Judith Joy Ross retrospective stops at its only U.S. venue, Mellon Foundation Grant for preservation of the Tanner house announced, Da Vinci Art Alliance opens two new shows in May, Woodmere 81st Annual juried exhibition, plus more
Hi, lots of new shows are opening in the first few days of May. Including Our House is on Fire and Pandemic Flowers. at the Da Vinci Art Alliance with Exciting news comes with the newest exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Judith Joy Ross’s traveling retrospective visits its only U.S. venue here in Philadelphia. Hot Bed is hosting a talk with artists Su Knoll Horty and Krista Dedrick-Lai from the Leading a Colorful Life group show this Friday. Hope you’ll find something to interest you.
Notable Exhibitions
Philadelphia Museum of Art is the only United States venue for Judith Joy Ross retrospective
April 24 – August 6, 2023
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Following showings in Madrid, Paris, and the Hague; The Philadelphia Museum of Art will be the only U.S. Venue for the traveling retrospective exhibition committed to the photographs of Judith Joy Ross. Ross whose images offer a quietly penetrating portrait of our age. Spanning from the 1970s through the 2010s, Judith Joy Ross is the largest exhibition of work from the preeminent portrait photographer to date. Ross’s subjects range from children at municipal parks and public schools of Hazleton, Pennsylvania; members of Congress in Washington, DC; and African immigrants in Paris. Ross has taken arresting images of the U.S. involvement in wars and invasions, including visitors to the Vietnam War memorial, reservists called into active duty, and civilian action for and against U.S. involvement in the Middle East.
May 5 – June 24, 2023
Opening reception May 5, 2023, 5-8 PM
Twelve Gates Arts, 106 N 2nd st. Philadelphia, PA 19106
Remnants of Another traces genealogical memory among Indo-Caribbean artists descended from indentured Indian laborers to Suriname, Trinidad, and Guyana (1838-1917) Working in the Netherlands, Canada, and the U.S. Juxtaposing historical and family archives, these artists visualize remembrance as a form of survival alongside the enduring inheritance of Indian indentureship. The featured works range from oil paintings to film, quilting and printmaking to photography. This exhibit reimagines alternative visions of ancestral selves, kinship and diaspora.
The exhibition features the works of Nazrina Rodjan, Sarah Rohani Drepaul, Nicholas D’Ornellas, and Vanessa Godden.
Chelsea Kaiah, RECUSANT UTE AND HER ABSENCE, 24 x 10 inches / 61 x 25 cm, porcupine quills (natural and dyed), seed beads, greasy opals, gold Charlotte beads, antelope hide, felt, and rope, 2023. Image courtesy of Pentimenti Gallery.
May 2 – June 10, 2023
Opening reception Friday, May 5, 2023, 6-8 PM; Talk at 7 PM
Pentimenti Gallery, 145 N 2nd st, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Pentimenti Gallery is proud to present a group exhibition titled Rekindled Promise. The show coincides with Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America, a collaborative exhibition between the African American Museum in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (March 23 – October 8, 2023), and in parallel with corresponding gallery exhibitions in Philadelphia this spring.
Pentimenti Gallery invited five artists that draw inspiration from the challenges we face living in America today. The selected artworks were created through lenses of artists of different backgrounds and different concerns, such as climate change, immigration, material culture, and America’s complex and controversial past/present. These cultural critiques aim to reveal the contradictions of modern America’s self image.
Our House is on Fire a group exhibition at Da Vinci Art Alliance
Iron Horses by Judith Brodsky (1989), Lithograph on Paper. Image courtesy of Da Vinci Art Alliance.
May 3 – May 21, 2023
Opening reception Thursday May 4, 4 – 7 PM
Da Vinci Art Alliance, 704 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Four artists concerned for the ecological future of our country and planet have created Our House is on Fire, an exhibition focusing on the current and ongoing ecological crises. Judith Brodsky, Linda Dubin Garfield, Pamela Tudor, and Elsa Wachs create works that elicit discussion and concern for preserving the health and safety of our planet.
Artists often draw inspiration from nature and create art from the outstanding natural beauty all around us. Today we find ourselves at a critical juncture where we need to advocate for the harnessing of imagination, wealth, and technology to make our communities and countries a greener and more sustainable place for everyone to continue living. Judith Brodsky, Linda Dubin Garfield, Pamela Tudor, and Elsa Wachs interpret these catastrophic times and present works in unique visual languages that strive to create appreciation for natural beauty and raise concern for its preservation.
