Short Survey

Tyler Kline at Chimaera Gallery plus Megan Bridge dance performance

Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia (BCGP) sponsored Youth Cycling (BCYC)

Kayla E @ Partners and Son

Amy Sherald

Odili Donald Odita

Kelly DZioba @ Gravers Lane

Grayce Carson & Peep Marshmellow Paper Doll Ensemble Fundraiser

Print Philly 2025

AlgoArt

De>Crescendo

Roberta: Hi everyone, it’s Roberta.

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

Roberta: On Artblog Radio. What did I do this weekend? Let’s see…This weekend I had a nice chat with my sister, as per usual. Yeah, that’s about it. Took some walks. It was, it was warm this weekend. It’s really funny to get back to the 20+ degree feel-like weather today. I don’t know if you’ve been out, but it’s pretty chilly out there.

And windy. Still windy.

Ryan: Yeah. Today is actually my first day of cycle coaching for this year, so I’m looking forward to that.

Roberta: Great. This is up at Kensington CAPA?

Ryan: No, just the regular high school.

Roberta: Kensington High School. And how many…do you ever know ahead of time how many kids are going to show up for this? And is it like an optional sometimes thing or is it required? And are you depending on the whims of the teens and whether they show up or not?

Ryan: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, they come up, they show up if they’re interested and not if they’re not interested. And then my goal is to keep them interested and motivated to participate.

Roberta: Is it a requirement that they have a bicycle and that they bring it to the group?

Ryan: No, they are invited to bring their bike if they desire, but generally most kids don’t have one and they will be glad to borrow our bikes. Then in the springtime, they also have an opportunity to be part of our All Star program, which means they get to keep the bike that they’ve been using through the season.

Roberta: Like forever?

Ryan: Yeah. Like forever. It’s a pretty great program. In years past, they’ve offered tutoring, educational support for those who go on and have been committed to the program. There’s also scholarships for college, so I’ve had a few kids that rode with me that were recipients of like $5,000 and $10,000 scholarships.

Roberta: Wow, that’s great. That’s super great. Yeah, and this is through the Bicycle Coalition?

Ryan: This is the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

Roberta: Very cool.

Ryan: It really is great.

Roberta: Are they a local affiliate of a national organization or are they a separate one-off entity?

Ryan: They are a separate entity, but they work in conjunction with other groups, but they are themselves independent and yeah, they’ve been around 30 some years.

Roberta: Philly is such a bikeable town, isn’t it? I mean, I’m not a biker, but I have heard apart from Manayunk “Wall” and all, it’s bikeable.

Ryan: Yeah, speaking of the “Wall” it is a relatively flat city and if you don’t like hills, there are ways to get around. Yeah. The infrastructure obviously for an old city is not the worst, but obviously cycling is not the focus.

Roberta: Right.

Ryan: And so there’s obviously been been issues with who gets to use the bike lane. Is it Uber or is it bikes? And the answer is. Often unclear. Maybe both. The question is, can people drive their vehicles to and from their private residence to their private work and then share the space in a societal manner?

In a community manner versus a bicycle? Yeah. We get to decide what we want.

Roberta: Well, we don’t really, I mean, I’ve never decided anything for the city of Philadelphia. Have you? I mean, we vote, but then who we are voting on. Those are the deciders. So we don’t really get much of a share in how to decide policy.

Sadly, sadly, it’s not true democracy because the people themselves are not actually implementing the policies. We are the voters, and then the decisions are passed on to those who get voted in. And then politics happens.

Ryan: I wonder about culture and I wonder about what part of culture do we have a say in?

Are we simply being handed things and each time we say thank you? I think the beauty of like working in art particularly is that there’s no mandate for what you’re producing. So if there’s no mandate for what you’re producing and you’ve worked really hard to create a show and outreach to different galleries and you’ve connected and you’ve worked hard on both your studies and your education and your practice and how you produced some interesting work. Nothing of that had to do with politics or democracy. It had to do with this passion inside of you to create something that was inside of you else to be said about a culture that we create.

Roberta: Humans are culture creators.

I mean back from the cave days when people put, you know, stick figures on walls and drew magnificent bison and buffaloes and whatnot. So yeah, we do create culture individually that is a benefit to society, a benefit to ourselves, the makers, and benefit to others as the observers, purchasers, participants in culture.

