For 10 months, selected local and international artists have worked in a newly-renovated storefront space at 4017 Lancaster Avenue as part of the “Neighborhood Time Exchange” Artists-in-Residence Program. This Friday, the artists along with the Mural Arts Program, The People’s Emergency Center, Broken City Lab, and The City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy will present their culminating exhibition, Reciprocity: Exhibiting Moments and Momentum from Neighborhood Time Exchange.

Three cohorts of artists participated in residencies between January and September 2015 and worked for one to three months: The first cohort of residencies, which took place between January and March, included artists Ian Sampson, Betty Leacraft, Kandis Friesen, and Philippe Leonard. The second cohort, between April and June, included Macon Reed, Camae Dennis and Rasheedah Phillips, Matt Neff, and Sasha Phyars-Burgess. The third included Pato Hebert, Lucy Pistilli and Brian Bazemore, John Phillips, Mark Clare, and Meredith Degyanski.  Continue Reading

Each fall the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (POST) provide a unique opportunity to meet local artists and learn more about their work. Artists who live and work west of the Schuylkill will open their homes and studios for POST tours this weekend (Oct. 17 & 18), and everyone is welcome to visit them. There will be exhibitions and special demonstrations.

Here are this year’s participating studios and artists:

University City Arts League
4226 Spruce Street
Open all day Saturday and Sunday
Artists: Marie Alarcon – The opening reception for her Scientism, Divination, and the State exhibit will be held on Saturday at 6 p.m.

The Cedar Works
4919 Pentridge Street
Artists:
Deena Ball – Demonstration of unique textured watercolor process – 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17.
Ken Beidler – Demonstration of how to make a pitcher – Saturday afternoon between 2:30-3:00 p.m.
Melinda Steffy – Translating music into abstract color patterns
Stefani Threet – Colorful handbuilt functional pottery by Threet Ceramics

40th Street AIR
4007 and 4013 Chestnut Street
Artists:
Jeane Cohen – Artist Books and Portrait Oil Paintings
Lori Waselchuk – BLOCK PARTY! A multimedia exhibit about community, neighbors, and friends
Erin Bernard
Dre Grigorpol
Quinha Faria
Genesis Crespo  Continue Reading

Well-known West Philly based photographer Lori Waselchuk has spent the last couple of years hanging out with block captains, attending block parties and photographing the people that hold streets and neighborhoods together.

You can get an intimate look at the results of that work at two exhibitions that open this Friday. Block Party is an exhibition of Waselchuk’s newest work connected with her multimedia project Them That Do.

West Philly block captain Lisa Barkley (Photo by Lori Waselchuk).

For Windowishes, Waselchuk teamed up with six block captains for an installation in the storefront display windows on the west side of South 40th Street between Chestnut and Ludlow. Waselchuk and her collaborators – block leaders and captains Lisa Barkely, Mary Campbell, Carol Dubie, Freda Egnal, Elizabeth Waring, and Renée McBride-Williams – installed “a small environment in each of the bay windows inspired by their community stewardship and neighborhood histories,” according to Waselchuk.

The result is seven stand-alone exhibits that invite us into the life of a single block. For example, the children of Dubie’s block on South 46^th Street made flags for her display, “Legends of the Block.” Teens from Waring’s block of Powelton Avenue helped design and construct a four-foot tree for her display, “Our Trees.”

A whole bunch of community organizations came together for this one. Local cabinet maker and carpenter Gordon Richardson of Oberholtzer Custom Cabinetry donated labor, materials and expertise. Community organizations such as the University City Arts League and the Spruce Hill Community Association also supported the project.

So come have a look and celebrate the launch of both exhibits on Friday, Oct. 16 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the AIRSpace Gallery (4007 Chestnut St.).

A number of great art and art education events are happening this month in the area, including exhibitions by local artists and Tibetans in Philadelphia, independent film screenings, and a master class by a renowned cinematographer. We compiled a list of the venues hosting them and more details about these events. Please visit our Events page for more upcoming events.

Exhibition, film screenings and master class at Scribe Video Center (4212 Chestnut St, 3rd floor)

• Stop by Scribe Video Center to check out Landscape Renewal, an exhibition featuring the works of seven artists working in diverse media: Richard Watson, Ted McGhee, Jonathan Pinkett, Alvin K.Nurse, Amir Lyles, Asaake Denise Jones, and Jerry Puryear. The exhibit kicked off on Thursday, April 2 and will go on until April 29. The opening reception will be held on Monday, April 6, 6-9 p.m. More details are here.  Continue Reading

The University City Arts League (UCAL) is preparing for two big weekends as it will be opening two concurrent exhibitions. “Art in the Open,” a group show of eight multidisciplinary artists will open at noon this Friday at the UCAL Gallery (4226 Spruce St), and New York artist Aaron Asis will present “Ci-Lines,” a pop-up satellite installation across the street at the historic St. Andrew’s Collegiate Chapel (42nd and Spruce, entrance at 42nd and Locust) starting next Saturday, Feb. 28. This will be a rare opportunity to get inside St. Andrew’s.

“Art in the Open” is part of an annual event series. Over the course of four days in May 2014, thirty artists created art inspired by the landscape along Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River. Materials used to create their works along the River Walk include sound, spray paint, string and electrical tape. The UCAL gallery will host eight of the artists participating in the program: Noemi Armstrong, Aaron Asis, Lewis Colburn, Heejin Jang, Tom Judd, Eun Hye Kang, Tyler Kline, and Mat Tomezsko. The featured artists hail from as far as South Korea and as near as Philadelphia. This event will be the second of three parts of the “Art in the Open” series. The opening reception will take place this Friday (Feb. 20) from 6-8 p.m. The exhibit will be available for public viewing from February 20 until March 20, from noon to 6 p.m.  Continue Reading

Pieter Mostert’s Vessel.

University City Arts League, a community non-profit organization that has been serving the community for 45 years, is presenting a two-person ceramics show, “West Philly Ceramics: Ken Beidler and Pieter Mostert.” The opening reception is tonight, 6-8 p.m., at 4226 Spruce Street.

Beidler’s forms combine wheel and hand-built elements. He is a largely self-taught artist, according to the UCAL press release, who has been influenced by the original Arts and Crafts movement, urban life and his life experience in Indonesia. He has a studio at the Cedar Works and teaches at UCAL. Mostert is South African who spen the last five years in Philadelphia. He makes sculptural vessels using a combination of coiling, pinching and paddling.

The works by Beidler and Mostert will be on display at the UCAL gallery until September 26. For more information about classes offered at UCAL, visit: www.ucartsleague.org/classes.

(Photos courtesy of UCAL)

Ken Beidler’s Baskets.