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Penn Wynne Elementary School

Off-Canvas

Penn Wynne Unveils New Library Mural

When a section of the Penn Wynne Elementary School library was sectioned off to create additional classroom space, Librarian Brahin Tabb and students using the library were left looking at a blank white wall. 

Mr. Tabb reached out to the Home & School Association with the idea of making the wall more attractive and a creative collaboration was born. 

Two Penn Wynne parents, who are also artists, Seth Turner and Nan Kruzick-Fonseca, along with a committee comprised of volunteers including Stephanie Tomei, Meredith Tolan and Kara Liebeskind, worked with Mr. Tabb to imagine how best to fill the wall. 

Mr. Tabb reflected on his favorite childhood television show, Reading Rainbow, and how host LeVar Burton and the theme song showed that reading can create windows into all sorts of different worlds. The artists ran with that idea and -- painting panels in their own homes -- created a series of four different windows looking into four different worlds: prehistoric times, under the sea, a modernistic Philadelphia skyline and outer space. 

The panels, along with the words, "Welcome to the Library" and the theme song lyric, "Take a Look. It's in a Book!" are now permanently installed on the formerly blank wall.

Attending the mural unveiling on May 31, 2024, were members of the committee, a student who delivered thank-you notes from her class to the artists, School Board Director Kimberly Garrison and Principal Shawn Bernatowicz. 

To see photos of the mural and its unveiling, you can click through the slide show below:

Mr. Tabb shares a presentation with HSA leaders and community members, who are all seated in the library.
Penn Wynne Librarian Brahin Tabb, seated, speaks to the group in the library.
Artist Nan Kruzick-Fonseca, wearing a black and white striped dress, sits in a chair in the library, smiling
Mural artist Seth Turner explains how the project was created.
Artist Seth Turner sits with his family.
School Board director Kimberly Garrison and HSA leader Stephanie Tomei listen to Mr. Tabb
Mr. Tabb and the mural committee members seated in the library
Members of the mural committee listen to Mr. Tabb speak.
Board Director Kimberly Garrison smiles during the presentation about the mural.
The artists and Mr. Tabb in front of the mural
Part of the mural, a lyric from Reading Rainbow, %22Take A Look. It's in a Book%22 painted on the library wall.
Part of the mural shows a window looking out on a colorful, modern depiction of the Philadelphia skyline.
Part of the mural shows a round porthole window with a colorful underwater scene.
Part of the mural shows a stone window looking out on a prehistoric scene with a dinosaur.
Part of the mural shows a round window looking into a space scene with an astronaut and planet.
Rainbow-colored letters say %22Welcome to the library%22 over silhouettes of children reading books.
The artists with Mr. Tabb and Naomi, who is a student at Penn Wynne.
The mural committee in front of the mural