Trash Bash from RAIR, Swim Pony on the Tow Path, ‘Multiplicities’ at Rowan University, Blake Bradford obituary and more

EVENTS

NOVEMBER 9, 2022, 5:30 – 10:00 PM
Ninth Annual Trash Bash
Wednesday, November 9th, 2022, 5:30-10pm
5:30-7pm VIP Reception (Billy Dufala’s gallery talk to be held during the VIP reception) 5:30-9pm Silent Auction and Packages
7-10pm General Admission
Location: FAS Atelier 1301 N. 31st Street, Philadelphia, PA
Advance Sale – VIP $80, General Admission:$60
At the Door – VIP $100, General Admission $80
More information and TICKETS

Trash Bash is RAIR’s https://www.rairphilly.org annual fundraiser party with food, drinks, and sponsorship opportunities and a silent auction. Attendees can place bids on Trash Boutique items, which are quirky/cool works of art made by RAIR staff made 100% from waste materials, as well as artworks from local artists, past residents and RAIR family.
What is RAIR?
Situated within a commercial construction and demolition waste recycling facility located in Philadelphia, RAIR’s flagship residency program offers artists studio space and access to more than 500 tons of materials per day. RAIR, a nonprofit arts organization, has hosted over 65 artists since its inception in 2010 and engages community groups, educators, industry partners, as well as artists in special projects to initiate cross- disciplinary dialogue about art, sustainability and waste culture. By facilitating artists’ direct engagement with the waste stream, RAIR encourages artists to consider their studio practice through the lens of sustainability and to thoughtfully reassess their processes of material sourcing and waste disposal. [Artblog is proud to be a RAIR Trash Ambassador.]

NOVEMBER 18 2p–7p + 19 11a–4:30p Cherry Street Pier
Seeds Philly 2022

A two-day celebration of Indigenous arts, cultures, and joy including interactive art workshops, artist booths, music, a food sovereignty round table, and so much more! More about the program here.
$10 suggested donation

Join us for a weekend of music, dance, film, art workshops, panel discussions, artist booths, and more! For details visit wearetheseeds.org.

[NOTE: check out “From Here with a View,” the We Are The Seeds podcast.]

NOVEMBER 19 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Swim Pony Presents River Devil II: The Return
FREE – Register here
Manayunk Tow Path
Meeting spot: Schuylkill River Trail across from Venice Island Performing Arts Center in Manayunk (Click here for specific location).
Snacks will be provided for all.
Recommended to bring your own headphones, if you have them.
The walk is 3.8 miles on paved and gravel paths with no inclines.
This event is free.

This November, Swim Pony will lead a guided walk of the spine-tingling Blair Witch-esque audio story “River Devil II: The Return” written by Carmen Maria Machado along the Manayunk Canal at dusk. Created as part of Swim Pony’s immersive audio project TrailOff (made in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council), audiences will experience the story synced to their movements as they walk the trail. Listen to a preview of the story! To experience this event, you need to have the free TrailOff app on your phone and have the story River Devil II: The Return.

Android: Download the app for Android
iPhone: Download the app for iPhone
The app delivers the experience, one akin to a site-based theater drama but personalized for each audience member, using GPS technology embedded within each user’s smart phone. All of TrailOff’s stories are written by BIPOC authors, connected to communities traditionally underserved by environmental programming, to bring new perspectives and diverse narratives to outdoor recreation spaces.

The aim of this guided walk is to help folks learn how to use the app while walking one of its stories. Swim Pony will meet the audience before dusk, help people download the app to their phones and share insights about features available in the interface. The team will then lead a guided walk of the trail, encouraging folks to explore the story at their own pace and helping troubleshoot if any issues arise.

At the trail’s end, the group will regather for the walk back where Swim Pony artists will share some behind-the-scenes info about how the app and story were created, offer insights about the trail’s history and get feedback directly from users. The Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy is proud to support this free event through the Neighborhood Arts Programs.

Blake Bradford obituary in Inquirer and Celebration of Life in early 2023
Link to the Obituary in case you missed it.