So yeah, we do. We do make our own culture. Bravo, to the young makers and artists coming up who have just said, ‘I’m going to do this,’ and they figure out how to do it. They teach themselves. They go to morning classes at a community art center. They go to Moore College of Art and Design, which has a wonderful Saturday morning program for teenagers or Fleisher Art Memorial… you can do it yourself, but it used to be back many, many years ago in public schools that art was an accepted part of the curriculum. Art, including music and theater and dance and all that kind of stuff. No more. And so you have ti create your own culture. So that’s a challenge for a lot of people who are unable to.

They’re working two, three jobs to pull their lives together and it’s hard to find the mental space, much less the physical space in which to make something. Bravo to those who are makers. We need you. We need you more than ever. So keep on making what you’re making, whether it’s crochet or knit or whatever, murals or, you know, painting, sculpture, clay, keep it up, please.

Now more than ever, we need it. I believe that there has been a flowering this year and at the end of 2024 that hadn’t happened during the pandemic. The pandemic was a squelch of cultural production. You couldn’t get out of your house. You were in lockdown for quite a while, and then when you got out you had to wear a mask.

You were afraid all the time that you were going to get covid. You got covid, got sick. It was a horrible bug. You know, all these things that we had to do, get vaccinated, all that. It just put a kibosh on the culture creation. It hurt the theaters terribly, as we all know, the musicians, the art galleries, all of that.

And it really put a hard thumb onto the collective alternative arts making in this city. Prior to the pandemic, there was a lot of collectivity, a lot of art making going on across alternative galleries amongst people in certain neighborhoods and with friends, et cetera, et cetera. And during the pandemic, that obviously went away, and then it’s taken a while to climb back out of that depression.

That real, you know, Headspace, depression that everybody was in. And I see now that I agree with what you’re saying. There is a flourishing, there’s a little bubble up flourishing of new makers and new spaces and or spaces that have been quiet are now exploding with activity. So it’s great. Good thing.

Shall we march into the news, Ryan, since we’re still in March?

Ryan: Let’s march into the Ides of March. We’ve arrived.

Roberta: I have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, but I’m going to go through them really quickly, so don’t be afraid. And several of them are events that I’m quite excited about. So I’ll start here. And this is in no real particular order of importance.

We got an email from Kayla E. Kayla E is a graphic novel maker, and she has her first graphic novel that is debuting on April 8th. And they’re having a book launch at Partners and Son on April 9th. So the graphic novel is called Precious Rubbish by Kayla E. It’s about, and this is quite a handful for a graphic novel: Themes of maternal emotional dysregulation, (not dysfunction, although could be synonymous with dysfunction I’m not sure); rural poverty, and incest, presented in a style that references mid-century children’s comics, and it incorporates interactive elements like paper dolls, satirical advertisements, games, and puzzles.

I don’t know of a lot of graphic novels that have interactive paper dolls, but I’m interested in this. Kayla E is not a local artist, I believe Texas born. Of Mexican American descent with a BA from Harvard and recipient of something called the Princeton Hodder Fellowship. She’s the creative director of Fantagraphics, which is a publisher of comics and she lives in North Carolina with her wife and two dogs.

Anyway, I was very excited to get this. We will put links to the opening book launch (see links list above) and Kayla sent us the link to the full PDF of the graphic novel. I will ask whether we can put that up online so you can actually take a look at it. That opening again, it’s not til April – April 9th.

Next, Saturday, March 29th at 2:00 PM at Chimaera Gallery, in East Falls. There’s a closing reception for Tyler Klein‘s exhibit, which we told you about last time. Tyler is a favorite of Artblog’s. We’ve been following his art career for many years. Solid art producer in many, many different media, and all of them are on display from painting to bronze poured stuff, and 3D digital art.

Megan Bridge has created a couple of dances to go along with Tyler’s work, so it’ll respond to the work, and there’ll be a trio of local professional dancers dancing. Plus Tyler is performing a Butoh solo, a Japanese dance theater piece. Anyway, that is on the 29th. This Saturday at 2:00 PM at Chimaera Gallery.

Then far flung, also, is Art in the Storefront in Ambler, PA, with a show by Richard Metz. I believe the name Crows Among Us. The show is up already March 13th. But the opening reception was Friday, March 14th. Sorry about that. It’s up till May 13th, so you can run out or if you’re anywhere near Ambler, stop in. I’ve heard of Art in the Storefront. I think art in storefronts is a great idea, and this is the name of the gallery, in Ambler. Next to Denny Electrical Supply, it says. So if you’re looking for it and can’t find it. Look for Denny Electrical Supply.

