhood.
An artist reception was held on Friday, October 6 from 6-8pm at I Knead Coffee, but you can still see these works of art as they will remain up at the Cafe through the end of October. Additionally, a temporary outdoor exhibit will be on display along the fence line of the new warehouse on Richmond Street near the Buckius Street corner.
The inspiration for this project was to connect people to their surroundings through mindfulness. Photography is the perfect mindful pursuit because it combines creativity and being fully aware and present in your surroundings. In Bridesburg, the connection was to the faces of the community, including the local businesses. Riverfront North will be continuing this smartphone photography workshop in the fall, this time in Frankford focusing on the natural world, including the Delaware Riverfront.
We hope this mindful pursuit can be further expanded within Borski Park when this new riverfront park opens to the public in early 2025.
Thank you to our partners on this project in Bridesburg – I Knead Coffee, Bridge Industrial and the William Penn Foundation. And thanks to the students, their families and the community on the whole for showing up and joining in with such enthusiasm!
Check out the video below to see the results!