NEWS
Fourth Annual “Philadelphia Lantern Slide Salon” on Oct. 13, 2016, 6PM – 8PM, at the Wagner Free Institute brings on the past with a roar. With glass lantern slides from seven local institutions, the nostalgia-thon, in the Wagner’s actual Victorian lecture hall is a treat for history buffs, archivists, preservationists and those with a crush on the Victorians. Full event details at the Wagner’s website here.
The event is free, register here.
This year’s Salon features glass lantern slides from the special collections of seven local institutions: the Chemical Heritage Foundation, Fairmount Park Historic Resource Archives, Jefferson University, Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Temple University, and the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries.
Throughout the evening, each of the institutions listed above will present their slides along with original story that the slides illustrated.
Matthew Christopher’s “Abandoned America: Dismantling the Dream,” a photo book of abandoned buildings in America, has a book lunch at the Gershman Y this Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Beautiful decay is seductive and these images look worth a long look. The decay of a once-bustling shopping mall brings a chill and refreshes the memory of the financial meltdown President Obama inherited when he came into office. Full details here about the book launch party, presented by The Photo Review.
Big $15M Arts News from UPenn – The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation will bring innovation, collaboration, public programming, artist residencies and more to the Penn Community (While today’s announcement seems Penn-specific in its intent, I have to believe the initiative will embrace the wider community, so, Yay.) From today’s press announcement:
University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price have announced the creation of the Sachs Program for Arts Innovation.
Founded with a commitment of $15 million from alumni Keith L. Sachs and Katherine Sachs, this transformative gift – the largest gift ever made across the arts at Penn – will establish the Sachs Arts Innovation Hub and closely link arts education to the Penn Compact 2020’s goal of advancing innovation across the University.…The new Sachs Arts Innovation Hub, to be located in the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, will aim to visibly energize the arts and arts innovation at Penn. It will integrate research, teaching and practice, working collaboratively with faculty, students, arts and culture leaders and the Provost’s Arts Advisory Council, while building on the highly successful initiatives of the three-year Art and Culture Initiative sponsored by the provost and the School of Arts & Sciences.
…Led by an executive director, to be appointed through a national search, the Sachs Program will expand sustainable curricular innovation in the arts across the University, including grants to develop courses, workshops, master classes and other learning opportunities; encourage hands-on artistic production and public art spaces; foster cross-campus collaborations, especially between arts centers and academic programs; appoint artists in residence and other new faculty members; and build community and new audiences for the arts at Penn.
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation culminates more than a decade of support for the arts at Penn from Keith and Katherine Sachs. These major gifts, which have transformed the landscape of arts education on campus, include the Sachs Guest Curator Program at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Sachs Professorship in Contemporary Art in the Department of History of Art in the School of Arts & Sciences and the Fine Arts Program Fund and Visiting Professorship in the Department of Fine Arts in the School of Design. The Sachs’ vision has been to expand arts programs across the University by integrating the ICA, the Department of Fine Arts and the Department of History of Art and bringing outstanding artists to teach on campus.
…Keith Sachs is former CEO of Saxco International, member and former chair of the School of Design Board of Overseers and a trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He is a longtime leader of the Class of 1967 Gift Committee, which he is chairing during its 50th-reunion year. Katherine Sachs, an adjunct curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for many years, is an emeritus member of the University Board of Trustees, a member of the University’s Design Review Committee and a member of the ICA Board of Overseers, which she formerly chaired.
Via Amy Lipton, Independent Curator (formerly at Abington Art Center)…Amy and her sister, Jane Lipton, are bringing Performance Art Warrior Karen Finley, to Venice Island Performing Arts Center, Manyunk, for a one-night-only performance, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 7:30 PM. More below:
Karen Finley: Unicorn Gratitude Mystery
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 7:30 PM (doores open 7:00 PM)
Venice Island Performing Arts Center, Manayunk, Philadelphia, PA
$30 general, $24 seniors and students
Tickets available online at Eventbrite here.Performance art legend Karen Finley presents an encore of her unique evening of three related short works, UNICORN GRATITUDE MYSTERY.