Then these are two things I want to mention that are in New York. First is the cover of the New Yorker. This coming up week the cover is by Amy Sherald (see image here). Amy Sherald is a Baltimore artist who is a portrait painter. She did the portrait of Michelle Obama. The official portrait that is in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. She was just in the exhibit at the Philly Museum of The Art Time is Always Now. She’s really a marvelous person.

I saw her speak at PAFA several years before pandemic, I believe it was when she came in, in spite of and with a blizzard NorEaster was coming through and she made it up from Baltimore or Washington and she gave a marvelous talk. I think I wrote it up (Yes, here is Roberta’s report on the talk from 2018).

So, I highly recommend that you search out the cover of the New Yorker. Also Sherald has a solo show opening at the Whitney Museum on April 9th. Congratulations, Amy Sherald and we look forward to seeing that show at the Whitney.

Then there’s a local artist, Odili Donald Odita, who teaches painting, he’s on the faculty at Tyler School of Art and Architecture. He is transforming the Museum of Modern Art Lobby with an installation of his mural called Songs from Life, which is based on music. He put together a playlist to paint from, which I think is wonderful. And there’s a place on the MoMA website where you can download and listen to the songs that he was listening to to make his exuberant kaleidoscopic piece, if you know his work. (link to MoMA information at the top)

The work is very bright, very colorful, geometric shapes colliding against each other — about the clash of cultures, perhaps; clash and harmony of people. So I’m very much looking forward to stepping into the lobby of MoMA to see Odili Odita’s transformation. And that’s exciting. So I’ll just end on that exciting note and say that’s it for me.

Over to you, Ryan.

Ryan: I also have gone past my three, but I think they’re fun. A few things that are on my list this week. I’ve been thinking about pushing back the things I want to to talk about for a couple weeks so you have a little more time to think about them and a little more time to take a look at the calendar.

With our events calendar, you can always click to add each event to your calendar, which I do to keep me informed so it goes right to my device, so then I can keep everything organized. It’s a pretty handy little feature function. There’s a show opening. March 27th at Graver’s Lane Gallery. That’s up in the Chestnut Hill area that has an opening reception on April 4th.

The show opens on the 27th of March, and it’s Kelly DZioba. A Romance in Lower Mathematics (see link at the top). Looks really interesting. A lot of geometrical, minimalistic work. I like some of the pictures that I saw from that. Another show that I wanted to mention. Asian Arts did Crescendo show recently (Crescendo: How Art Makes Movements, 1981-1999 – through June 28, 2025), and they have an event, a new one called De-Crescendo, Trusting Our Dynamic Selves Through Change (see links list at the top).

This is a free event on March 29th in the afternoon at 2:00 PM that’s at Asian Arts Initiative, which is at 1219 Vine. Space is limited, so you do need to register for that one.

Also, on my calendar is a Marshmallow Peep Show. This is a fundraiser for our friends at Paper Doll Ensemble.

We had a conversation with Grayce Carson, a few weeks ago, and we love the organization. We’d love to support their work to support local theater. That’s going to be a Plays and Players Theater. April 5th. That’s 1714 Delany Street over near Rittenhouse. This is something worth supporting.

Grayce’s great for supporting local nonprofits and specifically for marketing for theater companies. So we want to also encourage and endorse their work.

Also, I wanted to talk about some of the big print fairs that are coming up. There are several that are coming up nationally or internationally, I guess I should say.

Paris has theirs coming up, which I won’t be attending. London has theirs coming up, which I also won’t be attending. Brooklyn has one. 27th through the 30th. And then the, the big one also, the, IFPDA print fair is 27th through the 30th, that’s the big one. So a lot of big print fairs coming up at the end of March, for example, The Fabric Workshop and Museum will will be holding a booth there at the New York show that’s at the Park Avenue Armory.

But the Print Philly 2025 also is going to have their show. Registration is open now. The print fair will be April 12th, and that’s going to be at the Parkway Central Library. That’s 1901 Vine. So that information’s already up and available if you want to get into that time to get into that. It’s free and available to get into, but do take a look at all the registration, what’s required.

Again, that’s April 12th for the Print Philly 2025.

