Rolled Paper Art Brings A Community Together

Who would have thought the task of rolling hand-painted paper would bring a community together? This technique is often taught in school and sounds easy but requires tedious attention. 

Madison Art was enlisted to create an 8'W x 11'H masterpiece that would tie its Philadelphia roots to a smart, sophisticated piece of art that would be showcased in the historic Penn Mutual building. Now owned by Rubenstein Partners, the building was converted to the name of One Washington Square.  Working with Tantillo Architects, the owners wanted a memorable work of art to be placed in their newly renovated lobby.

The concept was to create an aerial view of Philadelphia and the Delaware River. We were drawn to producing a topography aspect of the land. With many ideas for construction on the table, we decided to use rolled paper to give the illusion of land and buildings. 

Knowing we wanted to build an abstract view of Philadelphia, we first constructed a rendering with our Madison graphic design team to determine color, placement, and the correct amount of abstraction. The final design, seen below, was then used to strategically determine the rolled paper placement on the painted boards.

Since Philadelphia was developed and constructed by many hands to be the historic city it is today, we loved the idea of involving the local community to add brotherly love to this art.

The combined effort of 40 children, teenagers, and adults participated in rolling thousands of paper rolls.  A team of Madison artists then painted the background and meticulously placed each roll.

2 of our Madison Studio artists painting the background: Laura and Collette

The most rewarding part was hearing all of the positive feedback from people walking by as we installed. Blood, sweat, and tears went into producing this special piece. Madison is honored that we were able to represent our area in such an artistic way and connect with the community on this project.  We hope that next time you find yourself in the Washington Square area, you take the opportunity to view this beauty in person. 

Madison Art:  Dream. Design. Create.