I have some cousins who live in the Filthadelphia suburbs and I have alerted them to the situation. Fingers crossed.
Thank you! Public pressure in Philly saved artist Isaiah Zagar’s Magic Garden from destruction. It is nealy impossible to describe or picture; but he created this enormous mosaic from found ceramics, mirrors and metal cast-offs in an outdoor empty lot on South Street when many parts of Philly were a trash heap. The mosaic covers the ground and the walls of the three-story buildings beside it, and has many standing “found-object” sculptures inside.
“Hipsters” started moving to South Street after artists took over the empty buildings for cheap rent in the late 60s and started fixing them up. Now, it’s another yuppified place where the visionary artists, now in their 70s, can barely afford their taxes.
When friends of mine tore out the inside of their row houses near there to renovate it, they gave Isaiah Zagar carloads of old mirror shards, pieces of rusted ironworks and chunks of tiles, as did many other renovators. He incorporates ceramics that he makes, stuff from flea markets and gleanings from trash night into his outdoor murals. When you pass by these buildings in the sunlight or by car headlight, the mirror chips illuminate the walls amazingly.
Videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEpXlmdyJ4A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH1kG3U8veU