Midweek News Podcast, Harlem Renaissance show, Ghost City, book reviews, Philly Fun Guide ending, Shakespeare Circus, and more.

Roberta: Hi everybody, it’s Roberta.

Ryan: And this is Ryan. And this is the Midweek News

Roberta: On Artblog Radio. Good morning, Ryan. It’s morning here,

Ryan: Good morning,

Roberta: I hope everybody is having a good morning. How’s your morning?

Ryan: It’s going pretty well. How’s your morning going?

Roberta: Oh, you know, it’s been better but it’s going to get better, so, work, work, work. What’s the, what did they say in the movie, The Shining, “All Work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” I don’t want to be a dull girl, so gotta play. Anyway. Podcasting is playing, isn’t it? It’s useful, but it’s useful play. I love it. Today I want to tell you about some books.

Catalogs for exhibits are often marvelous books in and of themselves. They have lots of good written material as well as photographs, photographic installation shots, and sometimes Q and A’s with artists and an index in the back. Very useful, very good stuff. So my husband and I, Steve and I went to see the Harlem Renaissance show at the Met Museum last week, and we ran into Pete’s Sparber, one of our Artblog contributors, who’s been writing for us for a while now.

And he was there also seeing the Harlem Renaissance Show. So we had a nice old time and talked about the show, after seeing it, and you can look forward to reading something on Artblog about that show. And I want to say it’s only up through July 28th. So this is the last week to go see it. Or is it the penultimate week? No, it’s the last week. It closes Sunday. You can go on up to the Met, but don’t go on Wednesdays because the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which you might not know, is not open on Wednesdays. So don’t go on Wednesday, unless you have some other thing you want to do in New York.

I bought the catalog to the show and I can’t wait to dig in and read it. It has wonderful essays and a fabulous documentation of what was in the show. This exhibit makes up for the bad show that the Met had in the sixties, Harlem on My Mind, I think it was 1969 perhaps. That was, I think also maybe called Harlem Renaissance Show. And it had no art by Harlem artists at all. No Black artists in the show. It was a documentary of the streetscape and you know, the Apollo Theater and things of that nature. So this is the Met’s mea culpa, and they did a very good job of it, in my opinion. So that’s one book I want to talk about. 

I want to talk about another book that is coming out in November, but we have a PDF of it. It’s called Building Ghosts: Past Lives and Lost Places in a Changing City. It’s about Philadelphia, written by Molly Lester and photographs by Michael Bixler. Michael Bixler is affiliated with our friends at Hidden City Philadelphia, which we love — another online publication. Michael is the editorial director and chief photographer. And Molly Lester is the Associate Director of the Urban Heritage Project at the University of Pennsylvania, Weitzman School of Design. So this is a book I’m looking forward to getting. It sounds like it’s going to be a really great one. And we all know what “building ghosts” are. They are the impedimenta left after a building is torn down. You know, the outline of the stairs the scraps of wallpaper on the wall, that still remains. Things of that nature. So there are a lot of ghost houses in Philadelphia. So very interested that this is coming out and very happy to be able to get a copy of it in the fall, November, 2024. 

The third book I want to mention is — and thank the email gods for this because this came into my email inbox for Artblog and I never would’ve heard of it otherwise — the Royal Horticultural Society Collage the Botanical World. 1000+ fantastic floral (and animal and bird) images to cut out and collage. Now, wouldn’t you want to have that book too? I immediately wrote back to them and said, I would like to see this book. And they very happily sent me a copy. I bought another couple as giveaways for people. Beautiful images of paintings. They’re all paintings of flowers and fruit and birds. And then at the end there’s some photographs of the English countryside. If you want to put, you know, a great big bird in a little tiny landscape. Photographs of some cottages in England, etc., you could do that.