You know, AI is still…you can’t get away from it these days. It seems like it’s even getting louder in conversation. And I saw this interesting show pop up on, on Connect’s calendar. There’s a show coming up on Thursday, April 3rd at Swarthmore. It is a generative clothing designs exhibition.

Generative, in my mind, immediately connected to AI producing something based on something it’s been programmed with. It seems to be what this is. It’s a lot of geometric shapes and kind of almost a collage thing. They’ve created an algorithmic drawing platform called Algo Art, so it’s A-L-G-O-A-R t.org Algo art dot org. (see link at the top)

It is a free show. There is registration. That link is available in ArtblogConnect. That is April 3rd, and I’m not quite sure how they’re going to turn it into what they’re describing as generative clothing designs. I don’t know how they’re…what exactly this’s going to do. I looked at some of the images, but I didn’t see where it gets to the textile section of it.

So. I think with a lot of things about AI, it’s like they designed AI and then what’s the first thing people do? Art and writing. And it’s like, these are the fun things. Like go, go do robotics or manufacturing something that’d be, well, I enjoy manufacturing, but my point is it’s going to be really interesting to see what this, what their algorithm can do for clothing and what that ends up looking like.

Roberta: Definitely good on them for trying.

Ryan: That’ll be at the Swarthmore’s library. Kind of kind of curious what that’s going to look like. Could be all over the place.

Roberta: I have a couple questions. Can I ask some questions? De-crescendo the event at Asian Arts, right? What is it exactly? Is it a music performance or is it a panel talk?

Ryan: It is described as, “Trauma-informed workshop, exploring music and embodied sound as tools for resourcing ourselves through change.”

Roberta: So it’s a trauma-informed workshop, a makers workshop kind of thing, using sound.

Ryan: Sound seems to be the theme of this events series. Crescendo was all music and art focused. And now de-crescendo is also exploring music and sound and how that affects the body.

Roberta: Okay. Got it.

Ryan: And it’s again, a free event, but you just have to register for it. because seating is limited and that’s coming up March 29th.

Roberta: Okay. Second question. The Marshmallow Peep show, I need to know more. Is it a theatrical piece and people are dressed up like Peeps?

Ryan: I assume so. That definitely seems like their energy, it’s going to be part of their glam team and that’s going to be a lot of fun. April 5th at Plays and Players Theater. They have a show that’s going to be coming up for Fringe, so it’s kind of fundraisers for all of those things. Plays and Players has a bar as well.

Upstairs, there’ll be a silent auction, there’ll be some fundraising going on, and it’s part of their fun peep show.

Roberta: Okay, so it’s a big fundraiser.

Ryan: Fundraiser, yeah. Theatrical event. Yep.

Roberta: Okay. Final question. The Print 2025, the local print consortium, the thing that’s going to be at the library? If you want to apply, does that mean you are a printmaker and you have a print you want to submit to be juried in to whatever the show is at the library? Is that what it is?

Ryan: It’s for table registration. Tabling. It’s a first come, first, served.

Roberta: Ah. So it’s for tabling. Okay, got it. I thought it was for individuals. Well, it might be for individuals, but also organizations, but it’s for tabling at the library.

Got it.

Ryan: Yeah. So the event is free, it’s at the library. It’s from 10am to 4pm, April 12th. That’s the Parkway Central Branch. 1901 Vine it. The registration is for tabling specifically.

Roberta: Okay, cool. So probably you can go for free and see the tables and see the prints and all that stuff.

Ryan: Yeah. Absolutely. The library will be open.

Roberta: Alright. Well, I had a need to know.

Ryan: That’s good.

Ryan: All of that information is available on Connect. We have a few things that are coming out on Connect. We’re rolling out some updates and some changes, so a new map that we’re excited to push out and we would love to get your feedback.

We do have a short survey. If you have any thoughts and opinions on the direction of how it’s working for you and where you’d like to see it go, that link will put in the notes as well. So let us know if you have any thoughts. And something you’d like to see from it. So those are my three plus three. However many I added.

Roberta: We both ran over. Ryan, it’s okay, haha. Well I don’t have anything else.  Alright then. Thank you everybody for coming around to Midweek News and this is Roberta signing off saying see you next time. Bye-bye.

Ryan: And this is Ryan, and this has been Artblog’s Midweek News.

Thanks for listening, everybody, and we’ll talk with you next time. Bye-bye.