smocking
Opposite: Funded by
Philadelphia's Mural
Arts Program,
W all o f
Rugs # i
displays tex-
tile traditions from 42
countries and cultures.
6C
C
e
Left: Pannepacker
stands in front of the
sections that represent
textiles from Mongolia
and Niger on
W all o f
Rugs # 2 ,
2008.
W all o f Rugs #1,
located on two corners at the intersection of
Girard and Belmont Avenues, was completed in 2005. Five hun-
dred feet long, the seven-foot-high hand-painted mural ambitiously
features over 40 countries. Both artworks were commissioned
and funded by the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, an
organization dedicated to making art accessible to a general pub-
lic and the force behind the 2,800 murals that can be found dot-
ting the city’s landscape.
North Philly is a gritty neighborhood, and a cold winter day
amplifies a certain desolation. But beyond the debris and weath-
ered buildings there’s life and a diverse culture. Pannepacker’s
mural is not an urban ills cleanup campaign. Local stories are
woven into the Wall of Rugs project. A Sunoco employee brought
Pannepacker a photograph of an embroidered fabric from his
native Bangladesh. Adam Alii, a West African artist who works
long hours at the car wash, keeps an eye on the mural, and
suggested Niger’s black-and-tan printed patterns. Designs from
Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Mongolia show up in
W all o f Rags
#2,
each linked to a person who stopped to talk to Pannepacker about
her work. Used as floor or wall coverings, rugs have historically
marked out space, both domestic and spiritual—nomadic tents
lined with kilim carpets or cathedrals hung with tapestries.
In Pannepacker’s hands, a global collection of rugs makes a wind-
swept thoroughfare feel more like home.
“A lot of murals in town are painted on parachute cloth in an
artist’s studio and then attached to the wall—‘parachuted’ into the
community,” she explains. “There’s a remarkable transformation
in those neighborhoods when that happens, but for me, there is
something about being at the same intersection day in and day
out-working, talking and interacting with people and really get-
ting the time, attention and commitment, the dedication, focus
and interest of the neighborhood. There is this whole human
>
apr/may09
american craft 049
knotting