Pandemic Flowers: A Bicoastal Conversation presented by Da Vinci Art Alliance
Painting by Pia De Girolamo based of photography by Laurel Termini. Part of the Pandemic Flowers: A Bicoastal Conversation, two person exhibition. Image courtesy of Da Vinci Art Alliance.
May 3 – May 21, 2023
Opening reception Thursday May 4, 4 – 7 PM
Da Vinci Art Alliance, 704 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Pandemic Flowers: A Bicoastal Conversation is a two-person exhibition featuring the botanical paintings of Pia De Girolamo and photographs of Laurel Termini. De Girolamo’s paintings are inspired by Termini’s photographs of plants in the Huntington Gardens in Los Angeles. The photographs were taken on an iPhone and uploaded to Instagram during the pandemic. The prints retain the same square format standard of the site. De Girolamo’s interpretations were created at great distance from their counterparts, in her studio just outside Philadelphia. The paintings range from small depictions of a few specimens, to large colorful bouquets of plants and flowers.
Woodmere Art Museum announces 54 Philadelphia artists have been selected for annual juried exhibition
On view June 3 – August 27, 2023
Opening reception, Free and open to the public, Saturday, June 3, 2023, 12 – 3 PM.
Gallery talk with juror Doug Bucci Saturday, June 10, 2023, 2 PM
The Woodmere Art Museum is delighted to announce that 54 Philadelphia artists have been selected to participate in The Woodmere Annual: 81st Juried Exhibition. The show will be on view from June 3 – August 27, 2023. The works of art are from a variety of mediums, including found objects in sculptures to archival pigment prints, jewelry crafted of bronze, digital photography, and embroidery combined with glass.
Ten prizes totalling over $2,000 will be awarded by the juror to selected participating artists.
The list of artists in the Annual can be found here.
Learn more about the show here.
Eastern State Penitentiary presents new site-specific installation by E.D. Taylor
On view May 5 – Dec 31, 2023
Through a series of dioramas and artifacts, the artist reflects on a childhood visit with her Uncle Andy that took place following his confinement to California’s Atascadero State Hospital as a “Mentally Disordered Sex Offender.” Taylor’s work, titled Visiting Uncle Andy at Atascadero State Hospital (a maximum-security forensic facility), 1981, or simply Visiting Uncle Andy, debuts at Eastern State Penitentiary on Friday, May 5, 2023 and will remain on view through the end of the year.
E.D. Taylor’s installation weaves her and her family’s fragmented memories together with facts gleaned from court documents. Visitors to the site enter a cell to view the installation; they are invited to look through three peepholes set into the prison cell doors. Inside, dioramas depict the artist’s memories of trips to visit her uncle at Atascadero State Hospital. At both sides of the cell display cases hold artifacts of Uncle Andy’s life, arrest, and conviction, including yearbook photos, redacted court records, and Taylor’s musings about Andy’s downfall.
This Friday enjoy a panel discussion with artists from Leading A Colorful Life at Hot Bed
On May 5th at 6:30 PM Artists Su Knoll Horty and Krista Dedrick-Lai will be conducting a panel discussion at Hot Bed in the main gallery. The exhibition Leading A Colorful Life asks viewers to reflect on the personal meanings of color: where do you find color in your life? What might it mean for you to live a “colorful life?” Leading A Colorful Life lets the viewers into the colorful lives of six artists whose work, charts expansive colors in vastly different approaches.
This Friday students of the Let’s Dance Program will be performing. Let’s Dance is a partnership of Philadelphia Ballet and six Philadelphia Middle Schools.
The 7:30 program opens with a performance by the inaugural All City Dance Ensemble, a group of high school students from Philadelphia public schools. Afterward, Philadelphia Ballet company dancers will perform Bourbon St.
The Friends of the Tanner House and University of Pennsylvania receive Mellon Foundation Grant
The Friends of the Tanner House and the Center for the Preservation of Civil rights Sites (CPCRS) at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design have received a grant from the Mellon Foundation to support planning, community engagement, and capacity building process for the rehabilitation of the Henry Ossawa Tanner House, the former residence of the acclaimed African American artists.
The grant project, entitled Henry Ossawa Tanner house: Annunciating a Community Cultural Platform with Holistic Preservation, will support community arts and cultural programming to create a holistic preservation planning process for the Tanner House.