From Les Robinson, Organizer, Blake, Jill, Star & Cyrus Go Fund Me campaign
Oct. 28, 2022 – Blake’s burial was this morning at the Friends Southwestern Burial Ground in Upper Darby, PA with family and a few close friends. It was a green burial with Blake’s natural remains wrapped in a white shroud, placed in the grave by family members, and buried with help of attendees, after which we shared words of how Blake had been special to our lives. A Celebration of Life will be scheduled for early 2023; I’ll post again here as soon as details are settled.
For those who would like to send directly condolence to Jill, Star, and Cyrus, here is their address:
Jill Luedke
1312 S. 17th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19146

Notable Exhibition

Multiplicities
Rowan University
November 7 – December 21, 2022 select a date here
Opening reception November 17, 5:30 – 7:30 pm register here

This exhibition presents photography that through humor, theatrics, and playfulness reframes and fractures conventional, binary perceptions about culture, race, and gender identities to one that is diverse, interactive and layered. Each artist explores stereotypes of their own cultural heritage and origins in order to break down misconceptions and to shift the narrative of what it means to be who they are as multidimensional Americans.

Naomieh Jovin is a first-generation Haitian-American photographer utilizing appropriated photos from old family albums collaged with her own photographs to illustrate how we carry the experiences of our past and our family’s past in our bodies.

Tommy Kha’s theatrical photographs balance precariously between comedy and tragedy, being and performing, and the mundane and the absurd to examine how we construct belonging and otherness.

Wendy Red Star uses herself in her self portrait series as a subject capturing the humor and playfulness integral to Crow culture that pokes fun at the boundaries between conceived authenticity and stereotypical portrayals of Native subjects.

Leonard Suryajaya tests the boundaries of intimacy, community, and family by placing his subjects in elaborately staged settings full of competing patterns and colors that create photographs that are tender and critical, bound up with the struggles of familial authority and self-identity.

Multiplicities is co-curated by Danna Singer, Chad States, and Mary Salvante, in collaboration with Rowan University Photography Program. Wendy Red Star appears courtesy of a loan from the Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ. Special thanks to our funders and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for their support.

Notable Public Art

“Alpha: Sacred Beings” documentary from Group X

From Group X:
“Alpha: Sacred Beings,” a short documentary will explore the work of our latest collaborating lead artist, Marianela Fuentes. Group X worked with Marianela to create a monument symbolizing a bridge between two Indigenous Nations. Alpha Sacred Beings (The Origin of Creation), was dedicated at League Island Park at the Navy Yard in June and is permanently on display. Tthis new Philly monument, was created in partnership with artists from the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation and lead artist Marianela Fuentes. “Alpha: Sacred Beings” is a monument symbolizing a bridge between two Indigenous Nations. And our 21-minute documentary directed by Jason Chen is now on YouTube!

Artist Legacy Planning Tools – free – from the Joan Mitchell Foundation

From the Joan Mitchell Foundation:
We are thrilled to announce the publication of Career Documentation for the Visual Artist: A Legacy Planning Workbook & Resource Guide. Developed in collaboration with artists, arts professionals, and legal and financial experts over the course of two years, the workbook provides a breadth of information and perspectives about legacy planning for artists, along with practical tools that support engagement with this long-term, and sometimes challenging, process. The new guide is part of the Foundation’s ongoing Creating a Living Legacy (CALL) initiative, which for 15 years has supported artists in their efforts to catalogue, manage, and preserve their life’s work.

Career Documentation for the Visual Artist (2022) follows the Foundation’s previously published Career Documentation Guide, which was released in 2012. The new workbook is a complete rewrite of the original text and explores a broad range of topics, including long and short-term goal setting, financial planning, time management, artwork inventorying, the creation of digital assets, and preservation planning, among others. At the heart of the workbook is the understanding that the work of legacy planning cannot be done alone—that it is best achieved through a collaborative process among a team of individuals committed to a shared understanding of the specific vision, need, and aspirations of each artist. The workbook acknowledges that legacy planning can feel daunting and provides encouragement, advice, and clear and accessible guides for both beginning and continuing the work. More here.

A Notable Read

You’ve most likely read about the University City Townhomes at 40th and Market and how the owner wants to sell the low-income property to a developer for development of (presumably) high-income housing in this gentrifying neighborhood on the fringes of Penn and Drexel. Penn students until recently staged a sit in on the Penn campus in front of College Hall, office of the President, in protest of Penn’s looking the other way at the West Philly community they boast of supporting. Penn Wharton Professor Steven Kimbrough wrote a notable opinion piece that was published in the student newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian, that proposes a darned good idea that hasn’t been floated previously. What he proposes is basically that Penn, which already has separate, for-profit C-corporations for real estate, create a B-corporation and buy the University City Townhomes and save it from development that would displace the current residents. (A B-corp is one that is for profit but has a mission to do good, e.g., Patagonia, Ben and Jerry’s, REI). Read the article. [Note: Steven Kimbrough is Roberta’s husband.]