I think collage is a very happening thing these days. And oftentimes a collage is the entry point for students to art. I think in the elementary school level, there is a certain level of collage that is people’s art introduction. So for some of those people, it stays with them and they make collages lifelong, and it’s a good thing. We have a collage artist friend in Paris, our contributor Matthew Rose, who’s a fabulous collage artist and has been making art for many, many years. Very good collage art. 

So that’s about all I want to talk about is those books. Although I will mention, if I can dip into the video relationship with books and say I saw on Apple TV+ the Pachinko series, which is historical fiction about Korean colonization by Japan. It’s very well done and very sad. Good to absorb that history that way. And I did not realize there was a book that predated it. And a friend of mine told me, oh, you didn’t read the book? I said, no, I didn’t know there was a book. So I went to my library, Hello library, I love you so much! And got the electronic copy of Pachinko, the novel, and I’m now reading it. It’s marvelous. Interesting. It’s really great. And so, we live in a wonderful time where we get introduced to books through a variety of sources, including people telling you about them. I mean, that’s always been the way, word of mouth, but having seen a video and being enthralled by it and then finding that there’s a book, it’s a wonderful thing. Anyway, Ryan. What are you reading? What are you reading these days? 

Ryan: Let’s see. I’ve been reading a lot of nonfiction lately. I was reading Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking Fast and Slow.

Roberta: Is that a “how-to” book?

Ryan: No, it’s not a “how-to.” It basically is talking about how the brain processes decision making and it’s kind of in line with…

Roberta: Blink, the Malcolm…

Ryan: Gladwell book. No. It’s more like is free will real, does that actually exist? Is there cognitive science to suggest that? Or can we sway you to make the decision we would like you to make? 

Roberta: Oh my god.

Ryan: Yeah. And I think it’s pretty, it’s pretty interesting research. And, and I think if we ever see evidence of it, we’re looking at social media showing us exactly how easy we can conform and think of it as free will. And it’s like, I mean, for me personally, I know when I look on something for Instagram I’m trying to find something that I know was in there at one point and I can’t find it, 45 minutes have gone by and I’m like, what did I just do with that? Almost hour, nothing.

Roberta: So, yeah. Interesting, interesting. I want to say, look at what’s been going on over the last, month, and that is, a lot of anxiety about the presidential election and the nominees and what was one of the big things in the discussion that I think ultimately led to the dropout of the Democratic nominee, and that is, the polls. The polls are very persuasive and you know, whether it’s rational or not, I don’t think is the question. It’s whether it’s persuasive and they are persuasive, which is part of the danger of the polls, I think.

Ryan: Yeah. Could be interesting. Well, we’ll see. It’s an interesting time for politics.

Roberta: Mm, for sure. For sure.

Ryan: And let’s see, I’m also rereading Thomas Mann Magic Mountain. 

Roberta: So I’ve never read that. You’re rereading it? 

Ryan: He has an interesting style, the German. There’s a couple of translation versions and the latest one is, I’ve been told — I don’t speak or read German, but I’ve been told — this a little bit more how Thomas Mann wrote and spoke and the cadence feels closer. The original translation took a few more liberties I’ve been told. So yeah.

Roberta: Well, translators, we should have a discussion about that someday. Not today, but wouldn’t it be an interesting question, how to translate a book? 

Ryan:  I think its, it’s tough one. 

Roberta: I think a lot of liberties are taken and sometimes for the better. But I don’t know.

Ryan: Especially in poetry. There’s a lot of interesting poets that get translated and, yeah. That’s gotta be really difficult to, to translate. I would think.

Roberta: Yeah, the nuances — poetry is very nuanced. 

Ryan: Yeah. Let’s see. So there’s some big announcements that the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance has announced that there ending Philly Fun Guide and I’m not sure if a lot of you use that but obviously that’s a listing service that lets you know what’s happening and also Fun Savers.

