Carly Valentine @ The Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show at The Philadelphia Sketch Club.
Carly Valentine @ The Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show at The Philadelphia Sketch Club.
Carly Valentine @ The Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show at The Philadelphia Sketch Club.
Carly Valentine’s black and white photography looked gorgeous mounted on the historic walls of the venerable Philadelphia Sketch Club Gallery on Camac Street. Four times a year the club hosts the grads of AI to show their work in the gallery with a gala party; a great reason to dress up and have a drink. Valentine’s deeply narrative work, mostly self portraits, nod to modern art with Magritte-like compositions, beaux arts frames and costumes from another era. The rich blacks, creamy ecru and dreamy metaphors filled books, the walls over the fire place and the entire “winners wall” of the gallery. Carly was unaware of the historic significance of exhibiting in America’s oldest art club, her grandmother, DoN‘s good friend Jeannette Walsh, was long time president of the Regional Art Association in Clementon, NJ (the foundation of DoN‘s art career), who was a fine artist in her own right, as well as a blue grass musician and entertainer. Jean would be so proud to know Carly is excelling not just in fine art and photography but in being a really nice person, a trait no school can ever teach.
Gabriela Girova @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club.
John Moore‘s painterly photographs combine natural elements with ethereal industrial constructs creeping into the composition. The grad show at PSC was very gratifying with a focus on business, including business cards, book arts, web sites and unique presentation for their photography, information useful for art students emerging into a competitive market. DoN appreciated that Moore bucked the trend and “forgot” his cards, DoN wrote his name on another grad’s card. The graduates had a crash course in installing a show at The Sketch Club which concurrently has Phillustration 2010 running, they had to take down a complete show, install a new one, then re-hang the first show in the same order – welcome to the art world!
Tamara Brown’s carved books with photo emulsion images inside the books are fabulously evocative and transmogrifying, combining text and technique in a unique mash up. LoVe iT!
