Category Archives: Art in Philadelphia

Art in Philadelphia

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

Lois Schlachter, @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011

Steve Iwanczuk @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011. That’s Steve reflected in the drawing on the right.

Lois & Steve have collaborated as the co-chairs of the Philadelphia Sketch Club’s Exhibition Committee for years, lately Lois is focused on her own art career, continuing to volunteer but now making new art, showing in galleries and entering competitions. Schlachter has had the unique experience of viewing virtually thousands of artworks submitted to the venerable art club’s competitions and exhibitions and now is creating her own memorable art, fractured planes, vibrant color, dreamy narratives like a mix of Charles Dumuth and Takashi Murakami. Steve Iwanczuk teaches graphic design but his drawings are surreal and photographs technically exact, in this show he shows three sides of his persona, each piece strange and deep.

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Mina Smith-Segal Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Deborah Ann S. Horsting @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne – Gift Shop! Many of the artists brought prints, cards and posters to sell, Art Space‘s lay-out is multi-purpose and really fun to wander through. Art Space is a major component in the art vibe of Lansdowne, many of the locals came out to the show, the support of the neighbors is so important if art is the force communities use to stay vibrant and relevant.

Dorothy Roschen @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

John Schmeichen @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Karen McDonnell & Anthony Cortosi @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne. Karen & Anthony are collaborative by nature, often taking on responsibilities others don’t want to do ensuring art events can jump off. The duo work together on their art, drawing and cutting stencils, spray-painting and decorating their canvasses until layers of memes, myths and memories are mashed-up like a DJ Shadow mix.

Rich Harrington @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Volunteering is a good way to make friends, learn new things, experience different ideas and stretch social skills; sometimes it feels really good, sometimes it’s hard work but in the end people working towards a common goal, solving problems, creating opportunities, being selfless and inclusive is an art form unto itself. Thank you so much to the Philadelphia Sketch Club and Art Space, DoN LoVeS seeing his work flanking Lois Schlachter and Steve Iwanczuk‘s art, to be included in their company is an honor. Not all the volunteers are represented in this blog post many other artists are in the expansive show, take the drive out to Lansdowne to see the show, support the volunteers and the view of the city on the drive back is spectacular, a fine reward.

Photos by DoN.

Bonnie Schorske 2010 @ Twenty-Two Gallery

1 Reply

Abandoned Conrail Railroad Car, Bonnie Schorske, 2010 @ Twenty-Two Gallery.

Bonnie Schorske travels a lot, in her current solo show she compares and contrasts two parts of the world, the Susquehanna Valley region and India. Bonnie told DoN she is inspired by the imagery she finds along the Pennsylvania river country, the solarized photograph of a Texaco gas pump is a real time trip, just as her duo-tone photo of an Indian landscape takes the viewer on a journey to a foreign place. The show hangs like a road map around the world, each photo a contemplative gaze on typography, architecture and nature specific to somewhere special. Bonnie Schorske has been in a creative frenzy producing a large stash of archival digital prints on lustrous museum quality rag paper; the photographer has found a way to produce affordable, high quality prints with DIY industriousness. Bonnie is highly skilled as a traditional wet dark room photographer but her transition to digital proves it’s not the camera equipment but the eye of the artist that makes an image work.

Bonnie Schorske, Ghost of Big Red, solarized archival pigment print on 100% rag.

This is the image Bonnie used on her art card, when DoN saw Bonnie at the recent Piffaro concert she asked if he was attending her upcoming show – DoN drew a total blank, even though he had the card propped up against his monitor, he never turned it over to see who’s card it was, the image had sold itself already.

RR Detritus and Susquehanna View, archival pigment print on 100% rag paper, Bonnie Schorske @ Twenty-Two Gallery in Center City, Philadelphia.

Bonnie Schorske, 2010 @ Twenty-Two Gallery.

Photos by DoN.

VIII – 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition, University of Delaware Department of Art @ Crane Arts Center

Leave a reply

Rebekah Wilhelm, VIII – 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition, University of Delaware Department of Art @ Crane Arts Center.

Rebekah Wilhelm, Untitled, detail

Rebekah Wilhelm, Untitled, VIII – 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition, University of Delaware Department of Art @ Crane Arts Center in Fishtown.

Rebekah Wilhelm‘s most excellent print display @ UD Crane is filled with information, tightly packed into clever, spare prints like an art lesson on less is more. The prints of swirling words explains how viewers interact with vision, her chain link fence prints are confounding and restrictive and the reams of paper spread in a long swipe across the floor is provocative yet simple and easy. Wilhelm already has plans to go to work teaching at the University of Delaware and is considering studio space in Philly. DoN chatted with UD Crane curator Anthony Vega, he highlighted how there was more focus on craft and skill in traditional media and no video this year. C. Grant Cox, III includes multimedia and mechanics in his sculpture but there was a noticeable absence of flat screens and projections in the gallery.

Tara Russell, VIII – 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition, University of Delaware Department of Art @ Crane Arts Center.

Jacob Smiley, VIII – 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition, University of Delaware Department of Art @ Crane Arts Center.

Tia Santana, VIII – 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition, University of Delaware Department of Art @ Crane Arts Center. Tia Santana’s performance/installation anchored the lower gallery by the stairs with the artist studiously braiding what looked a lot like hair into long dreads. Dressed in white, Santana focused on expanding the mound of braids, weaving memes like “roots”, “identity” and “work” into a fascinating presentation of a simulacra-like archetype that a week later is still vibrant in DoN‘s mind.

Daniel Jackson, VIII – 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition, University of Delaware Department of Art @ Crane Arts Center. Check out Jackson’s web site for a good look at his work, his paintings exhibit not just vibrancy and virtuosity but thoughtful content, decorative panache and strong painting science. The glossy panels thick with layers of saturated color and ancient technique are mashed up with a contemporary sense of irony; Jackson’s paintings illustrate Vega’s observation of skill being penultimate.

Congratulations to Matt Giel for his desirable photographs, Leontien Rotteveel’s beatific objet trouve-like sculpture/installation and the entire class of UD 2011 for a refreshing look at the endurance of art. The gallery is University of Delaware‘s outpost away from school, offering students a really cool space to show their work, creating an aspirational vibe and a real clarity of vision of who artists can be after college.

Photos by DoN.