Karen Finley, is well known for her role in the 1990s “Culture Wars”. She and three other performance artists, John Fleck, Holly Hughes, and Tim Miller, whose work also dealt forcibly with sexual politics, were de-funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. They sued and filed in the Ninth Circuit of Los Angeles and won. The Clinton administration took the case to the Supreme Court, which ruled against the artists four painful and painfully expensive years later.
Time has not reined in Karen Finley’s fire.…she still has the uncanny ability to go from zero to fury in a split second. Now Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump are proving splendid inspiration to Ms. Finley, whose work has always explored the intersection between sexuality and power.…Ms. Finley can be wickedly funny. The red Make America Great Again ball cap she wears in Mystery is instantly recognizable, and her Mr. Trump is petulant, whiny, short-tempered—it’s a takedown rather than an impersonation.…The last piece makes some wild turns, touching upon the concept of blondness in Hollywood and society’s exploitation of war and veterans. Ms. Finley knows anger; she also knows entertainment. – Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Times theater Critic, August 11, 2016
Lipton Arts with Lipton Management LLC will produce Karen Finley Unicorn Gratitude Mystery at the Venice Island Performing Arts Center. Amy Lipton is an independent curator and arts producer…She has a long history with Karen Finley whose visual art was exhibited at Lipton’s New York City Gallery; Mother’s Maiden Names, 1991, Written in Sand, an AIDS memorial, 1992, drawings from Enough Is Enough: Weekly Meditations for Living Dysfunctionally, book released October, 1993, and Flower Paintings, 1995
Jane Lipton is Executive Director of the Manayunk Development Corporation (MDC). She has managed the historic commercial corridor of Main Street Manayunk for 8 years and more than 100 local businesses there. In her time at MDC she has worked to economically enhance the commercial district while increasing the quality of life for the surrounding residents. She is proud to bring her lifelong love of Arts and Culture to the wider North West Philadelphia community.
Jane sits on the board of, and serves as the Executive Director of the Manayunk Special Services District, the area’s business improvement district. She also is the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Venice Island Performing Arts and Recreation Center.
OPPORTUNITIES
Art in City Hall call for artists for juried group show-Deadline Monday, Nov. 7, 2016, 4 PM
Small Sculpture
nothing larger than 12″ in any direction
Juror: Leslie Kaufman, President, Philadelphia Sculptors
Show Date: Dec 12-Feb 17, 2017
Venue: Art Gallery at City Hall, Room 116
Submissions due Monday, Nov. 7, 2016, 4PM
at Art Gallery at City Hall
For complete information about submissions call 215 686 9912 or email Tu.Huynh@phila.gov
Via Sarah McEneaney: Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is looking for a new Chair for the Painting Department. Full details at VCU website here.
Interstate Projects open submission for writers and researchers residency – Deadline for application, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016
Continuing our mission as a non-profit arts organization, Interstate Projects is initiating this program to meet the challenges of creative process and production in the face of real estate and market effects. In line with our Studio Residency Program, this program is being created to give Writers and Researchers space and time to nurture their intellectual pursuits in a supportive environment as well as access to New York’s diverse creative communities.
Writers and Researchers in ALL fields and at all levels of development are welcome to submit an application to live and work at an apartment adjacent to the gallery space from:
January 15 – February 15, 2017.Applicants must show a need for dedicated focus on a project that they are already working on.
There will be 2 recipients of this residency at a time and they will be sharing a live/work space for the duration of their residency.
Desk space and internet will be provided as well as private furnished bedrooms, shared kitchen and bath. All other costs of living, materials and all travel, are the responsibility of the recipients.
Applicants will be reviewed by a panel of professionals active and recognized in their fields.
International applicants are welcome to apply but Interstate Projects is not able to assist in visa, sponsorships or other immigration requirements.
Deadline for Application
November 1, 2016Announcement of Recipients
December 1, 2016At the end of the residency period, recipients will present an informal presentation of the project they are working on during their time at the residency.
Application is free. Complete details at the submission page here.