Those are both ending this year — August 31,2024 — and we have ArtBlogConnect.org to fill in those gaps. It’s not specifically for those gaps, but we think it’s a great alternative to Philly Fun Guide ending and Fun Savers ending as well. Philly Fun Guide, I think the last time you could submit an event is passed (July 19, 2024). So there’s nothing new going to be submitted for Philly Fun Guide. So, yeah,

Roberta: For those that don’t participate in submissions to Philly Fun Guide, I think you needed to be a member of the Cultural Alliance, a dues paying member. So that’s nonprofits pretty much. It’s not for, for-profit organizations, but museums, galleries you know, and community organizations like Asian Arts Initiative, Taller Puertorriqueño, those types of organizations would make use of that. And Fun Savers were the discounts they would run. That’s a huge change. I this is historic. I think they’ve had Philly Fun Guide and Fun Savers since the eighties, maybe the nineties for sure.

Ryan: Yeah, it’s been a long time. So I’m curious. I am curious what other, where other people get their news, where other people get their event listings.

So we obviously have ArtBlogConnect.org and that is a free service for anyone to use that you can post your event at any time. Get the word out about what’s happening with your show, with your event, what you would like to connect people with to just get your voice out there on your own terms.

ArtBlogConnect.org, and it’s all there for you. If you have any questions, you can always reach out to me and we can walk you through that. email support@theartblog.org

So there’s some really great events that are coming up. I’ve talked about Philly Dance Day that’s coming up shortly, if you’re still interested in that.

Roberta: Are you still going to go? Dance your way through the day?

Ryan: If I could fit it in my schedule, I think it’d be a lot of fun. I’m super curious on what it’s going to be. I know I’ve mentioned it a few times, but you know, it’s a low commitment one day or any segment of the day too. Like every hour there’s a different style of class. You don’t have to show up for all of them, show up for any of them. No signup, no cost. I haven’t done anything like that. So it’d be a fun and a unique experience.

Roberta: But limber up first. Limber up afterwards.

Ryan: Yeah. A lot of stretching. You definitely don’t want to pull anything, especially at my age. You’re just like, oh my goodness.

There is the Second Place race coming up on Saturday. It is a part bar crawl, part puzzle, party, part scavenger hunt. It starts at Plays and Players. Looks interesting. I haven’t done it. Take a look at that. Should be wild. Interesting, fun time and I’m not sure if it is actually a drinking game for those of us, like myself who don’t drink to still participate. (Tickets $26.50)

So it’s a bar crawl, but it’s not necessarily a drinking race. That’s good. Yeah, I agree. So it gives other people things to do. Speaking of ArtBlogConnect.org we have a “closing soon” button now available. So one thing I notice is, our main landing page shows all the openings. Here’s everything that’s opening and happening. And some people were saying we’re also having a special closing event, which I think is super great. So we now have a closing soon button, which will which will show you a few of the events that are closing soon as well. Take a look at those, see if those are of interest, because sometimes with calendars you see what’s opening, and then they run for two months and then you don’t see it again. So double check and see if there’s something closing that you might want to take a look at. 

This week opening — I like to throw in a Shakespeare thing — I’m seeing a retelling of Hamlet done via circus with the New York Circus Project, so I’m excited to see that. That’s at Fringe and running from July 24th through the 28th, and I’ll try to get my review up as fast as I can. I’m looking forward to that. It looks really interesting; they have a trailer of it, so they, they have chosen New York and then they’re doing it in Philly, and then there will be in DC if you missed the Philly dates. And you could hit DC

Roberta: Is this going to be kind of like the Cirque de Soleil where there’s people hanging on ropes and trapezes, that kind of circus? Or are there going to be elephants and, you know, lion tamers and all that kind of thing?

Ryan: I think it’s aiming towards the Cirque de Soleil. Apparently from the information I received, there are former performers from Cirque de Soleil, part of the troop. So looks pretty interesting. I’m pretty excited.

Roberta: So Cirque de Soleil did some amazing things. I’ve never seen them live, but just on video. Pretty, pretty impressive.

