Category Archives: Experience Design

Twentysix Wawa Stores

Philiput presents: Twentysix Wawa Stores – Eric Weeks Photographic Exhibition, Book and Film : Poetic Finissage

Philiput presents: Twentysix Wawa Stores – Eric Weeks Photographic Exhibition, Book and Film : Poetic Finissage 1901b Washington Ave, Philadelphia, PA. Sept 29, 5pm – 9pm. Curated by Rebeca Martell and Devin Cohen.

Shoutflower Four Poetry reading event happening featuring: Heather Houde Samantha, PiousJohn Pinto,Myene Yanu and more.

Eric Weeks is an artist using photography and video, a curator, and Chair of the Photography & Video Department at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. He has exhibited his photographs and short films nationally and internationally, including in Australia, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and the United States. His work is in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Maison Européene de la Photographie, Bibliothèque Nationale, Yale University Art Gallery and the Sir Elton John Collection, among others. He is the author of two monographs, World Was in the Face of the Beloved and A Rose By Any Other Name. Portfolios have appeared in FotoNostrum, Dodho, Zoom, Photo +, Fahrenheit and Dear Dave. Awards include a City Corps Artist Grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts; an Individual Creative Artist Fellowship Grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; Open Call Winner, Art Speaks Out, ikonoTV, Berlin; Finalist, Black Maria Film Festival, Jersey City; and Semi-Finalist, G2 Green Earth Film Festival, Los Angeles. Weeks received a MFA from Yale University, and a BFA from the School of Visual Arts. His work is represented by Galerie Catherine & André Hug in Paris.

Twentysix Wawa Stores examines the Pennsylvania-based convenience store and gas purveyor Wawa. Wawa means wild goose in the indigenous American language of the Ojibwe. The Wawa business started in 1902 as a dairy farm located in Wawa, Pennsylvania, an area first named as such by land owner Edward Worth. The film, photo exhibition, and discussion follows the Lincoln Highway, starting in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and culminating at the farthest north Wawa store in Elizabeth, New Jersey.Made in reference to Edward Ruscha’s Twentysix Gasoline Stations, Twentysix Wawa Stores unobtrusively observes the phenomenon of automobile culture in America in the 2020’s.

**Philiput presents:**
**Twentysix Wawa Stores – Eric Weeks**
**Photographic Exhibition, Book and Film : Poetic Finissage**
**1901b Washington Ave, Philadelphia, PA**

Thank you to Devon Cohen for the content of this post.

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John James Pron, PHILLY AND ME: for better or worse, for richer or poorer…

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CERULEAN ARTS GALLERY 1355 Ridge Ave, Philadelphia 267-514-8647 www.ceruleanarts.com
My solo show of 20 rendered collages is displayed at Cerulean from 5 Jul thru 30 Jul 2023. The In-person reception is Sat 8 Jul 2-5 pm and the virtual tour & talk is Weds 19 Jul 2023 at 6pm (must zoom register. Gallery hours are Weds thru Fri 10m-6pm, Sat & Suns 12pm thru 6pm. I may also be at the gallery several Wednesdays. Welcome to come visit.

Theme: As a lifelong Philadelphian (mostly), I explore aspects of the city I love as well as worry about, look at its extraordinary-though checkered- history, and present ideas and images for its future. As an architect and teacher, I can’t stop commenting, pencils in hand.
MY PHILLY…for better or worse, for richer or poorer…

JOHN JAMES PRON: ARTIST STATEMENT

I am a lifelong Philadelphian- mostly. I was born in Northern Liberties, raised in the Northeast’s Oxford Circle, rented apartments in West Philadelphia and have lived for over fifty years right across the city’s boundary at Cheltenham Avenue. I went to Philly schools- grammar, high school, undergraduate and graduate. And I worked all of my professorial life in North Philadelphia. My wife has long been intimately connected to this city’s healthcare community and both daughters attended Philadelphia universities.

I am also an architect by profession- certainly a creative artist, but one who was trained to balance my willful imagination with an ingrained moral and ethical responsibility to improve the lives of people, of the health of the community, the viability of cities and indeed the survival of this planet. For almost 40 years, I was fulltime professor in Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture, nurturing students to believe in themselves as creative forces but also to take responsibility for bettering the world. In this case, the artist is also a problem-solver. In my design practice and teaching, I specialized in ‘adaptive reuse’- preserving the essential character of a building (its ‘soul’), while adjusting spaces and functions for changing needs.

And so, in this solo gallery show, my mode of expression is the juxtaposition of existing images by others (photos or lithographs, archival or current) against my hand-drawn “reimaginings” of the place, the usage, or the meaning. It’s a both/and strategy. While it does make for interesting and unusual images to display, what is more important is that I am using my architectural-art skills to raise awareness of critical issues affecting human lives, even advocating for important social changes. And so, along with the needed information, I am seeking to make an emotional impact on the viewer through my graphics.

Picasso did just that in his monumental Guernica- maybe the most powerful anti-war painting in history. More recently, visual artists such as Keith Haring, Banksy and Ai Weiwei do the same on contemporary issues. The viewer may appreciate the artistic qualities, but one is also asked make a personal decision over the content: take a stand, get involved, connect to others, contribute as you can. Do something.

