Category Archives: Art in Philadelphia City Hall

Philadelphia sponsors Art in City Hall with display cases on the 2nd & 4th floors of the iconic building. The fifth floor has hosted the Photographic Society of Philadelphia.

West Collection of Contemporary Art Prize Smart Phone App for People’s Choice Award Now Available for Download on iTunes

1 Reply

Download the West Collects Smart Phone App, available on iTunes. DoN Brewer is grateful for the opportunity to present his photography for consideration for the prestigious and unique art collection, please vote for DoN and all your Philly favorite artists. DoNArTNeWs and Philly.SideArts were first to report the announcement of a $100K award set aside for purchase of artwork by Philadelphia artists – we literally had Mayor Nutter’s speech on YouTube within hours. DoN highly recommends Philadelphia artists take the time to enter their artwork at the West Collection website, it’s free and easy and they offer great tech support.

Find the perfect gift at the Kodak Store!

West Collects Prize – Q & A with Paige West, Gary Steuer and Les Stoetzel @ Philadelphia City Hall

www.Philly.SideArts.com Philly Aids Thrift Art Auction

Leave a reply

Before DoN met Todd Hestand of www.Philly.SideArts.com @ a Corzo Center for the Creative Economy event, he had already been posting blogs on the popular free artist’s website with it’s cool blog, great writing by local artists and educators, bio/portfolio pages for artists and Philly social networking. Linking to the Philly.SideArts.com web site drives web traffic to DoNArTNeWs, posting a blurb on the site stimulates interest in all types of social, art, education, business and opportunities. The catalog of artists who post their bios and art images on Philly.SideArts.com includes great painters like Arthur Ostroff and Karl Olsen, fine art photographers like Angelo Benedetto and digital artists like Lee Muslin, their database is superb.

Philly.SideArts.com has launched a grand new venture offering artists enhanced services such as art opportunities and expanded portfolio space at a really reasonable price, the same free site is still available and they are expanding to other cities with the same business model. The possibilities of connecting artists, galleries, collectors, educators and business people in an easy to use, immersive design experience is really cool. Imagine? The Philly art scene is a model for other cities.

Art-trepreneur, Todd Hestand of Philly.SideArts.com gave away extended free memberships to artists whose business cards were pulled from a bag. Jed, you left too early!

To celebrate the launch of the new site, Todd Hestand hosted a party at the Dark Horse Pub near Head House Square with a silent auction benefiting Philly Aids Thrift, so many artists offered donations that many had to be turned away, yet, there are still several fine art pieces available at the on-line auction including DoN‘s “light being (Joey Ramone)“. All the proceeds go to Philly Aids Thrift, please bid, there is some really cool art for a great cause. The party drew a crowd of artists, friends and the art-erati such as Da Vinci Art Alliance’s Lilliana Didovic, artist/entrepreneur Jed Williams, the master Arthur Ostroff and Art in City Hall’s Guru, Tu Huynh – Todd did a terrific job explaining the benefits and services for the new and improved site and really mixed it up with the crowd. Visit the Philly.SideArts site to see how vibrant, inspiring and diverse the Philly art scene really is and follow the progress of a thoughtful, intuitive idea to help artists connect in a meaningful way.

The silent auction sponsored by Philly.SideArts benefiting Philly Aids Thrift.

The Philly.SideArts.com easy to use homepage. Join!

Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall

1 Reply

Deanna McLaughlin & Jack Larimore @ Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall, Philadelphia.

Juror, Jack Larimore told DoN he’s a furniture maker first, it’s sculptural yet it’s furniture. Larimore liked seeing work by Philly region artists he had not seen before especially with an open ended concept like Dysfunctional Furniture – become part of the furniture, the piece above doubles as a font. Even things we perceive as being dysfunctional may have a function we are unaware of, a great metaphor for life.

Artist Deanna McLaughlin carried a matching mini shopping cart hand-bag to match her lounge chair made from a re-cycled shopping card and thrift store leather belts, the social implications of weaving our own furniture and learning from the homeless is palpable.

Holly E. Smith, Deceased Vole Coffee Table, wood, chair parts @ Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall. Smith told DoN the sculpture started with the tail and gradually became an assemblage of objects, eventually an homage to dead voles. Artist Ted Warchal commented on how the legs of the sculpture are appropriately sized, larger in the rear, smaller in the front.

