A two person show of photography, collage and mixed media work by a mother and daughter, each exploring in her own way the transformation of something old into something new through art – Rosalind Bloom andSarah R. Bloom. April 1 – 30, 2015. Artist Reception Saturday, April 11, 4:00 – 7:00pm at Da Vinci Art Alliance, 704 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Gallery hours Saturday & Sunday. 12:00 – 6:00pm, Wednesday 6:00 – 8:00, and by appointment. Gallery will be closed Easter Sunday, April 5th. Phone contact 610-715-1348 or 610-420-1733
“The past is reclaimed for the present. Ephemera of times gone by are retrieved and then transformed by our thoughts, experiences, current perspective, and the creative process into something new and different. Bits and pieces carved out of earlier work spark something new. Art is about transformation; something that existed one way is reclaimed and becomes something else.” – Rosalind Bloom, April, 2015
“I am seeking to adapt to my changing body, mindset and circumstance as I age. I see myself as an extension of these abandoned spaces, using them as an echo of the push/pull of our identity as we age. There is light and dark, sadness and beauty, fear and acceptance, a folding into and a pushing out all at once. I am working towards reclaiming my place in the world and redefining my mid-life as one of transformation rather than crisis.” – Sarah R. Bloom, April, 2015
“The Da Vinci Art Alliance was founded in 1931 and enjoys a distinguished history in Philadelphia. It was formed to serve the needs of artists and artisans and to promote the edification and appreciation of the arts. Our well-located building across from Fleisher Art Memorail was purchased in 1959 to provide studio, and gallery spaces for its members and outreach for the community. Da Vinci Art Alliance maintains a small collection of works by noted founders. The Da Vinci Art Alliance supports community based arts programs, and cultural and educational exchanges through monthly exhibitions, lectures and events.” – Da Vinci Art Alliance
Philadelphia/TriState Artists Equity 66th Anniversary Members Juried Exhibition at The Art Gallery at Franklin Commons, April 19 to May 21, 2015
Philadelphia/TriState Artists Equity invites you to its 66th Anniversary Members Juried ExhibitionApril 19 to May 21, 2015 at The Art Gallery at Franklin Commons! The Opening Reception will be held on April 19, 2- 4 PM. Free and open to the public. The exhibit will be juried by Marsha Moss, Public Curator and Consultant.
Philadelphia/TriState Artists Equity66th Anniversary Members Juried Exhibition at The Art Gallery at Franklin Commons, April 19 to May 21, 2015
“Franklin Commons is an old (approximately 100 years) industrial building that has had only four owners and four uses. It was initially a silk mill, then a carpet mill, and in the mid-70’s it was purchased by Budd Company which moved here from Bridgeport. They made plastic pump parts for sewage treatment plants. In the mid-90’s, a division of the Budd Company purchased the building, made the same product, with the same employees. They ceased operations in approximately 2003. Palma, L.P. bought the building on March 17, 2006.
After the environmental remediation, it was divided into leasehold spaces and leasing commenced in 2007. At the present time, approximately one-half of the tenants are educational or quasi-educational and one-half are not. Check out the link below for an inside look at the progress and exciting transformation of the Franklin Commons.
Philadelphia/TriState Artists Equity66th Anniversary Members Juried Exhibition at The Art Gallery at Franklin Commons, April 19 to May 21, 2015
Artists Equity is an association for professional fine artists.
• Exhibition and networking opportunities for all levels of the profession and in all fine arts media
• Upper tier venues, Select Exhibitions
• Professional development programs, Mentoring, Peer-to-Peer Resource Sharing
• Best practices and policies on entrance fees, art in the fundraising setting, contracts and negotiating
Historically, Artists Equity championed improved economic and working conditions for artists, as well as the protection and expansion of artists’ rights. Our accomplishments include the successful establishment of a 1% for art ordinance in Philadelphia (the first of its kind in the country), the organization of a Symposium for Health Hazards in the Visual Arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the sponsorship of many celebrations of the visual arts throughout the regionDelaware Valley.” – Philadelphia / Tri-State Artists Equity
“I’m wondering whether you can recommend emerging artists in the greater Philly/Bucks County/central Jersey area who may want to participate in Lambertville Historical Society’s plein air event this year? We like the idea of supporting emerging artists, and also want to keep price points generally below $1,000, which would be consistent with folks looking to gain exposure more than to make a bigger profit.” – Caroline Armstrong
We don’t have a prospectus per say, but here is the basic information below
Paint out is on Sunday, October 18th. In the event of inclement weather, artists can paint another day prior to or following the House Tour.
