Local artist, educators praise ‘Abbott Elementary’s Mural Arts episode

ABC’s Abbott Elementary spotlights the transformative powers of the Philly arts in a new episode featuring Mural Arts Philadelphia.

On Wednesday’s episode, titled “Mural Arts,” the school’s history teacher Jacob Hill, played by Chris Perfetti, secures a visit from a representative of Mural Arts who is looking to work with students on a painting that reflects the legacy of the school.

For some Philadelphians, the episode felt like the icing on the cake of a show they already feel represents their communities so well.

“It’s a very condensed version … but the key points were made, like having the community and stakeholders involved in the design process has always been key to have people feel like they have a voice,” said Betsy Casañas, a muralist who has worked with Mural Arts and who was show creator and West Philly native Quinta Brunson’s 10th-grade architecture and design teacher.

In the latest episode, Jacob hopes his students will honor Philly legends John Coltrane or Will Smith. Instead, they want to commemorate the characters in a sock-puppet TV show. An artistic tug-of-war ensues, but by the end of the 21-minute program, the lovably awkward educator caves in and gives the children the creative reins. The playfully colorful mosaic was posted outside his classroom, and alongside the sock puppets, each student painted a tile with an image of their future self — a doctor, a teacher, and the first Black U.S. president/part-time astronaut.

Though the representative on the show was a fictional character, the episode gave viewers a glimpse into Mural Arts’ student-focused programs, which have provided art and mural-making experiences for Philadelphia schools for nearly 40 years.

“I feel honored, humbled, thrilled, excited, and I was almost in disbelief when I watched the show,” Mural Arts executive director Jane Golden said. “Murals are a part of the fabric of the city, and each one represents a collaboration, discussion, and partnership between the artists and the community. And for Abbott Elementary to recognize this as something that’s important to our city, it’s really validating for me and everybody that works at Mural Arts and is affiliated with Mural Arts.”

While artists usually work with students for months at a time when creating murals, Casañas said, the way the students and educators compromised with each other while designing their mural, as well as incorporating their own backgrounds and dreams, was spot on.

“When you go into a community, you listen to everybody that’s going to be impacted by the mural… in order to make clear that you’re really listening to what the community wants,” she said. “It’s allowing yourself to dream about the possibilities for something else … but also highlighting and celebrating community members.”

Ivey Welshans, head of the special education department at MYA Middle School, said the mural creation process has been particularly impactful for her students because of the sense of pride it creates.

“The ownership — they take pride in what they do. It unifies them,” said Welshans, who has been an educator for 23 years. “Then they’re part of the city, and in 20 years they can tell people, ‘I made that.’ Because murals really are the fabric of the city.”

The episode featuring Mural Arts was just one of many ways that Welshans has felt seen by Abbott Elementary.

“As a teacher, you chuckle because … I see myself in each stage in my career being each one of those teachers. And you can identify the teachers you work with or have worked with,” Welshans said. Brunson “definitely represents the city well.”

Leading up to the episode’s premiere, Brunson (who stars as Janine Teagues) took to Twitter to show her gratitude for Mural Arts’ community work, and to talk about the impact the organization had in her youth.

A live screening and “red carpet” event of the episode took place at the Bok Building in South Philly, with both students and staff from Mural Arts’ Art Education program in attendance.