Hannah Fink @ Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall, Philadelphia.

Michelle Post @ Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall. Post uses salt & pepper shakers, some quite collectible, like sequins on her altar-like tissue box, a bizarre bedazzling of function, craft and stream of consciousness.

Lauren Frazer, Beauty is Only a Promise of Happiness, fabric, stuffing, plywood, synthetic human hair. “Furniture plays an important role creating theatrical context for my sculptures”. Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall.

Herbert Simon, Chair Forward, welded steel, found objects. Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall

Kay Healy, Stuffed, screen-printed fabric. Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall.

Burnell Yow! The Puzzling Love Life of the Superhero, mixed media. Yow!s mirror reflects the puzzle of what we see in the mirror and the quest to get all the pieces of life fit together, even if it’s just because they touch without matching. Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall.

Juror Albert LeCoff said Dysfunctional Furniture re-emphasizes what a strong region Philadelphia is for sculpture with an innovative use of material, one of the real surprises was Kay Healy’s fabric sculptures and the use of materials.

Art in City Hall is a great civic program with a new art space in Philadelphia City Hall of the 1st Floor; coordinator of Art in City Hall, Tu Huynh is featured on the web site for The National Arts Program. Thank you Tu for bringing art to the forefront of the civic consciousness in Philly and national attention to our artists.

Dysfunctional Furniture
December 16 – February 25.
Juried by Jack Larimore and Albert LeCoff and featuring artists: Gretchen Altabef, Carlos Avendano, Michael J. Brolly, Charna Eisner, Hannah Fink, Laura Frazure, Kay Healy, Lydia Hunn, Tara Inman-Bellofatto, Jack Larimore, Henry Loustau, Deanna McLaughlin, Ife Nii Owoo, Michelle Post, Matthew Alden Price, Leo Razzi, Maria Schneider, Adam Shuman, Herbert Simon, William Skrobut, Holly Smith, Chris Todd, Michael Wiley and Burnell Yow!
Art Gallery at City Hall, Room 116 and
1st and 2nd Floor display cases.

October is Mural Arts Month in Philadelphia – MAM10

Leave a reply

Meg Saligman re-imagined the mural (the previous two artists Bill Friedman & Sam Donovan were unavailable) @ Broad & Vine Streets incorporating LED lights that will morph the painting into a multimedia art installation that is one of a kind in the world. The three panels tell a story about nursing from personal care to record-keeping-to technological expertise in the dreamy style Saligman has developed in her many beautiful walls through the city but this one lights up – Cool!. The Mural Arts Program has twenty-two separate events throughout October, Jane Golden said there are thousands of sites seeking murals. The mural @ Broad and Vine is dedicated to Florence Nightingale and all nurses everywhere.

Many local nurses are portrayed in the enormous painting; DoN has always relied on the kindness of nurses, his favorite Aunt Fran is a nurse, still helping even in retirement. Meg Saligman made sure to invite all the participating artists and models to take the stage with her, the platform was crowded with volunteers and artists alike, a testament to Meg’s ability to make people team up and the crowd cheered their achievement.

Jane Golden introduced Mayor Nutter to the crowd attending the dedication of the mural; Philadelphia’s Mayor addressed the crowd to celebrate the mural and it’s importance to the city, he praised Jane Golden and her team of artists at the Mural Arts Program and the value of nurses and medicine to Philadelphia. DoN really likes Mayor Nutter and his support for the arts in Philly but in a surreal twist, the mayor’s speech was cut short by protesters from ADAPT, a very organized group of demonstrators of disabled people trying to close nursing homes and encourage group home living instead.

This mural @ 13th & Ludlow Streets is a handmade woven mural, master-minded by Super-Artist Kathryn Pannepacker in association with the Mural Arts Program, using mats made by homeless and disaffected people living in shelters. When people start weaving they start to heal and learn a skill, find self satisfaction and hope. The piece was created as part of the Finding Home Project gaining Katheryn and the project kudos on NPR’s Dr. Dan Gottleib, Volunteers of America website and American Craft Magazine. You can help by shopping at the handmade by the homeless Gallery on South Street and talking to your representatives about rights for people who can’t help themselves.