Arts Event and Marketing Coordinator and Muralist David Guinn shared his artistic journey and passion for public art on WHYY’s children’s series “Albie’s Elevator” in the season 2 episode titled “Pepperoni Sam.”

In the episode, Guinn introduces viewers to murals as an art form and the power of creativity in public spaces. The mural featured in the episode is part of an ongoing community project to transform the 1300 block of South Percy Street, a narrow alleyway in South Philadelphia, into an immersive art walk, filled with murals, mosaics, and sculptures.

“Our goal is to put art on everything, including painting the surface of the street,” he explained. “This particular block is really just an alley with no car traffic. It is very close to Pat’s and Geno’s, the famous Philly cheesesteak places. People used to go back into Percy Street to get rid of their trash, but we wanted to make it into a place that people went for a more constructive purpose, to enjoy the art. By attracting more people to the street, we’d make the street safer and make the neighborhood cleaner.”

Producers at WHYY invited Guinn to appear on “Albie’s Elevator” after learning about this project.

“It all starts with getting involved with Percy Street, this little alley in South Philly that I started painting murals in, with the help of neighbors, to make the street look better,” he said. “Percy Street took on a life of its own and gained attention as a concrete example of how arts can foster community and make an impact on the quality of life in a neighborhood.”

The segment also served as Guinn’s acting debut, which presented new challenges.

“I learned that the craft of acting is really difficult,” he said. “The producers gave me lines that I would say. I had to imagine that I was talking to Albie and the puppets, but they were not there for the filming on Percy Street. Keeping the lines in your mind and then trying to deliver them as if you had just thought of them naturally is harder than I had imagined.”

For Guinn, introducing children to public art is about more than just the art form; it’s about encouraging them to make an effort to improve their communities.

“They say children are the future, and it’s true,” said Guinn. “Kids have so much unfiltered joy making art and being creative, without the self-judgment that comes as we get older, and holds us back from fully letting go into the creative process. It’s great to show kids the process of making murals because murals can seem like infrastructure, a part of the cityscape that was always there. But the truth is that personal initiative is one of the biggest parts of making something happen, and anyone can take that initiative.”

All episodes of “Albie’s Elevator” are available on YouTube, PBS LearningMedia, and WHYY.org.