40th Street AIR Gallery at 4007 Chestnut St.

Local artists who need a kickstart to their career are invited to apply for the 2019-2020 40th Street Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program. The program provides free studio space to new or emerging visual artists who reside or are strongly affiliated with neighborhoods west of the Schuylkill River and assists them in their career growth.

If accepted, artists will be given a studio space at either 4007 Chestnut Street or 4013 Chestnut Street beginning September 1, 2019 and ending August 15, 2020. Artists-in-Residence will be encouraged to use that time to develop their own creative work and asked to share their talents with the community through outreach service over the course of the residency.

Applications are accepted through Monday, June 17. For more details about this program and to apply, click here.

Photo by Shepard Ritzen.

The mystery of the lifestyle art sculptures that recently appeared on an empty lot on the 4700 block of Market Street has been (somewhat) solved. The statues are by well-known New Jersey-based artist Seward Johnson, and the lot, owned by the Daniel Veloric Foundation, is a future site for a museum with some public meeting space, according to a recent report by Philly.com.

It’s not clear yet when the construction will begin, but reportedly “soon.” The Veloric Foundation, whose owner Daniel Veloric is 91 years old and lives in the suburbs, purchased the entire block in 2017. Some demolition work on the site has already been done, according to the report. The organization has reportedly allocated $1.3 million for the project.  Continue Reading

Several art statues representing what appears to be the 1950’s lifestyle have been spotted on Market Street near 48th. The statues were placed on an empty lot near construction business T Depaul & Sons, but it doesn’t appear that they belong to it. Check out the photos sent to us by reader Shepard Ritzen:  Continue Reading

The Philadelphia Artists’ Collective will present J.M. Barrie’s Mary Rose at The Woodlands as part of the 2018 Fringe Festival. (Photo by Ashley Smith)

September is here, which means it’s time to celebrate art and artists at the annual Fringe Festival. This year’s program kicks off Thursday, Sept. 6 and features more than 100 dance, theater, spoken word and visual art shows by local, national and international artists at venues around the city.

Many festival events and shows will be held in West Philly – at The Rotunda, The Woodlands, Gwendolyn Bye Dance Center, Art Church of West Philadelphia, Black Box Theater, and other venues.

Beginning this Wednesday, the Philadelphia Artists’ Collective will present Mary Rose, a play by J.M. Barrie (the author of Peter Pan) at the Woodlands Cemetery and Mansion (40th and Woodland). The historic cemetery is a perfect setting for the play, originally published shortly after World War I, that reckons with loss, love, and immortality. The performance takes place inside the mansion and outside on the grounds (in the event of rain the entire performance will be inside the mansion). Shows begin at 7 p.m. and will run through Sept. 22. More information and tickets are available here.  Continue Reading