Category Archives: Philadelphia Art Classes

Art classes at locations DoN has visited or studied.

Change


Save the City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy

iradiophilly started this petition to Mayor of Philadelphia Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenny and 2 others

Link to Change.org petition

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney released a revised budget for fiscal year 2021 in response to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic on May 1, 2020. Businesses have been closed and workers have been off the job for weeks, reducing the city’s tax revenue significantly. The Office of the Department of Finance projects that without any changes the city would have a $649 million deficit next year. The city cannot legally operate with a deficit. We understand that hard decisions needed to be made and that cut backs and program budget reductions were inevitable. However, to completely eliminate an office that supports a vital industry in the city of Philadelphia, especially one that has been hit very hard during this crisis, is short sighted and should be reversed.

In the new budget, the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy was budgeted $0 dollars, down from approximately $4.4 million, effectively closing the office. Most of that budgeted money goes directly to the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, which gives grants to hundreds of non-profits in the city.

The presentation of the budget by the Mayor is only the first step. It still must be approved and voted on by City Council before July 1. 

SEE: Mayor’s Operating Budget – re: page 80
SEE: Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney Delivers New Budget by Video; Jobs/Services Cuts, Tax Hikes

According to the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the arts and cultural sector generates $4.1 billion in economic impact annually and supports 55,000 jobs. That creates $1.3 billion in household income and $224.3 million in state and local taxes.* The creative economy includes but is not limited to artists, musicians, painters, sculptors, dancers, actors, filmmakers, graphic designers, venues, theaters, museums, galleries, bartenders, waiters, chefs, box office workers, bouncers, sound engineers, tech crews, art/dance/recording studios, and all employed by those entities, as well as support industries such as accountants, lawyers, hotels, ride shares, parking, public relations, marketing, and media. On the other side there are the fans, patrons, concert goers, theater attendees, and more who support the arts and make the purchases.

Most of this industry has been shut down during this crisis and needs support now more than ever to rebound during the economic recovery.

The Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy’s mission is to close the gap in access to quality cultural experiences and creative expression through the support and promotion of arts, culture and the creative industries; connecting Philadelphians to enriching, arts-infused experiences; linking local artists and cultural organizations to resources and opportunities; and preserving the City’s public art assets. http://creativephl.org

The OACCE is also responsible for the Music Industry Task Force, the Mayor’s Cultural Advisory Council, Art in City Hall, all of Philadelphia’s public art, and funding the Philadelphia Cultural Fund which gives grants to numerous Philadelphia arts and culture non-profits.

Philadelphia is a vibrant city teeming with culture that has been driving our identity for hundreds of years. The art created in Philadelphia reaches well beyond its borders and has touched the world and helps drive our other industries through attention and attraction to our area. As we look to rebound and recover from this crisis, there are certainly sectors that are essential to our health and safety and must be prioritized. However, unless we take care to ensure our cultural health is also revived, we risk losing our spirit.

Philadelphia’s creative economy deserves proper representation in City Hall. Understandably, it is likely not possible for the OACCE to be budgeted at the same level as the original budget, however, the industry’s economic impact alone justifies that the office’s budget be more than zero. We are simply asking that the City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy not be eliminated.

*https://www.philaculture.org/why-arts-culture/prosperityStart a petition of your ownThis petition starter stood up and took action. Will you do the same?Start a petition

Updates

Over 6,200 Support the Creative Economy in Philadelphia!Thank you for all your support! Let’s keep the momentum going. Artists, musicians, actors, dancers, writers, back stage, front of house, all venue/gallery workers, recording studios, producers, photographers, video…iradiophilly5 days agoMore updates

Streets Dept signed this petition

Cherie Lucier

Cherie Lucier signed 6 minutes ago

Ted Warchal

Ted Warchal signed 10 minutes ago

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Workshop

The Plastic Club Annual Workshop Art Show

The Plastic Club Annual Workshop Art Show

The Plastic Club holds eleven artist workshops every week, in which the Club supplies a well-lighted studio space and models, if required. 

These workshops are great incubators of artistic expression. Once a year, the Club has an exhibition of work done in these workshops — whether completed during the workshop or started in the workshop and completed at home.

