Renowned muralist Matt Halm explains to Liberty High students how the different pieces of the Peace Mural will come together in the installation at Bernie Fritz Park.
“Peace” means different things to different people, especially youth. Now, thanks to a collaboration between Moravian University and CITYarts, a global nonprofit organization based in New York City, a colorful mural symbolizing peace will bring the Lehigh Valley community together at Bernie Fritz Park. The Bethlehem Peace Wall will be unveiled during a special ceremony on September 7, 2024, at 11 a.m. as part of CITYarts’ 50 States of Peace, an initiative to bring young people from across the country into a dialogue with each other through the creation of art reflecting their visions of peace.
“The mural gives the community a place to gather to celebrate and be reminded of the importance of peace, both in our communities and worldwide,” says Cathy Coyne, associate professor of public health and co-chair of the project with Maryjo Rosania-Harvie, assistant professor of art and art education coordinator at Moravian. “The end result is a lasting, beautiful, and meaningful piece of public art everyone can go out and celebrate,” Coyne says.
The Peace Mural was created entirely by Bethlehem community members, most of them students from the 4th through 12th grades. In the site selection, design, and execution, the project engaged not only Moravian University and CITYarts but also the Bethlehem Area School District (BASD), the City of Bethlehem’s Department of Community and Economic Development, the Bethlehem Arts Commission, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and ArtsQuest/Banana Factory. Students in Coyne’s and Rosania-Harvie’s Integrated Learning Communities courses were also involved.
“This is a special project not only because the images are visions of peace from community children but because the mural itself is the work of countless hands—artists, other adults, and children all picked up brushes and painted the actual work,” Rosania-Harvie says. As such, the mural will provide not only a place to join in the name of community togetherness but also a visual representation of peace.
From Visions to Visual
Moravian’s relationship with CITYarts began two years ago, when the university hosted CITYarts’ Pieces for Peace, a traveling exhibit of artwork from children across the world.
Soon after, Moravian held a series of workshops with students in Northeast Middle School and William Penn and Thomas Jefferson elementary schools. In the workshops, students drew and painted their own visions of peace, which were displayed in Moravian’s H. Paty Eiffe Gallery as well as the Bethlehem Area Public Library.
The final step in creating the mural involved bringing in renowned muralist Matt Halm to take the more than 90 images of peace created by 200 Bethlehem students and turn them into the Bethlehem Peace Mural.
Halm studied the dozens of pieces of art and sketched out the mural. He then went back to the schools, this time including Liberty High School, and had students paint the pre-drawn panels in a paint-by-number fashion. Halm pieced the panels together to create the mural now displayed in Bernie Fritz Park.
Celebrating a Community Built on the Arts
During the unveiling ceremony on September 7, students and teachers who contributed to the artwork, as well as the mayor’s office, Moravian University leadership, area residents, and Tsipi Ben-Haim, founder, executive, and creative director of CITYarts, will attend and celebrate.
“Bethlehem has become a true community built on the arts, and both North and South sides have embraced the arts as a way to build community,” Rosania-Harvie says. “The Peace Mural joins the many meaningful artworks that decorate the city.”
As Bethlehem becomes a designated World Heritage site, the timing of Pennsylvania simultaneously being identified as part of the 50 States for Peace couldn’t be any better.
“The UNESCO World Heritage designation ensures that Bethlehem will continue to be a special place to many,” Rosania-Harvie says. “As a member of the art department at Moravian University, I’m honored that we are working in a community with so much history, and we are making history every day.”—Elizabeth Shimer Bowers