Keswick Mural Branches Out

This weekend, artist Kim Mehler was “fine tuning” the mural located on the wall of the underpass on Keswick Avenue, between Mount Carmel and Paxson avenues.

“The theme is connecting communities,” Mehler said. “The [Abington Environmental Advisory Council] got together with the townships and they wanted to have a theme that involved green, open space but also a theme that connected Abington and Cheltenham."

“The trees represent the townships and that’s why the roots and the branches are intertwined and the colors blend together in the middle,” Mehler continued. “It starts with a bluish tree on one side and a yellow tree on the other side and it’s green in the middle.”

Mehler said on Saturday, 75 people helped lay down a basecoat.

“I had a lot of help on Saturday but now I’ll be doing the fine tuning,” Mehler said. 

Mehler came up with the design, and the Abington Environmental Advisory Council, along with members of the community, selected it out of about ten concepts at a meeting in March. Mehler’s work can be seen throughout the area, including the Elkins Park and McKinley Elementary School libraries. 

“When they started looking for an artist, I think five different people gave them my name so they thought, ‘Maybe we should use this person,’” she said with a laugh.