Community Advocacy & Service
Gury has dedicated many years of working with unhoused persons, advocacy and program direction for the care and safety of unhoused persons in Philadelphia.
He has also assisted the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia as an educator for Mural Arts Youth Programs and as an advisor and critic for murals in progress.
Alice of Dunk's Ferry
Al created a painting of "Alice of Dunk's Ferry" for Philadelphia's historic Christ Church in 2009.
"Alice had no last name," Al told the Episcopal News Service. "I thought that she should at least have a face by which we could remember her."
The daughter of slaves and the church's longest-lived parishioner, Alice spent her 116-year life gathering stories about the city and its people, and became known in her time as an oral historian. But unlike the founding fathers, there was no likeness of her.
After years of field trips to the church with his painting students, Al decided it was important to rectify that situation, and in 2009 he provided the church with his vision of what such a proud Philadelphian might have looked like.