The Annual Workshop Show, June 1st – June 27th, will open with a party on Saturday, June 1, from 7:00 – 9:00PM at The Plastic Club, 247 S. Camac St., Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-545-9324 info@plasticclub.org

Viewers of the exhibition will vote for their favorite works, and the top vote-getters will receive coupons for free workshops. (Workshops are inexpensive, but not free.)

Among the workshops are Clothed Portrait Model, Draped Figure, Life Model (Long pose), Clothed Model (Long pose), and Open Studio. (During the Open Studio, students work on their own projects and a still-life composition is available.) The full list of workshops is shown on the Club’s website, www.plasticclub.org/workshops.

The Annual Workshop Show can be viewed by the public during the opening party and at The Plastic Club‘s monthly Third Sunday Open Gallery, on June 16, from 1:00 to 4:00PM.

About The Plastic Club

The Plastic Club was founded in 1897 by a group of professional women artists At a time when already existing art clubs in the city were only open to men, the founders of the Plastic Club wanted a place for artists who were women to meet, exchange ideas, and exhibit their work. They wanted to bring experienced, professionals together with younger artists who were just beginning their careers.

Today, in a building purchased through member fundraising in 1909, the original mission of the now co-ed Plastic Club continues with 200+ members, ten open drawing sessions a week, and a year-round program of film, dance, music, poetry, salons discussion groups, community dinners, and other fun events.

The term “Plastic” refers to the “plastic” arts — malleable, changeable, and ever in-progress work. From the beginning the Club has been a home to artists of all media including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, printmaking, fiber arts, and more.

Thank you to Bob Moore for the content of this post.

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Thunderbird

Thunderbird Lodge

Thunderbird Lodge in Rose Valley Pa., Life Drawing Workshop

Written and photographed by Robert Bohne

Every now and then, you find an overlooked gem in your own back yard. And so it was with the Thunderbird Lodge in Rose Valley Pa. I’ve lived in this area my entire life, and I’ve driven by this location at least a thousand times, and yet I’ve never really noticed the Thunderbird Lodge. Hidden from view by decades of overgrown trees and wild vegetation, the Thunderbird Lodge on Rose Valley Road is now in the process of being renovated. The trees and vegetation have been trimmed and removed, and the building now takes it’s rightful place among the historic architecture of Rose Valley.

Thunderbird Lodge

Originally a circa-1790 stone barn, the building was converted into a home and studio for artists Alice Barber Stephens and Charles Stephens by architect William L. Price in 1904.  Charles was an authority on American Indians, and he named the Lodge after a legendary North American indigenous creature. Charles was a teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and Alice was a successful illustrator. They raised their son, D. Owen Stephens (1894–1937) in Rose Valley, and painted there until their deaths.

Thunderbird Lodge

The Thunderbird Lodge then became the home of Allen Seymour and Mildred Olmstead. He was a lawyer, member of the Men’s Commission for Women’s Suffrage, and helped in the founding of the ACLU. Mildred worked with the American Birth Control League and was a director of the U.S. section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Together they worked with the American Friends Service Committee, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The house was used as a safe meeting place for other activists, including Jane AddamsJames FarmerGeorge Washington Carver, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 2015, the house was given to the community of Rose Valley and is now in the process of being converted into a museum that will feature the arts and crafts of the region, and on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016, the Lodge held it’s first drawing workshop in the studios that were originally built for the Stephens. Studios that haven’t seen artists put pencil to paper in well over a hundred years.

Thunderbird Lodge, Robert BohneRobert Bohne, Carol, charcoal and white pastel on tan paper. 12 x 9 from the first Thunderbird Lodge drawing session.

So here’s a tip of the hat to the volunteers at the Thunderbird Lodge for their hard work and for their vision of preserving the past and presenting the artists of the future.

Written and photographed by Robert Bohne

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How

How Not To Be A Starving Artist, Amy VoloshinAmy Voloshin 

Art center presents “How Not to be a Starving Artist”

a panel discussion featuring Kathy Davis, Amy Voloshin, Sarah Van Aken, and Lisa and Rob Papp

1:00 to 3:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at the Horsham Township Library

HORSHAM, Pa. — She may be a successful artist now, having built a multi-million- dollar business around her expressive watercolor painting and inspirational messages. But like many who dream of a creatively fulfilling career, Kathy Davis was once deterred by the myth of the “starving artist.”

