{"id":320967,"date":"2026-11-04T12:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T12:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/320967\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T12:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T12:30:09","slug":"art-vending-machines-make-local-art-affordable-in-philly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/320967\/","title":{"rendered":"Art vending machines make local art affordable in Philly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\ud83d\udc8c Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Philly-based artist Fabiola Lara started making art vending machines in 2025. Lara discovered the concept from social media, and began to put her own Philly twist on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the machines have a different combination of mini prints in them,\u201d she said. \u201cInside of Art Star at the Independence Hall Visitor Center, of course I have a Liberty Bell print there, and over at Reading Terminal Market, I have two prints for Reading Terminal there, so the Reading Terminal sign and then the corner sign.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Philly 250 themed mini prints (Photo courtesy of Fabiola Lara)<\/p>\n

Last time Billy Penn spoke to Lara, she only had five vending machines<\/a> in the area. Now, she has 15.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just been little by little, working with local businesses and even visitor centers to get a mini print vending machine there, so that these little riso prints can be all over the city and create a sort of scavenger hunt,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lara\u2019s newest creation is an art vending machine passport \u2013 allowing Philadelphians and visitors to keep track of which riso prints they\u2019ve collected, and where they want to go next for more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s basically a little booklet that has a QR code for the vending machine map inside of it,\u201d she said. \u201cThat expands a little bit about me and the project, and then there are 19 pages where people can place their little mini print inside, and log the name of the mini print, the location where they found it, and the date they collected it, as well as stamp it because all of my mini print vending machines have unique stamps that I designed for each location.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expanding her reach<\/p>\n

Lara has worked hard to create unique experiences in each of her vending machines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each one contains Riso-printed tiny prints made with a Risograph, or a stencil duplicator machine that is similar to screen printing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for the machines themselves, she said she purchases and renovates all of them herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of my machines are vintage machines that I restore myself,\u201d Lara said. \u201cMy favorite example is the one at Reading Terminal Market. It\u2019s a machine from the \u201870s that is not made anymore that I took from rusty and crusty to shiny and new, and it\u2019s one of my favorite machines because it has the big arch at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lara said she has continued to place more machines throughout the city \u2013 mainly throughout Center City, Fairmount and South Philly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my main goal with it is to have mini print vending machines in places that are creative and cool, or landmarks that I know people want to go see, and it just like creates something fun and unique in those locations,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lara said she hopes to expand even further, but that placing each machine is a long process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I have machines that I\u2019m always working on, it\u2019s still a process of like making sure that they\u2019re ready to go, getting all the signage ready, getting them location ready, and making sure I have the mini prints to go inside of them,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Halloween-themed mini prints (Photo courtesy of Fabiola Lara) <\/p>\n

Impact\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lara said her work is all inspired by the positive feedback and stories she hears about her machines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m honored that people get excited to do this,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I know people from out of town who even come in with the explicit purpose of filling up their passport and kind of seeing Philadelphia through the eyes of not only my art but like the different locations that I have them in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lara explained this activity is also great for all ages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think something that people have told me before is that it\u2019s multi-generational,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, you know, grandma can come, mom can come, and the kid can come and they all have fun doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lara said she has heard from shopkeepers and participants that it can also be a social activity \u2013 particularly for those using the passport.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a very social activity, especially because then once you\u2019re out and about, you can like explore the neighborhoods further,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lara explained that a large part of her business is also helping support the local community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI make these here, but they\u2019re also printed locally here, and so I try to make this as local of a project as I can, and I try to kind of showcase different parts of Philly that I can through my mini prints in like a different way,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lara hopes to continue to expand her reach \u2013 including getting some vending machines in Fishtown and North Philly, and working on different collections like Eagles-themed prints.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can get your passport and learn more about Lara\u2019s machines here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udc8c Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today. Philly-based…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[130306,4877,130307,69,71,70,4044,127857],"class_list":["post-320967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-art-vending-machines","tag-arts","tag-fabiola-lara","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-photography","tag-secret-philly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}