Body-art fans will be happy to learn about a new business coming to Cedar Park. Spirited Tattooing Coalition (Facebook page) will be opening at 49th and Baltimore Ave next week. Shop owner and tattoo artist Jasmine Morrell said she set out to open the shop as the first openly queer and a person of color to open a business like this in the city of Philadelphia.

“I wanted to be able to create a healthy and safe environment around tattooing people’s bodies and dismantle the abrasive and sometimes harsh environment that comes with the industry standard,” said Morrell.

The mission is to create a safe space where the staff will be trained in tolerance and inclusiveness to battle sexism, racism and homophobia that has been present in the tattooing industry. She completed her apprenticeship in 2004 and has been tattooing ever since. With a little over 10 years of experience, she felt ready to have her own space.

Jasmine Morrell (photo by Sarah Mackenzie).

“The industry is dominated by one type of person, it tends to be very male-white-centric. When there are women in the industry or the shop, it’s almost like they’re being commodified and not being valued as a person. I mean that’s a lot of industries. But I think American tattooed culture is bred as this American tough guy attitude. The reality is that it’s an art form, it stems from a different culture that does not relate to that,” said Morrell.

Spirited Tattooing Coalition began a month-long IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign in November, but only hit a little over one-third of the fundraising goal. “I’m a first time business owner and it’s definitely scary but I’ve had so much support though, it doesn’t feel like I’m doing it completely alone,” Morrell said.

Spirited Tattooing Coalition is located at 4918 Baltimore Ave. The space was previously occupied by the A.M.S. International Market, which closed in June, but has since been transformed into a different type of retail space. The space above will remain a residential apartment space. The current space will not only run as a tattoo shop but also a fine arts gallery, with portion of the floor dedicated to being consignment goods.

Friday, March 13th will mark the official Grand Opening – the shop will be open from noon-9 p.m. Regular business hours will resume the following day: Monday-Saturday noon-9 p.m. The shop will be closed Sunday.

– Rana Fayez

Photo from Philadelphia LISC blog.

A great neighborhood beautification project is underway in Mantua. Initiated by local residents and supported by community leaders and organizations, the Mantua Greenway project is an effort to transform an overgrown and littered strip of land on Mantua Avenue, adjacent to the Amtrak railway, into a green space, reports the Philadelphia LISC blog.

Lifetime Mantua resident Bessie Washington, who lives across the street from the lot, started a small garden there in 2011 in memory of her mother. The planting of the first few flowers and plants has blossomed into a grassroots cooperation, resulting in a large neighborhood revitalization campaign to create a green space and build a walking and biking trail. Thanks to support from the Philadelphia LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation), the project also received funding.

“In 2013, the William Penn Foundation provided $200,000 for concept design and early stage planning, and this past October the neighborhood was awarded $150,000 by the state for design, engineering, and partial construction of the greenway. The path will eventually connect to the city’s Schuylkill Trail system, and will boast trees, murals and art installations,” according to the LISC blog post on the project.

Read more about this and other Mantua revitalization efforts here.

The Leeway Foundation, which supports women and trans artists who create art for social change, has announced their newest grantees to receive a $15,000 Leeway Transformation Award. Three out of nine award recipients are long-term West Philadelphia residents: Annie Mok, Debora Kodish, and Ezra Berkley Nepon. The award celebrates their long-term commitment to art, the work they’ve been doing in the community, and their tremendous impact. The Leeway Foundation provided some more information about these wonderful artists and their work:

Annie Mok (Literary Arts and Visual Arts): Annie is a comic book creator who seeks to affirm the lives and experiences of trans women and survivors. Through her fictional and memoir-based comics, she aims to agitate, engage and encourage inquiry. Annie works to inspire personal and artistic confidence by breaking down feelings of isolation within her community. In her art, Annie explores themes of trans women’s identity, long-term effects of sexual abuse and disability stemming from mental illness. Annie creates space and prioritizes artists and readers who identify as trans female, disabled, queer, and/or people of color.  Continue Reading

Paul Steinke (photo from Linked In)

West Philly resident Paul Steinke, the former general manager of the Reading Terminal Market, will officially announce tomorrow that he will run for City Council.

Steinke’s announcement that he will run for an at-large Democratic seat in the May 19 primary was expected after he stepped down as general manager at the Terminal Market in early December. The announcement is scheduled for Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Field House, a sports bar adjacent to the Market.

The former finance director of the Center City District and the first executive director of the University City District, Steinke, 49, has overseen a 30 percent increase in visitors and $4 million in renovation and expansion of the Market in the 13 years he has overseen operations there, according to a statement from his campaign. Steinke is a 1986 graduate of Penn State University.

Steinke hopes to be the first openly gay person elected to citywide office. He lives in the Spruce Hill neighborhood with David Ade, his partner of nearly 20 years.

All 17 City Council seats are up for election in November – 10 district seats and seven at-large seats.

– Mike Lyons

Great news for West Philly artist James Dupree and his supporters: After two years of fighting the authorities to save his 8,646-square-foot art studio near 36th and Haverford from being destroyed to build a supermarket, the artist announced victory yesterday.

We won. We are getting the deed back. Thank you to everyone who supported us. #JamesDupree will have a public comment coming soon. Victory!

— dupree studios (@SaveDupree) December 11, 2014

James Dupree (Photos from SaveDupreeStudios.org)

Dupree purchased an auto repair shop at 3617-21 Haverford Ave in 2005 and turned it into a sprawling art space, known as Dupree Studios, but the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority seized and condemned the property along with other properties in a two-block area in December 2012 as part of efforts to revitalize the Mantua neighborhood. Since then 64-year-old Dupree has been fighting the plans of turning the lot into a grocery store with a parking lot through legal appeals and public campaigns. The PRA has finally ended the proceedings to condemn the property, which includes art studios, classrooms, and even three “quirky” apartments.

Curtis (left) and his crew. (Archived photo / West Philly Local).

There are a few things around that signal the arrival of the holiday season. The squirrels bulk up a little for the winter, parking is a little easier to come by as the students start leaving and, like clockwork, Curtis and his amiable crew set up their Christmas tree operation at 50th and Baltimore (just like they have every year for 25 years or so).

This year, they began selling trees on the triangle in front of Dock Street the day after Thanksgiving and will continue right through Christmas Eve. The selection is good – different sizes, types and prices. They also have stands if you need one of those and they will tie up your tree so it can go in your grocery cart (or on your car).

Curtis  is typically open every day from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m..

We’ll keep you posted on other spots to buy a tree around the neighborhoods, but as usual Curtis gets first mention of the season.