This Midweek News’s big news is that Ryan and his kids are on a road trip! Ryan (Zooming from Chicago) and Roberta give tips on what’s great to see in Philadelphia — like Rose Luardo’s “Rave Coffin” in South Philadelphia, and an open session of Philly Dye Club at Chimaera gallery — also Hilma at the Wilma. The big fun begins when Ryan talks about the itinerary for his trip — lots of miles out west — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, South Dakota and more — to camp in remote spots and hopefully encounter some wild (but not too wild) animals.
Roberta: Hi everyone. It’s Roberta.
Ryan: And this is Ryan, and this is the Midweek News
Roberta: on Artblog Radio. Ryan here’s the news this week. I’m very excited about Rose Luardo, who’s a favorite of Artblog’s, and there’s a podcast interview I did with Rose in 2017, if you’re interested. And we’ll put the link in the news post. Rose has a guerrilla installation, outside, in South Philly at the intersection or near the intersection of Passyunk and Washington Avenue. And this is her rave coffin. Rave coffin. Now if you want to hear more about this you can go to our podcast where I was talking with Rose about this coffin in front of the coffin while we were both sitting in Practice gallery where it was shown for the first time in her first solo exhibit. Rose is a wonderful artist. She’s a comedian, an actor, a serious artist, a marathon runner. She’s just got so much to offer and I really hope you get down to Passyunk and Washington to see her installation. It’s interactive. I believe you’re invited to climb into the coffin and you know, think your thoughts and I’m not sure how long it’s going to be there and it’s not under a tent and it did rain cats and dogs yesterday, so I hope it’s okay. To be continued. I guess I’ll try to go down there and see what the status of it is.
Okay, so that’s one thing. I have one more for you. And that is Scott Kipp, who is an artist and maker, an amazing maker of furniture, clocks, organs, a restoration person, an exquisite maker of things and a great artist who announced on his Instagram that he has been working with Richard Torchia of our, the former (now retired) director of Arcadia University Art Gallery to bring forth an installation in the little gallery space, which if you have been to, you know, is this charming little, white tile-walled space, a high ceilinged industrial looking space that used to be the power plant for the castle.
Arcadia is known for having a castle for its…I think it’s where the president hangs out. Big old thing. Anyway, Scott Kip’s installation should be worth waiting for. It’s going to debut sometime in September. Kip had a Fleisher Challenge exhibit. In 2015, he had an installation at Marginal Utility Gallery in which he created of a kind of a house with open architecture (within the gallery). That was two story. You would climb up some stairs. It was interactive. There were peep poles to look through, to look down onto another space or to look into yet another space that was inaccessible. There were things in there that seemed as if someone was living in the space. It was mysterious. Kind of Kafka-esque, you know, or Alice in Wonderland, I suppose would be another thing to compare it to. Magical. It was not a cabinet of wonders, but a little architectural space of wonder. And I don’t know what he is got in mind for Arcadia. He hasn’t shared that, but he said he would update his Instagram, so follow him on Instagram.
So that’s about it for me. Those were things I was very excited about. Two wonderful artists that I wanted you to know were doing some amazing things around town. So, over to you, Ryan.
Ryan: Yeah, those sound really good. Well, I am actually out of town. I’m in Chicago, so I’m doing this live from the road.
Roberta: All right, welcome Chicagoans.
Ryan: But if I wasn’t, if I was still in Philly, there are definitely a few things that are going on in Philly that are worth seeing. And I’ll mention just a couple. Da Vinci Art Alliance has some openings coming up this weekend that are worth seeing. Sawdust and Eggshells is going to be a new show that’s opening that you’re going to want to see. And that’s by Tom Sonenberg. And the other one is CONVERSACIONES CON MANUEL and that’s curated by David Acosta. That’ll be worth seeing, and those are both at Da Vinci and those open up the 30th and the 31st.
Those look really interesting and I know some, I have a friend that’s really interested in dying in color and making inks. Which is really interesting. So they make it out of walnut inks and a few other things. And they have monthly meetups and they call it the Philly Dye Club. This weekend they’re having an open session at Chimaera Gallery that people can join. And that’s coming up this Sunday, June 2nd, from one to five.
Roberta: I have it on my calendar. I’m going to try to be there.
Ryan: It’s, it’s really cool. I have obviously I’m out town, but it’s definitely worth looking at if it’s at all interesting to you. So it, it is once a month and this is the first one to grab in June.
Otherwise you have to wait till July. And the last thing that I wanted to mention — two more things actually. I said just a couple, but I had a couple more because even though I’m out of town, there’s still fun things happening. Mission Story Slam is happening on the 4th of June. That looks very interesting. That’s from six to nine.
And then my theater plug for the week is Hilma, is at the Wilma. And that’s June 4th. One of my friends is participating in the talk back, so that’s always good.
Roberta: It’s Hilma af Klint or something? The painter. The spiritual painter.