You can view my professional and academic career (including past gallery shows, architectural designs, lectures, etc) and my bio on my website www.johnjamespron.com

“PHILLY AND ME: FOR BETTER OR WORSE…FOR RICHER OR POORER…”

This is a city that I love- its parks and neighborhoods, its grand public buildings and cultural institutions, its superlative universities and breathtaking skyscrapers. I also love its diversity…old with young, residents and visitors, extraordinary festivals near quiet enclaves, polished gentility and in-your-face grit. A city of many races, many backgrounds, many beliefs. But I also fret about this city: the things that tear it apart, the endemic problems growing ever larger, the social behaviors that destroy unity and civility. Here are my pleasures as well as my concerns, my savoring of its (sometimes checkered) past, my images suggesting a brighter future. Warnings and wishes….I can only hope the new next mayor can rise to the challenge.

Thank you to John James Pron for the content of this post.

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John Singletary – Through Lines/Fault Lines

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John Singletary – Through Lines/Fault Lines

The Gallery at Penn College (a Penn State Affiliate)

Room 303, The Madigan Library, 1 College Ave., Williamsport, PA, 17701

On View Until March 23rd, 2023

Closing Reception and Artist Talk

Wednesday, March 22nd, 4:00-7:00 PM

Press Contact:

Cindy Davis Meixel

Writer/Photo Editor

T 570-320-2400; x 7134

E cmeixel@pct.edu

Exhibition Hours:

Tuesday – Thursday: 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Friday: 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM

Sunday: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Transcending the limitations of the photographic medium, John Singletary creates multidisciplinary installation experiences. His work graces The Gallery at Penn College through March 22. Singletary’s Through Lines/Fault Lines is the first exhibition of multimedia work on screens in the gallery’s history. Located on the third floor of The Madigan Library at Pennsylvania College of Technology, the gallery is in its 17^th season.

The exhibition includes two installations: Traces and Anahata.

“John’s new series, Traces, was created specifically for his solo exhibition in The Gallery at Penn College,” said Penny Griffin Lutz, gallery director. “Visitors will be immersed in an audiovisual experience that explores culture, beliefs and the human connection.”

Traces uses video, digital and stop-motion animation, historical footage, and audio. “Anahata” is photography-based and presented as an immersive installation on organic LED electronic canvases.

A photographer and multimedia artist based in Philadelphia, Singletary received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography from The University of the Arts. His work has been collected by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Center for Fine Art Photography, as well as other institutional and private collections.

The artist says the imagery and vignettes in Traces, an ongoing multimedia work, depict “the extraordinary light and darkness in the human condition and life events such as the genesis of our existence and the purpose we serve to each other and ourselves.”

The audio component of the installation consists of a series of anonymously conducted interviews with a range of participants. The perspectives highlighted reveal the universality and individuality of values, the intersectionality of symbolism across cultures and lineages, and the perpetual cycles of life.

“Surveying the myriad and disjointed experiences that make up a life, ‘Traces’ explores the way we construct our internal narratives and create meaning from experience,” Singletary said.

Anahata explores human relationships and their connection to the divine. Choreographed movement was captured with an open-spectrum camera in a purpose-built, ultraviolet light studio where dancers performed in handcrafted costumes. The resulting dreamlike images are steeped in archetypal symbolism, mythology and mysticism.

A long-term collaboration between the artist and dancers, costume designers, makeup artists, choreographers and other artists, Anahata unveils a “frenetic tribe” that feels of another place and time.

The Gallery at Penn College is open 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays; and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. (The gallery is closed on Mondays and Saturdays and will also be closed March 5-12 during Spring Break.)

Thank you to John Singletary for the content of this post.

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Still Life Crew: Gardening Above, Paradigm Gallery + Studio

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Still Life Crew: Gardening Above at Paradigm Gallery, Philadelphia

Still Life Crew: “Gardening Above”A collaborative exhibition between January 27, 2023 – February 19, 2023. Opening ReceptionFriday, January 27 • 5:30 PM-8:00 PM RSVP here* Appreciated but not required

To kick off 2023 at Paradigm, Still Life Crew returns with their second exhibition as a duo at Paradigm. The artists behind the joint “Gardening Above” collection, Mando Marie and Hyland Mather, are bringing their collaborative work to a new level in this exhibition through a seamless creative process. The two have discovered new methods of formation through layering processes that have the feeling of tagging in a teammate in a competition or marathon, so in sync, but with each artist’s contributions and special skills holding their own through the details of the individual pieces. Rather than the previous side by side solo work collection previously shown on the gallery’s walls, each artist poured their hearts and vision onto the same surface for this exciting next step in the Still Life Crew’s growing and impactful oeuvre.

Mando Marie primarily uses stencil and mixed-media collage to create paintings that tether the viewer to a feeling of haunting nostalgia. Straddling a line between comforting and spooky, innocence and adulthood, life and spirit, her works find a real power in opposites and duality, evidenced in this series with several examples of her hallmark use of twin and mirrored imagery.

