“Sharing Seasons, Growing Together”
Artist: Kien Nguyen
Assistant: Sammy Kovnat
Curator: Mural Miles
Made Possible by: The Children’s Playhouse and State Representative Elizabeth Fiedler
"Sharing Seasons, Growing Together" is a visual celebration of how education, community, and diversity intertwine to foster collective growth. At its heart, the mural reflects a guiding belief that we grow stronger when we embrace our differences, support one another, and move forward together.
The mural weaves together three main elements into a dynamic landscape: colored leaves, tools for learning, and diverse faces
Each leaf, varying in hue and shape, represents the beautiful spectrum of identities, experiences, and cultures that enrich our community. These colors evoke the rich biodiversity of nature while also symbolizing human diversity in race, ethnicity, culture, gender, and sex. Together, these leaves grow from a common tree, symbolizing our shared roots in humanity and the potential we unlock when we grow together.
The foliage also reflects the changing of seasons. The leaves transition across the mural from the bright greens of Spring on the left to the warm golds and reds of Fall on the right, forming a seasonal arc that represents the passage of time. This transition becomes a metaphor for how we evolve individually and collectively, growing through every season we share.
The seasonal arc of the leaves mirrors a secondary narrative of growth through learning. Along the mural, a series of faces progresses from a child on the left to an adult on the right, embodying the personal and intellectual evolution we experience through life.
Interwoven among them are tools for learning, including building blocks, crayons, books, computers, and chess pieces, each marking different stages of curiosity, creativity, knowledge, and critical thinking. These objects are symbols of education’s universal power to shape minds, regardless of age, background, or ability.
The individuals depicted are intentionally representative of the diverse communities of South Philadelphia, including White, Black, Asian, Latin, and Hispanic identities.
Their presence affirms that education and personal development are not one-size-fits-all journeys, but unique and shared paths that flourish best in inclusive environments.
As nature cycles through change and renewal, so too does the human mind. This mural honors the resilience and adaptability that come with embracing who we are while learning to become more, together.
This mural is both a tribute and a call to action: to foster environments where differences are celebrated, where curiosity is encouraged, and where growth is always possible.
About the project.
The Children’s Playhouse in South Philadelphia is an early education learning center that supports children of all abilities, cultures and languages, as well as families of all income levels. When the building was first opened in 1928, it was a Jewish education and community center known as the “Stiffel Center”, funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. Before it’s closing in 2011, the Center was serving approximately 500 neighborhood community members of varied religious and cultural backgrounds, and in 2013, the Philadelphia Historical Commission added the building to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, protecting it from demolition. The Children’s Playhouse has since operated in this space, similarly serving a wide range of community members.
Recognized as a leader in the field of child care, Damaris Alvarado-Rodriguez is the founder of the Children’s Playhouse and a dedicated advocate for children as well as the community. The school was in need of repairs and an aesthetic facelift, and they were fortunate to receive a $50,000 grant from Pennsylvania State Representative Elizabeth Fiedler to help with this work. Part of the project was to create a mural on the side of the building, and Mural Miles was brought on to curate and project manage the creative process.
Artist Kien Nguyen is a Philadelphia-based muralist who has worked on more than 100 project around the world. Currently, he is interested in themes of duality expressed through murals such as symmetry and asymmetry, stillness and motion, as well as simplicity and complexity.
Assistant artist Sammy Kovnat is an internationally shown muralist, mosaic artist, and illustrator. She is passionate about expressing themes of healing, intergenerational stories and trauma, as well as vulnerability through a variety of mediums
Mural Miles is a a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to inspire human potential through community fitness and art. They do this by offering free monthly group runs that serve as fitness and art education experiences. They provide opportunities for runners to participate in creative volunteering projects, and partner with brands and organizations to fund and create new pieces of public art.
This project was made possible through the significant contributions of the following people: Eric Okdeh, Damaris Alvarado-Rodriguez, the staff and students of The Children’s Playhouse, Sharla Feldscher, Hope Horwitz, Debbie Zimmerman, Sheri Baker, Zach Oppenheimer, Kien Nguyen, Sammy Kovnat, State Representative Elizabeth Fiedler, Astrid Schrier and Ascher Oppenheimer
