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Hank Willis Thomas at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Archiving LGBTQ history at The Print Center, Cheryl McClenney-Brooker passing, Gees Bend Quilters and Betty Leacraft, Plus Main Line Arts Opportunity

By June 14, 2019
Dear Readers, after a hiatus of four months and with some needed feedback, we are reviving the News Post, revised here to quickly telescope a curated group of announcements, stories, newsy news and photos to you. We hope the topical list is helpful and enjoyable for your Internet reading. Send comments and news tips to editor@theartblog.org.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Hank Willis Thomas, Monument Lab piece, Afro Pick in front of the Municipal Services Building, Fall, 2017
Hank Willis Thomas, Monument Lab piece, Afro Pick in front of the Municipal Services Building, Fall, 2017

Hank Willis Thomas, creator of iconic Afro Pick sculpture, now in PAFA collection, speaks at PAFA June 17, 2019 6 PM
$15/FREE for PAFA members
On the importance of archiving LGBTQ+ history, panel with Gabe Martinez, John Anderies, Amy Cousins and Michael Carroll at The Print Center
June 26, 2019, 6 PM FREE

NEWS

(L-R) Artists Betty Leacraft (Philadelphia), Essie Pettway (Gees Bend), Shivon Love (Philadelphia Museum of Art Community Engagement manager), at the recent panel related to the Souls Grown Deep exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which features Essie Pettway's quilts. Photo courtesy of Betty Leacraft, with permission
(L-R) Artists Betty Leacraft (Philadelphia), Essie Pettway (Gees Bend), Shivon Love (Philadelphia Museum of Art Coordinator of Community Programs), at the recent panel related to the Souls Grown Deep exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which features Essie Pettway’s quilts. Photo courtesy of Betty Leacraft, with permission

Philadelphia Museum of Art celebrates opening of the traveling Souls Grown Deep exhibition with panel discussion featuring Gees Bend quilters Essie Pettway and Mary Lee Bendolph and others. Gees Bend quilters were featured at the PMA in 2008 and at Swarthmore College’s List Gallery in 2018. Here’s a roundup of Artblog coverage of those exhibits.

Check out Moves Gallery in West Philly, a home for queer and trans community. Inquirer article

NEW GALLERY OPENINGS

Sam Kapp, of the new Kapp Kapp Gallery on S. 13th St. with art by Gretta Johnson, from inaugural show at the newly opened gallery. Photo by Sydney Cox
Sam Kapp, of the new Kapp Kapp Gallery on S. 13th St. with art by Gretta Johnson, from inaugural show at the newly opened gallery. Photo by Sydney Cox

Sam Kapp’s Kapp Kapp gallery debuts on S. 13th St. near Dirty Franks, with all-women emerging artist show.

Rachel Bliss debuts independent exhibition space, The Drawing Room, 1824 Howard St. with inaugural exhibit of prints never before exhibited, by Gabriel Romeu

OPPORTUNITY

16th Annual Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition and Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art, $1000 award plus exhibit at Main Line Art Center.
Deadline: Midnight, Tuesday, June 25, 2019

ICYMI

Amy Sherald, painter of Michelle Obama, paints mural using local Philly teen as model Amy Sherald visits PAFA in 2018 snowstorm to speak about her work. Read Artblog coverage. Amy Sherald paintings below.

PASSINGS

We are very sorry to report that Cheryl McClenney-Brooker, dedicated arts champion and friend to many artists in Philadelphia and New York, died May 7, 2019 at age 70. More about Cheryl McClenney Brooker here and here.

More photos

Amy Sherald, "All Things Bright and Beautiful," 2016, 54x43" oil on canvas
Amy Sherald, “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” 2016, 54×43″ oil on canvas
Portrait of former First Lady, Michelle Obama, by Amy Sherald. From the National Portrait Gallery
Portrait of former First Lady, Michelle Obama, by Amy Sherald. From the National Portrait Gallery

What Others Are Reading...

A large square quilted cotton cloth wall hanging with a tongue-like shape dipping down against a black background, with the left half of the tongue showing red stripes on white cloth and the right side showing white stripes on red cloth. The border is yellow.

The Personal Folk of Jayson Musson’s ‘Allegory of the Veil’ at Fleisher-Ollman Gallery
An urban street scene in Philadelphia shows cars parked in a parking space along a sidewalk and in the background, a large red brick building rises 4 stories and is topped by a billboard with a cartoon image of two robots in a deep cartoon blue background.

Art billboard by Dan Rose, (re)FOCUS at City Hall, (re)FOCUS at Dina Wind Foundation, Mummers, and Opportunity
A Black woman wearing glasses smiles at you, her short hair a halo around her head and her silver and gold earrings, pink lipstick and light green v-neck sweater pointing to a friendly, stylish and empowered Black woman you would like to meet.

Syd Carpenter! Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Clay Studio, Gees Bend, and Opportunity!
A window at the Crane Arts building with plastic wrapped electrical wires weaved into the grating of the window. The dominant color is white with a branched tree pattern of blue lining the bottom.

Donate art for Artblog’s 20th birthday silent auction! Betty Leacraft, Akilah t’Zuberi, and Asake Denise Jones at Ultra Silk Gallery, 17th Annual Juneteenth Parade in Germantown, sad news of H.D. Ivey’s passing, plus opportunities
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Comics
A Black and White comic titled 3:00 (or, three o’clock in the afternoon when school is out and kids play), shows a Black woman and white woman sitting on a bench at a bus shelter and talking about the Presidential election.
 
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