Hyland Mather’s abstract and often geometric painting style, along with his assemblage working technique are both featured in this series. As is his way, the assemblage work features abandoned, discarded, or ‘lost objects’ that have been rediscovered and made new again while maintaining an artifact-like status. In Hyland’s own words, “some lost stuff gets found again”.

About Mando Marie | An American painter and Stencilist, Amanda Marie has been splitting time, living and painting in Amsterdam and Portugal . She attended the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design (RMCAD) and has exhibited extensively in the US and Europe. She creates small works on paper and larger works on canvas for indoor exhibition. She also paints large scale murals primarily in outdoor urban, or garden settings. Her use of nostalgic storybook-like imagery is an invitation for viewing allegorical and highly painterly compositions . Signature in her very graphic work is the use of children and young adults as imagery tools to deliver clever, often subtle messages that can straddle a line between comforting and spooky. Other signature and recognizable traits in her work are the common use of ‘twin imagery’ and the consistent use of vintage sewing patterns as backgrounds to inform the compositions of her paintings.

About Hyland Mather | “I make stuff from junk. I pick up messes and try to make them into something I think looks good. i use the junk from the city, I use the stuff from the field, i use the bits in the forest, and the things in the trash. I hunt, collect, and gather, but only what I need for the work, for the play. color, shape, composition. Some lost stuff gets found again.”
Hyland Mather is an American assemblage artist and abstract painter, who grew up in Alaska and lives and works now, like Mando, between Amsterdam and Portugal. Best known for his use of found materials, Mather collects discarded objects and reassembles them to help them regain purpose. Mather has exhibited his work in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and public spaces around the world. Accompanying his studio practice, Mather creates murals and urban art installations in various cities primarily in the United States & Europe.

EXHIBITION HOURS
Saturdays • 11:00am – 6:00pm
Sundays • 11:00am – 5:00pm
And 7 days a week by appointment.

LOCATION
Paradigm Gallery + Studio
746 S. 4th Street, 1st Floor / Philadelphia, PA 19147
info@paradigm-gallery.com / (267)266-0073

Media Contact:
Lainya Magaña, A&O PR
347 395 4155
lainya@aopublic.com

SOCIAL MEDIA
Instagram: @ParadigmGS
Twitter: @ParadigmGS
Facebook: facebook.com/paradigmgallery
TikTok: @paradigmgallery

About Paradigm Gallery
Paradigm Gallery + Studio was established in 2010 by co-founders and curators, Jason Chen and Sara McCorriston. The gallery exhibits meaningful, process-intense contemporary artwork from around the world. Paradigm Gallery is globally recognized and known as a tastemaker within their greater Philadelphia arts community. As the gallery grows, it maintains its original mission to keep art accessible. Through monthly donations, free public art installations, and initiatives like Insider Picks, Paradigm Gallery, continues to be a champion of small businesses and emerging and mid-career artists.

Thank you to Paradigm Gallery for the content of this post.

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POST, Philadelphia Open Studio Tours 2022

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Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (POST) returns this October 2022 with over 250 participating artists and partners.

What: PHILADELPHIA, PA – October 6, 2022. NEW. Philadelphia’s best behind-the-scenes, creative space showcase, Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (POST) is back in-person over two weekends, October 15th/16th, and 22nd/23rd.

Traversing the city’s four quadrants — by SEPTA, bike, car, or on foot — Philadelphians and visitors alike can take part in an extraordinary self-guided discovery of local art practice. Philadelphia Open Studio Tours is the largest studio visit experience in the region, featuring over 250 artists in situ and community spaces who will open their doors to visitors for one of the four days. Participating businesses and creative spaces enhance the energy already taking place in the more than 30 neighborhoods where art studios are located. Related POST activities include: studio visits, hands-on
demonstrations, artist talks, preview events, featured exhibitions and more.

Who should attend: All are welcome to participate in the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours! Families, students, community groups, visitors of all ages are encouraged to attend.

Why: POST is not just an intimate window of a day in the life of an artist, or a gallery hop. Instead, it highlights the enormous artistic capital of talent that is Philadelphia in an approachable, accessible way for all to enjoy. No other open studio event in the area provides such a rich and diverse cultural experience for the public. For more detailed, up-to-date information, to view the digital directory and interactive map of participating artists, as well as in-person event updates in October, please visit the NEW POST event website at www.cfeva.org/philaopenstudios.

When and Where: Philadelphia Open Studio Tours occurs, city-wide over two weekends, with ancillary activities scheduled for the weekdays in between. Studios and creative spaces are open to the public from noon-6pm all four days: POST South quadrant – Saturday, October 15th; POST West quadrant – Sunday, October 16th; POST Northwest quadrant – Saturday, October 22nd; POST Northeast Quadrant – Sunday, October 23rd.

For the interactive map and artist directory listings, please click here.
Media Contact: Lily Gilston, Community Program Manager at The Center for Emerging Visual Artists (CFEVA) www.cfeva.org/philaopenstudios | 215.546.7775 x 13| Post@cfeva.org | lily@cfeva.org | #POST2022 #POSTPHL
@PhilaCFEVA on Instagram, @CFEVA @Philaopenstudios on Facebook