Superheroic Delight Song

We believe that art and literacy go hand in hand. In 2021, we combined the two through the Superheroic Delight Song Mural Project at Lea Elementary School with author Matthew Burgess and artist Josh Cochran. The end result of this project-based learning initiative was a stunning mural at Lea Elementary based on original poetry by Lea fifth-graders and reverberating with Keith Haring’s “We The Youth” mural in South Philadelphia.  Read on to learn more about this project (don’t miss the amazing time-lapse video)!

Coming into the new year, the teachers at Henry C. Lea School received copies of Drawing on Walls: A Story of Keith Haring, written by Matthew Burgess and illustrated by Josh Cochran.

Matthew Burgess led two virtual poetry workshops with the 5th-grade students in April 2021. Josh Cochran read the students’ writing and responded with his original design for the mural that bears the same title. This group poem was created using words and phrases from the students’ work.

Many thanks to Kimberly Bowers, whose film photography captured the mural-painting process in a style that reflects the gelatin emulsion photography taken during the time when Keith Haring was creating his murals. In addition to recording the process with digital cameras and time-lapse videos, our team used Polaroid and film cameras as an homage to Haring’s work.

SPECIAL thanks go out to:
Matthew Burgess, for inspiring the children to create poetry
Josh Cochran,  for creating the work of art in Lea School
Claudia Zoe Bedrick, Enchanted Lion Books
Lea School – Aaron Gerwer, Richard Liuzzi, Jennifer Harris,  the Lea School teachers, the students, and the supporting facility team
Teachers & Writers Collaborative – for supporting the initiative
Duane Morris, LLP for their legal support 
Penn’s LGBT Center
Kim Bowers – for her gelatin emulsion film photography