Ryan: Yeah. There are some screenings coming up. Moore College has Good Grief Project screening. 

And then just to get yourself ready, start looking at tickets is Black Star Film Festival first week of August. If you don’t have tickets, take a look now. It’s a good time to get in there. And since it’s already really close, the end of the last week of July, get in there. There’s some really interesting shows that are happening there. Films. My kids always correct me on shows versus films.

Roberta: Oh, okay. They’re, they’re struc… what do you call it. Strict Constructionists about their verbiage here… Is Black Star both in the real world and virtual?

Ryan: There are some virtual, but I they’re really working hard on in-person. But there are also virtual screens available. Those links are all available on ArtBlogConnect.org.

You’ll see the Black Star events coming up and in, in the show notes, you’ll see the passes for the festival for in-person and virtual screenings of all the shows and the entire full schedule of in-person dates.

Roberta: Black Star is at the Kimmel Center this year, August 1st to 4th at the Kimmel with additional screenings at various other places.

Ryan: Right. Artblog is where you go to see how the shows turned out. What did we think of the shows? Automat? We have a review of Automat’s latest show. Take a look at that. Peep Projects has a lot of things happening at Crane. A lot of good shows out there right now. Take a look at the Artblog.org for those reviews.

Roberta: Absolutely, yes. I’m very excited to go see the Now, One with Everyone or whatever the title is, at the Icebox. More than 200 people responded to an open call to put art on the wall in the Icebox, and the Icebox built the walls and they’re very charming. And I’ve seen images and can’t wait to see it for real.

Ryan: Oh yeah. And one more I wanted to shout out. Our friends who do the quilting have a wild show coming up. It’s a couple weeks away. It’s August 9th and 10th. It’s a 24-hour quiltathon. That’s exciting. It’s going to be at Fleisher, and it’s going to be in the Sanctuary. It’s open to the public from 5:30 PM to 11:00 PM on the 9th, and then on the 10th it’ll be starting at 7:30 AM until whenever they finish, it’ll be a fundraiser for Fleisher and for the musicians that are playing while people are quilting. Quilting for 24 hours. Bring your, bringing your scrap fabric, they say, 

Roberta: Yeah. And your needles, or do they provide the needle thread? (Note: we think the public is invited to drop in and listen to the music and watch the quilters — who will be silent and whistle-communicating! But we don’t think the public is invited to actually stitch on the quilt.)

Ryan: Yeah. That’s going to be quite an event. I don’t know if they’re going to be live streaming it, but it’ll be live music. They’ll be hanging out 24 hours. It’s, I love that kind of stuff. It’s so that sounds like a lot of fun. Pop in, pop out.

Roberta: It is. And I love these kids. They’re like, throwbacks to the sixties happenings. Yeah. It’s a happening. You know, so, good on them to sort of dust it off, make it different. I don’t think there were quilt-a-thons in the sixties, but this is, this is a happening of 2024, and it’s really great.

Ryan: It really is. There’s a lot of interesting things that are happening all over the place in all sorts of mediums. Whatever you’re interested in, it is still happening. 

Roberta: In spite of the heat.

Ryan: In spite of the heat, in spite of the politics, in spite of the U Arts and all the other news, don’t let the news get you down. Go quilt, make art about it, right? That’s my attitude. Make-art-about-it.com.

Roberta: That’s

Ryan: great.

Roberta: That’s

Ryan: great.

Roberta: Can we claim that domain? Is that taken already?

Ryan: Make art about it.Dot com. Yeah, why don’t you, why don’t you go there right now, Roberta, what happens when you go to Make Art About it.com. Yeah. It takes you to the Artblog, so yeah. That’s great. 

Roberta: That’s it for me. And is that it for you, Ryan?

Ryan: That’s it for me as well. This has been Artblog Radio’s Midweek News. And I’m Ryan.

Roberta: And I’m Roberta. Bye everybody. See you next time.

Ryan: See you next time. Bye-Bye.