Congratulations
Michelle Angela Ortiz named Citizen Artist Fellow
Michelle Ortiz has been named a Citizen Artist Fellow for 2017/2018 by the Kennedy Center. This program “celebrates emerging artists across the country who utilize their art form for positive impact on communities.” Congratulations, Michelle!
Eastern State Penitentiary wins AAM Excellence in Exhibitions award
The American Alliance of Museums’ Excellence in Exhibitions award for 2017 was granted to Eastern State Penitentiary for Prisons Today: Questions in the Age of Mass Incarceration, which explores the contemporary criminal justice system. Congratulations!
News
Mural Arts Philadelphia reveals artist projects for Monument Lab
We’ve been fans of Monument Lab for a while, and wrote about Terry Adkins’ wonderful installation in front of City Hall in 2015. Mural Arts has announced the full list of participating artists for 2017, along with some details about their installations, and it looks like a great lineup!
- Tania Bruguera (City Hall area): the “new immigrant” in Philadelphia
- Mel Chin (City Hall): the ordinary citizen and representation through a participatory art installation
- Kara Crombie (Franklin Square): Philadelphia’s rich musical history and access to arts and music education in the city
- Tyree Guyton (Kensington): trauma and the relationship between time, recovery, resilience, and healing
- Hans Haacke (West Philadelphia): archaeology of the vacant lot
- David Hartt (Norris Square): the civic and cultural significance of community gardens, green common spaces, and Afro-Latino history
- Sharon Hayes (Rittenhouse Square): the absence of women in Philadelphia’s monuments
- King Britt and Joshua Mays (Malcolm X Park): youth monument to the future and the enduring power of Malcolm X
- Klip Collective (Marconi Plaza): immigrant families and histories of South Philadelphia’s generations of families, then and now
- Duane Linklater (Penn Treaty Park): Philadelphia’s Indigenous history and Lenape Chief Tamanend’s legacy
- Emeka Ogboh (Logan Square): sound, collective memory, and poetic storytelling in Philadelphia
- Karyn Olivier (Vernon Park): “remixing” a current monument to bridge past and present
- Michelle Angela Ortiz (City Hall area): a monument informed by the voices and stories of undocumented mothers unjustly detained at the Berks Detention Center, a family prison outside of Philadelphia, in cooperation with the Shut Down Berks Coalition
- Kaitlin Pomerantz (Washington Square): redevelopment, neighborhood culture, and the rapidly shifting landscape of Philadelphia
- RAIR (Penn Treaty Park): a recycled eco-history of Penn Treaty Park
- Alexander Rosenberg (Rittenhouse Square): the built and unbuilt structures of Rittenhouse Square, throughout its history
- Jamel Shabazz (Vernon Park): monument to African American veterans of all wars
- Zoe Strauss (Logan Square): the public commons and civic action
- Hank Willis Thomas (City Hall): African American representation, civil rights, and belonging in the city
- Shira Walinsky and Southeast by Southeast (Marconi Plaza): a fully functioning newspaper kiosk populated with publications and artworks made with artists from refugee communities in Philadelphia
- Marisa Williamson (Washington Square): buried African American sites and untold stories in and around one of Philadelphia’s most historic neighborhoods
Opportunities
Calling all printmakers!
Second State Press is offering its Cindi Royce Ettinger Fellowship to the printmaking community. Each summer the studio will host an artist whose work demonstrates an uncommon grasp of the printmaking medium and an energetic approach that will likely influence future printmakers.
The candidate chosen to receive the fellowship will be granted 24 hour access to the Second State Press facility for the one month during the summer, two flat file drawers in which to store paper and supplies, a modest stipend, and all critical feedback that membership in a communal print shop like SSP provides.
Application Deadline: Monday, May 22. For more information and to apply visit their website.
Events
Queer sci-fi reading at Vox Populi
LASER LIFE: Style of Attack
Wednesday, May 10, 7–10 pm
Vox Populi, 319 N. 11th St., 3rd floor
$7-10 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds
Laser Life is a queer sci-fi reading documenting the release of STYLE OF ATTACK and a celebration of the book being nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, the highest honor in LGBT letters. You can purchase and peruse the book here. Come here the futurist voices of: Ras Mashramani, Maggie Eighteen, Rasheedah Phillips, Camae Defstar, Alex Smith, and special guests TBA. For more information, check out the Facebook event page.
Lenka Clayton and Dan Byers in conversation at the Fabric Workshop and Museum
Friday, May 12, 2017, 6–8 pm
The Fabric Workshop and Museum, 1214 Arch Street, 8th Floor
RSVP suggested, walk-ins welcome–register here.
Doors open at 5:30 pm. Event begins at 6 pm
The Fabric Workshop and Museum current artist-in-residence Lenka Clayton and ICA Boston’s Mannion Family Senior Curator Dan Byers discuss Clayton’s new and recent work on view in FWM’s current exhibition, Lenka Clayton: Object Temporarily Removed. Have you seen Ilana’s review of the show? This sounds like a great conversation, not to be missed!
116th Annual Student Exhibition at PAFA
Opening reception: Friday, May 12, 5-8 pm
PAFA, Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building, 128 N. Broad St.
PAFA’s big annual student exhibition features work by the school’s BFA students, third- and fourth-year undergraduates, and second-year MFA students. This long-standing PAFA tradition offers students the opportunity to curate, install, and sell their own works in PAFA’s museum galleries. In addition to its role as an exhibition and sale, the ASE also provides collectors and the general public with opportunities to view and purchase works.
At last year’s exhibition, Artblog was introduced to the work of Jonathan Lyndon Chase, who has become one of our favorite up-and-coming Philly artists. Check out the podcast Roberta did with him earlier this year. We’re looking forward to this year’s exhibition!
Broad Street Review hosts discussion on arts funding
Arts Funding: Who Should Pay?
Monday May 15, 2017, 7–9 pm
Tickets available here
With government funding for the arts under attack, what are the best alternatives? A reception and panel discussion featuring Wendy Rosenfield, Editor, BroadStreetReview.com; Greg Maughan, founder of PHIT Comedy; John Orr, Executive Director of Art-Reach in Philadelphia; Kile Smith, composer; Amy Smith, Co-Director, Headlong Dance Theater and lecturer at UArts; Valerie Gay, Executive Director, Art Sanctuary.
Good reads
Roz Chast’s embroidery
Did you know that cartoonist Roz Chast also makes embroidery? We didn’t, so we love the latest cover of the New Yorker, “Motherboard.” Here’s a neat little article with more examples of Chast’s embroidery, and an animated gif of the making of the cover.
