Community Impact

“I think Meg put Philadelphia on the map as it relates to public art. She inspired a generation of young artists and now she is committed to helping our city in a different and important way."

- Jane Golden, Executive Director of Mural Arts Philadelphia

Common Threads (1997) on the corner of Broad and Spring Garden Street. Meg Saligman completed this mural with the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program (MAP). Photo: Mellisa Kelly

Knotted Grotto (2015) installation for Pope Francis’s visit to Philadelphia.

“My collaboration with Meg on this particular work of art remains one of the highlights of my life. 

Meg is an authentic and gifted artist whose work is always a result of her collaboration with people who are directly involved and impacted... This Grotto was visited by tens of thousands of people from around the world.  People waited in long lines to write down their knots and to take a knot of someone else’s and pray for them.  It was the most popular activity of the entire Papal visit in the United States, culminating in Pope Francis’ visit to the Grotto when he blessed everyone’s knots and we all prayed together for them.”

 

- Sister Mary, Founder of Project Home

Innovation

For her 30,000 square foot mural Once in a Millennium Moon in Shreveport, Louisiana, Meg Saligman pioneered the first ever “community mural paint day”. Inspired by a technique from mural artist Kent Twitchell, sections of the mural were painted on sheets of loose canvas mural cloth and then applied to the wall. Her innovation came when Meg invited over 2,000 community members to help paint the sheets and leave their mark on the mural. These “community paint days” are now standard in the mural industry, enabling communities to partake in the actual creation of the art.