Ryan: Exactly right. So that’s going be a great show. Wilma has been putting on a string of excellent shows. If you’re not participating in what’s happening at, at Hothouse, you’re missing out, there’s a lot of good things happening at Wilma Theater. Take a look at those.
Roberta: Wilma just got a Tony Award. Did you know that?
Ryan: I did. Yeah. That’s, that’s
Roberta: kudos to them.
Ryan: Yes. That is great. Yeah, so they’ve been doing really excellent things. A lot of really good shows coming out of there. Yeah, I think those are my highlights that I want to point out. Let’s see. Next week I’ll be phoning it in yet again. Next week I’ll be in Farmington, New Mexico.
Roberta: Where is that exactly?
Ryan: I don’t…it’s the Northwest corner.
Ryan: Yeah. So it’s about an hour drive south of Durango. I have not been there, my mother wants the rendezvous in New Mexico, so let’s go take a look.
Roberta: Okay!
Ryan: Yeah, so there’s some really interesting spots along the way.
Camping along the Platte River, in Nebraska. We’re going to go through the Rockies. Spend some time there and then onto New Mexico and then back up in and around Utah and, and I’ll fill you in on those as we go. Maybe I’ll post some pictures as well.
Roberta: Is all of that that you just said in one week and then you wind up in Farmington or is Farmington somewhere along the line?
Ryan: Yeah.
Roberta: Mm
Ryan: The next week is just well, I’m camping along the Platte River in Nebraska. And then it’s into the Rockies. And then it’s the Rockies all week. And then next Tuesday I’m landing in, so basically it’s like six days in the Rockies and then into New Mexico. And then we’re going to turn back around and go back north into Utah. So plenty of mountains to come.
Roberta: Okay. And this is you and the kids, right?
Ryan: Me and the kids are camping around. Yeah. Finding all the BLM land. We could find.
Roberta: the BLM. Yeah. Bureau of Land Management. That’s right. And why BLM?
Ryan: Usually you can find free camping that’s just out in the middle of nowhere.
You think about all the light pollution that happens. And here you have none. There’s just no one and nothing. It’s carry in, carry out. What you bring in, you bring out. So it’s a really fun time to just run in and explore and see new things and new experiences and yeah, I’m really looking forward to it. It should be relaxing and rejuvenating and
Roberta: isn’t it a little scary being in those places? You’re not really all, all alone, are you? Are there other campers?
Ryan: Well, there’s some campers, but once you get into BLM land, there are, there are specific camp sites on some locations, but otherwise you kind of find yourself a spot that’s either been used before or you kind of make your own space.
And most of it is like fire roads in case there’s wildfires. So you’re just kind of driving along these two track and then you had to figure it out from there for yourself.
Roberta: Oh my God. I can’t imagine. You have a compass, right? On your phone?
Ryan: Yeah. All of the maps were downloaded, everything’s set to go…water for days.
Roberta: So it sounds like Revenant, you know, did you see the movie Revenant?
Ryan: Yeah, but we’re not hunting or chasing bears. We did a couple years ago we had a run in with the mountain lion that was walking on top of our vehicle in the middle of the night.
Roberta: What did you do? Oh my goodness.
Ryan: Nothing. I just let it move its course. It just walked around our vehicle for a few circles and then decided to carry on.
Roberta: Oh my God. Were you in a tent? At least?
Ryan: We were sleeping in the vehicle. This was like a camping vehicle, so it was very different. But my kids woke up and like, oh man, I had this crazy dream about a mountain lion. I’m like, oh yeah.
Roberta: Oh God, that was partly real good they didn’t wake up. That might’ve scared the mountain lion.
Ryan: Yeah. But it’s a great story.
Roberta: Holy smokes.
Ryan: A wonderful adventure. Things they never forget.
Roberta: Mm, for sure.
Ryan: Yeah. So we’re looking forward to it.
Roberta: Yeah. Well, I hope you don’t have another mountain lion experience. Yeah. Maybe a beaver look for the beavers in the roads or the waterways.
Ryan: I’ve got great previous stories too, but I am, I’m looking for a mountain lion story. That sounds fun.
Ryan: I’d up for one of those Cougar experiences. Yeah.
Roberta: It sounds like a children’s book. I think you should put this all together in, you know, some sort of book format.
Ryan: Yeah, that and my memoir. I’ll save for another podcast day that’s a little bit longer than five, six minutes.
Roberta: We’ll do it. I’ll be there for that. I like memoirs. Yes. Good.
Ryan: Yeah. So that’s all my news. Tomorrow look for me, I’ll be in the middle of nowhere New Mexico. Wow. So that’s should be exciting.
Roberta: All right. Well everybody, let’s wish Ryan safe travels and finding all kinds of BLM free campsites. And we’ll see you next week, Ryan. I guess let’s sign off and say happy days.
Ryan: Sounds good. Thanks for listening, everybody. Appreciate it. This has been Artblog Radio’s Midweek News. And I’m Ryan.
Roberta: And I’m Roberta. We’ll see you next time. Bye-Bye
Ryan: bye-Bye.
