Artist Meg Saligman, known for several murals around Philadelphia, acquired the building to turn it into a multi-media art experience where audiences will be invited to wander its five floors at will.
“In one way it’s a cozy bank, and another way it is a lot to explore,” Saligman said. “Many staircases, many winding paths, a large atrium, the heavens. Don’t forget the heavens are here.”
Meg Saligman looks up at the painted ceiling on the vaulted fifth floor of the Manufacturers National Bank, a space in the ”Ministry of Awe” art installation that she calls the heavens. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
The so-called heavens are the ceiling of the five-story atrium with original mouldings that Saligman has turned into a sky-blue mural of fanciful imagery.
What does the mural represent?
“That’s a good question,” Saligman said. “I call it the Sistine Chapel mural. On the top floor, the bank itself will peel away to reveal, perhaps, our imaginations.”