News
Perhaps woodworking and American leadership have more in common than we knew? Former Philadelphia mayor and Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell is having a book signing at the Center for Art in Wood today from 5:30 to 8. A Nation of Wusses: How America’s Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great hits stands on June 4, 2012. More information at the Center for Art in Wood site.
Ever want to meet the face behind philly Artblog? Laura Adams, our intrepid sponsorship coordinator and able right hand, is having her first solo show of small oil paintings at Artists House, beginning with an opening reception today from 5-8:30 pm. There’s also a Meet the Artist session on Sunday, June 3, 1-4 pm.
Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation launches its “Check into a Masterpiece” Foursquare program today as part of its With Art Philadelphia marketing campaign. You can check into twelve designated works of art on the app and become mayor (if you want to become mayor). See Visit Philly on Foursquare, the list of the twelve Masterpieces, and an additional page about the program for more.
Personnel change of note: Theresa Rose is leaving her position at Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy and moving on to a new job as Visual Arts Program Director with Philly Live Arts & Fringe. Wishing her the best of luck and some amazing collaborations in the near future!
InLiquid’s Art For the Cash Poor 13, their annual block party-esque art sale, is happening Saturday and Sunday June 9th & 10th, from 12 – 6pm in the Crane Arts Building. This year, they’re doing something new – a special preview event to be held Friday, June 8th from 5:30 to 8:30 pm.
Via art fag city – The Brooklyn Museum is having a crowd-curated show — like on American Idol, the people will influence who’s in this one. Artist registration begins online June 4, 2012, and ends June 29, 2012. To participate, artists must have a studio in Brooklyn and be present during the open studio weekend, September 8–9, 2012. During the open studio weekend, voters visit the studios and vote on their selections by text messaging or the GO app. Voter registration opens on August 1, 2012, and runs through the GO open studio weekend, September 8–9, 2012. Find out more at Art Fag City and GO Brooklyn.
Two from the Public Art Fund – Justin Matherly’s sculpture “New Beaches” is in NYC’s City Hall Park as part of a Public Art Fund temporary art project through Nov. 30. A PAFA graduate and Basekamp member, Matherly had a show at Marginal Utility last year. There’s more info on this exhibition here. Tatzu Nishi’s Discovering Columbus, a large-scale temporary installation in Columbus Circle that will create an elevated perch around the Columbus statue in which people can “discover” New York ala Columbus discovering America (or that’s what we think is going on here). The piece is already under construction but doesn’t open until September, running September 20-November 18. More info on both at the Public Art Fund site. We want a Public Art Fund in Philadelphia!
The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. is giving the public Free Summer Saturdays from May 26 through September 1. Enjoy a video of the Corcoran’s summer plans here!
Gallery news – Street Road in Chester County is full of art, who knew! Two Chester spaces on the puzzlingly-named Street Road have interesting events coming up: Street Road Project Space, in a new art space in a real estate office in western Chester Co. presents “Compass,” opening today, Friday, June 1 from 1 to 4 PM; we particularly like the land art by Koma Homma, a Japanese-born British artist who will be at the opening via Skype. Also in the show are Benjamin Gonzales and Paul Moston. This is Street Road’s second opening. And Scarlett Thicket Farm is holding “Abstractions,” a one day show including the artblog favorite Dennis Beach. Hosted by Peter Welling, this show is from 2-7 PM on June 2; the farm is located at 284 West Street Road in Kennet Square.
Florcy Moriset, owner of the Vivant Art collection in Old City, has published a piece about galleries in the recession in the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal. Read “Philadelphia’s Art Galleries in the Age of the Recession…The New Model!”
Opportunities
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation has announced its State Individual Artist Awards Guidelines for Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey. Fellowships and grants ranging between $1,000 and $12,000 are available to individual creative artists in Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey working in select fields in the visual, performing, media, folk, and literary arts. The deadlines for submitting vary by state. Visit their site for more info.
Two via wooloo – Fluid New Media Lab in NYC is collecting work for upcoming exhibitions and events for Fall 2012, with a June 21 deadline; find out more here. The Videonale 14, taking place in the Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany, is calling for single or multi-channel video work. The deadline is July 6 and more info can be found here.
Via John Morris and Rhizome – The Lumen Jury is seeking fine art created in part or in full with the use of an app or software. They are open to art containing elements of graphic design, animation, illustration, photography, and film, but work must incorporate more than one of these fields. All entries are planned for display in the Lumen Online Gallery, open for a public vote to determine the winner in September. More details on applying here.
“Eraserhead” bears more than a passing resemblance to the post-industrial gloom of Philadelphia when David Lynch was living there, and PhilaMOCA is paying tribute to Lynch’s breakthrough film with “Eraserhood Forever” – curated by the artblog’s very own Chip Schwartz! Artists are invited to submit art that pays tribute to Lynch and his films, all mediums welcome. Please send digital files or photos of submissions to chip@philamoca.org. Links are preferred for six or more entries. There will be a $25 participation fee per selected piece of artwork; PhilaMOCA will handle all art sales with a 15% commission per sale. The deadline is June 29, 2012.
Artist News
Joe Boruchow’s “Fountain of Youth,” his contribution to University City District’s Heart And Soul project (in which artist-decorated pianos will be sited through West Philadelphia for people to play on) is ready to be unveiled. We are looking forward to this arty piano-playing and hope to hear people who know what they’re doing! Borochow’s and the other artists’ piano adornments will appear at the Heart and Soul Opening reception and launch party Wednesday, June 6th from 6 – 8pm at The Porch at 30th Street Station (that’s the new plaza on the south side of the station).
Jennie Shanker and Tim Belknap are in the group show Plein Air at Brooklyn’s Airplane. The opening is today, Friday, June 1, from 6:00 – 10:00 pm; the show runs through July 15th.
Jeffrey Stockbridge grabbed some notable press lately for his harrowing photo series of life in Kensington, including in the Philadelphia Metro, a feature in Time Magazine Blog: Lightbox, and an article in the Telegraph UK, printed in Stella Magazine. Congrats!
Rita Bernstein’s “Out of Place” is showing at the John Cleary Gallery in Houston from June 2-July 31. An opening reception is set for Saturday June 2 from 6-8 PM.
Dennis Beach is in the spotlighted by WHYY TV’s Friday Arts tonight at 8:30pm. If you can’t catch it, watch it at WHYY’s site.
Romy Scheroder, a UArts grad and former Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery staffer, is part of FIGMENT, the summer-long sculpture garden on Governors Island. More info here.
Matthew Cox’s art is currently part of the the group exhibition “Men at Work” at Widmer and Theodoridis Contemporary of Zurich as part of the Volta8 Contemporary Art Fair and Art Basel. The show runs June 11 – 16, and more information can be found here.