While most work is done in oil, we have accepted pastels, acrylics, water color and this year, even a charcoal drawing.
Each artist may submit up to two works. Since the silent auction will be scheduled most likely three months following the paint out, artists are free to finish their work in the studio.
Subject matter – anything produced from within or of the City of Lambertville. By way of example: viewsheds, streetscapes, landscapes, farmstead, buildings (though note that straight on views of buildings don’t generate quite so much interest), people, river scenes, canal scenes, skyscapes, the list goes on. Representational, abstract, all good.
No size requirements for the artwork.
Submissions must be framed or, if not meant for frames, be ready to hang (I think those with frames tend to do better).
Artists set the suggested retail price. Note that we are very much looking for price points below $1,000 – they sell better.
Silent auction takes place in the winter of 2016 (date still to be determined).
Opening bid for all artwork starts at 40% of suggested retail value.
Proceeds from the sale of artwork are split 50/50 between the artist and the Lambertville Historical Society.
Items that are not sold are returned to the artists.
Some interesting historical facts based on our three years of the plein air fundraiser thus far: Year One: 23 artists, 35 works, 33 sold, Year Two: 26 artists, 38 works, 37 sold, Year Three: 23 artists, 35 works, 32 sold.
We have a selection committee that meets in late June to finalize the list of participating artists. In the meantime, to the extent you know folks who would be interested based on the above info, or would like to contact me or have me contact them to discuss this further, that would be absolutely great.
“The Philly Five, a group of artists that met over 15 years ago while attending Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, are exhibiting a diverse selection of oil paintings and other works…Each has a distinctive style and their own preferred subject matter, although they all paint a variety of subjects. – The Medford Sun
The Philly Five, April 10th through May 31st, 2015.
Artist Reception Sunday, April 12, 3:00 – 5:00pm
“Fleisher Art Memorial is a source of inspiration, creativity and community. Every year, more than 17,000 people experience the transformative power of art by participating in our studio classes, exhibitions, and community-based programming. Founded in 1898, we are a nonprofit organization committed to advancing the vision of our founder, Samuel S. Fleisher, who believed that art is one of society’s greatest assets and equalizers, and from the doorway of his Graphic Sketch Club, “invited the world to come and learn art.” – Fleisher Art Memorial
“Susan Barnes, a native of New Jersey, has been painting in oils actively since the mid 1990’s and is the recipient of numerous awards. Seeking her own educational path at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia and by attending various workshops, she has learned from a generation of painters that studied under the tutelage of Arthur DeCosta at PAFA.” – Susan Barnes
“Patrick Monaghan began his art education at Fleisher Art Memorial School in Philadelphia, PA in 1994. He received instruction in painting the figure and portraiture from such notable artists as Stanley Bielen, Paul Dusold and Carolyn Pyfrom. Also, he was instructed in still life painting and continued his education in this genre with Lousie Clement-Hoff, Nathan Rutkowski and Christine La Fuente.” – Patrick Monaghan
“I am a direct painter, painting from life to capture the moment.The excitement of the moment and the immediacy are what drive me.It is that total impression that creates the completed painting.I focus on color, harmony, light, mood, texture, composition and the calligraphy of my brush strokes. I love to experiment with a variety of palettes and surfaces.” – Doris Peltzman
Fleisher Art Memorialcreates an environment where over time artists become dear friends, companions, confidantes, supporters and collaborators. I know almost all of the Philly Five from taking painting classes in the early 21st Century. Before they put the elevator in at Fleisher and you had to carry your gear up the stairs and grab a spot with the best views. The instructors or monitors are some of Philadelphia’s most accomplished artists and educators and the classes would fill up fast. The vibe in the classes was as intense as going to PAFA or UArts, critiques can be so painful to watch but so personal to experience.
I distinctly recall seeing Doris Peltzman the first time at Fleisher Art Memorial. She came into the studio wearing a tweed jacket and skirt, a very elegant silhouette, and she proceeded to get oil paint on it. It’s funny but she was so happy to get paint on her clothes. Doris Peltzman‘s been painting with oils ever since, studying with the best, participating in the competitive art scene, exhibiting across the region, and is considered one of Philadelphia’s finest painters.
