The Walls are Talking on the Mural Arts Trolley Tour

Saturday, Oct. 15

Inspired by the recent addition of several grand-scale murals in the area, Erie Arts and Culture is offering a rare opportunity to view and celebrate more than 25 local murals all at once in its inaugural Mural Arts Trolley Tour on Saturday, Oct. 15.

The journey will take participants through Little Italy, central downtown, and the East 12th Street industrial corridor to view and learn about the murals running the gamut from large, highly choreographed works to less formal graffiti-based pieces.

Highlighting our industrial heritage are Ehren Knapp's Erie Industry off of West 12th Street, his Railroad Worker on Cherry Street, and Art & Industry's Setting the Stage on East 12th Street. Cultural and ethnic diversity is celebrated in Kris Risto's work about his roots in Macedonia, Knapp's work for the Erie Dance Theater, and Ed Grout and Tom Ferraro's four international flag-based murals depicting immigrants from Poland, Nepal, Somalia, and Bhutan. Local Italian heritage is portrayed in several murals throughout Little Italy, too.

Other murals capture historical events and the everyday things of life that define us. Graffiti artists will also be honored with a stop at the graffiti murals along the 16th Street rail elevation.

To further enrich the experience, Knapp, Risto, Ferraro, and Grout will be aboard to discuss the process of creating their murals.

The event is limited to 20 participants and is suggested for adults only, as beer, wine, and treats will be served during the tour. Tickets will be sold up to the morning of the tour, if available.

If we pause to enjoy public art like these murals, they serve to remind us who we are and from where we came. More importantly, murals are works around which we can gather as one people, one city. – Mary Birdsong

2 to 5 p.m. // $35 general public; $25 Erie Arts and Culture members // 452.3427 // erieartsandculture.org