By Sophia Stopper
We all love cats, indoors and out, even the giant ones painted on the sides of buildings.
The residents of Fishtown have been connected with their feline mural since 2017, when it was in its original location in a vacant lot adjacent to Barcade, the arcade bar on Frankford Avenue.
The mural was taken down to make room for a 150-unit apartment building, leaving a lot of Philadelphians disappointed. But exciting evolutions took place in June, when Evan Lovett, of Visual Urban Renewal & Transformation (VURT), and independent artist Kristin Scholz, of SEA OF DOOM, came together to recreate two new “Welcome to Fishtown” cat murals.
If we rewind to eight years ago – at the outset of the mural idea – Lovett and Scholz planned on painting the first one through VURT, a nonprofit. The location was shot down, but the two artists were resilient in their pursuit of a spot that would inspire them and the community.
So began as a self-funded project that received a massive donation from paint makers Sherwin Williams and Rust-Oleum.
Humor, playfulness and joy were at the core of the mural project. As time went by, the paint faded. But the memories remained at the forefront of the community, if only for a temporary location at an empty lot.
Lovett and Scholz expected something would soon be built over the mural, and that’s exactly what happened. It’s why the two artists didn’t prime the wall and used the spray paint donated to them. Over time, with the sun beating down, the mural faded, but Lovett and Scholz were grateful for the years it was visible.
Due to its lighthearted nature, they were also surprised at the cultural impact the mural had as a neighborhood landmark.
“The first thing that springs to mind when I think about the exciting aspects of resurrecting this mural is simply that (it) was so beloved to begin with,” Scholz noted.
She and Lovett are grateful to the community for facilitating the project and for the opportunity to create the 2.0 version of the “Welcome to Fishtown” mural. It’s been planned with longevity in mind and primed according to the mission.
Fast forward to this year. The artists had to prepare for a wall of different dimensions and change the original mural to fit the new standards. Lovett and Scholz decided to again collaborate, and with her perspective, there will be some alteration of the original.
The wall for the updated mural is separated by a wooden gate, something the duo had to contend with while they were designing the work.
“On the back side of the wall, we collaborated on a composition of a night scene of street cats standing amongst foliage and some debris,” Lovett explained. “This, however, focused more on her (Scholz’s) style and rendering, with some added embellishments from me.
“It’s a fun way to work and blend our styles together.”
Even though the duo’s styles are different, the “unifying theme” of the new mural version, Scholz believes, is the cat motif that is oh so familiar to the community. It may be different from the original, but there is no doubt it will resonate with locals and visitors alike.