Translating communication symbols & systems into color, sound and objects Glassboro, NJ – Rowan University Art Gallery presents Chromography: Writing in Color, a two-person exhibition examining concepts of translation and symbol-based communication, from March 23 – May 9. A reception on Thursday, April 9 from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. features an artist’s talk beginning at 6:00 p.m. to include a performance of excerpts from musical translations represented in the exhibit.
Artists Melinda Steffy and Gerard Brown explore concepts of translation and symbol-based communication in their work. Starting with different sets of symbols—Steffy with music and Brown with writing—both artists have developed systems for translating distinct methods of communication into visual artworks. Written texts, then, rely on color and pattern to be understood. Music, usually experienced as linear and time-based, can be seen all at once, in immediate spatial configurations. Gerard Brown explores the intersection of seeing and reading, often by employing codes that do not—at first glance—resemble writing. Brown employs a script of nautical signal flags arranged according to traditional “tumbling block” pattern similar to quilting patterns. The tumbling block pattern is a powerful optical illusion that creates the feeling of three-dimensional space on a flat plane. This illusion offers an analog to the ways writing can be confused with speech. Unlike most other forms of writing, signal flags rely on color to communicate their message and are easily confused with one another if color is absent. Converting the common alphabet into a patterned array of color reveals idiosyncratic instances in language, as letterforms repeat and combine into new shapes and arrangements.
Melinda Steffy explores congruent patterns by translating compositions by J.S. Bach and Béla Bartók into watercolor paintings on paper. In her translations, each of the notes of the chromatic scale corresponds with a hue on the color wheel; as the music progresses through the key signatures, the paintings’ color schemes shift. Notes and rhythms are plotted on a grid to show intrinsic tonal and rhythmic structures. The subtle irregularity of the hand-painted squares and watercolor pigments captures a sense of tone variation similar to a live performance.
A central element of this exhibition is “The Hours,” an elaborate experiment in translation that moves messages from writing to music to image. Working with “Solresol,” a language invented by composer and violinist François Sudre (1787 – 1862), the seven notes of the musical scale: DO RE ME FA SO LA TI are used to translate texts. Each word in Solresol uses one to four syllables (or notes), resulting in a lexicon of about 3,000 terms. Sudre constructed dictionaries to translate French, English, and other European tongues into his new language, and created systems of notation – including one that assigns colors to notes – by which it could be written. In this manner, colored flags or lights could transit messages. Brown translated short literary descriptions of times of day into the Solresol language and then into brief melodies that chime at the hours they describe. For example, a passage about the end of the day from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” becomes a lonely, meandering melody for brass ensemble. Each tune was then re-scored by Steffy, using the system she invented that translates musical notes into color. Several of these visualizations are installed on the gallery windows as decals, and each of them sounds at its designated time in the public space outside the gallery. In the gallery, “The Hours” are presented in the books where the passages originated.
Gerard Brown, a writer and painter, is an Assistant Professor at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. His work explores how the mind moves from seeing to reading by concealing writing in patterns and color. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited at the Woodmere Art Museum, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia Sculpture Gym, and the Icebox (all in Philadelphia), as well as Finlandia University Art Gallery (Michigan) and 5.4.7 Art Center (Kansas). He has also organized exhibits for the Center for Art in Wood (Philadelphia) and Hicks Art Center at Bucks County Community College.
Melinda Steffy, a visual artist and classically-trained musician from Philadelphia, has had artwork displayed across the Northeast and beyond, including the Icebox, the Hall at the Crane Arts Building, and Sam Quinn Gallery (Philadelphia); Delaware Center for Contemporary Art and Fringe Wilmington (Delaware); Lancaster Museum of Art and Villanova University (Pennsylvania); Finlandia University (Michigan); Micro Museum (New York); and Stamford Art Association (Connecticut). She is an artist member of InLiquid and a LEADERSHIP Philadelphia fellow. An accomplished musician, Steffy currently serves as general manager for the innovative music nonprofit LiveConnections and sings with the Chestnut Street Singers.
Admission to the gallery, talk and reception is free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 10 am to 5 pm (with extended hours on Wednesdays to 7 pm); and Saturday, 12 to 5
Rowan University Art Gallery is located on the lower level of Westby Hall on the university campus, Route 322 in Glassboro, NJ. Directions can be found on the gallery or university websites. For more information, call 856-256-4521 or visit www.rowan.edu/artgallery.
This program is made possible in part with funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
