Opening Reception: Franklin Thread

Celebrate the debut of this year’s commissioned installation and hear from the designer, Jeff Richards.

Free and open to the public with registration. Light refreshments will be served.

Join us at the Oar Pub at Park Towne Place for an opening reception celebrating Franklin Thread by architect and educator Jeff Richards, this year’s commissioned installation for our annual Art on the Parkway juried open call.

Franklin Thread is an actively growing installation that explores how organic materials and industrial by products can be used to build a more sustainable future. Come journey along the nearly 375-foot-long living flax “thread” in nearby Maja Park, meet the designer, and hear brief annual meeting remarks from the Association for Public Art.

The project follows the lifecycle of “flaxcrete” – from growing and harvesting to retting – and includes a sculptural wall made of this biogenic building material, developed by Jeff Richards with his students at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture.

Art on the Parkway is organized by the Association for Public Art in partnership with the Parkway Council and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation. Support for this project was provided, in part, by Creative Philadelphia and the Parkway Council, AIR Communities/Park Towne Place, and Prudent Management Associates.