“The whole starving artist thing is something we’ve all heard. It kind of puts the fear in people,” says Davis, CEO and chief visionary officer of Kathy Davis Studios, one of the top social expression and lifestyle brands in the country.

The former art teacher wants to help dispel that fear in others considering or struggling with a career in the arts. On Oct. 29, she’ll be part of the panel discussion “How Not to be a Starving Artist,” held at the Horsham Township Library.

The special event, sponsored by the Scatter Joy Center for the Arts, which Davis founded in 2015, will explore the pros and cons of starting your own business versus freelancing or working in-house, as well as offer insights and suggestions for licensing your work and building a brand.

How Not To Be A Starving Artist, Kathy DavisKathy Davis

Davis has invited a diverse gathering of colleagues to join her: fine artist and illustrator Robert Papp; Amy Voloshin, founder and creative director of textile design studio Printfresh; Sarah Van Aken, president of Kathy Davis Studios and founder of fashion brand SA VA; and author and illustrator Lisa Papp.

“We’ve covered a wide variety of industries and combined different perspectives so that anybody could get something out of this, whether they want to be a musician, a writer, a photographer…

“There are so many new fields in the arts, with technology-based companies and social media and computerized design in addition to some of the more traditional mediums. People should really explore and expose themselves to as wide a variety as possible out there before they try to zero in and make a decision.”

Davis herself was 35 before she even considered striking out on her own as an artist. Although she always loved art, she lacked the confidence to pursue it and spent her early adult years teaching sixth grade and then high school art in her native Horsham after she received her master’s degree in art education.

“It was a common conception at the time that being an artist was not a safe career,” she says.

How Not To Be A Starving Artist, Sarah Van AkenSarah Van Aken

Following a divorce, Davis began designing the greeting cards that would launch her career as an artist from a drawing table in the corner of her bedroom, while her children napped. Those cards, with their expressive florals, whimsical designs and heartfelt messaging, have since touched millions.

How Not To Be A Starving Artist, Lisa PappLisa Papp

But the path to success didn’t come easily — and hasn’t for most on the panel. Quakertown’s Lisa Papp, whose illustrated children’s books include “One for All: A Pennsylvania Number Book (America by the Numbers)” and, most recently, “Madeline Finn and the Library Dog,” says no matter her level of achievement, her artistic life remains fueled by faith.

“Faith that the next job will come, that I’ll feel creative when I have to create the next sketch. Faith that I’ll find some part of me to share with the world. Faith that this little job will lead to a big job,” she says. “An artist’s life is a circle of faith, trust, action. You can makea very nice living from art if you are dedicated and professional.”

Even in moments of failure, there are lessons to be learned. Van Aken, a Reading native and Philadelphia resident, became one of the city’s hottest young entrepreneurs when she launched her made-in- Philadelphia fashion brand SA VA in 2009. Its clothing was all produced with varying levels of sustainability, whether it was organic, locally made, fair trade or recycled. Then, in 2013, after becoming a celebrated model for contemporary sustainable enterprise, she shuttered her business amid struggles to raise capital for its wholesale division and unpalatable investor demands.

Today, she considers her uncommonly transparent exit among her greatest accomplishments. “It could have been a disastrous — financially, professionally, personally — situation but each step of the way, I honored the people and process and the ending was even better than the beginning,” she says. “When I started my fashion business, I wanted to be great. I used to identify my greatness by achieving the ultimate in success — positive reviews in the best fashion magazines, a high valuation for my business… As I grew with my business, I saw that greatness is reached by always acting with integrity. Failure helps you find your greatness.”

Such insights are what Davis hopes aspiring artists especially will find valuable at this month’s event.

“You have to believe in yourself and your talent. But you also have to be flexible and adapt to what the market needs,” she says. “I was a starving artist until I found the right way to go about it.”

How Not To Be A Starving Artist, Robert PappRobert Papp

Scatter Joy Center for the Arts presents “How Not to be a Starving Artist

FEATURING: Kathy Davis of Kathy Davis Studios; Sarah Van Aken of Kathy Davis Studios and SA VA fashions; Amy Voloshin of Printfresh; author and illustrator Lisa Papp; and fine artist and illustrator Robert Papp

WHEN:   Saturday, October 29, from 1 to 3:30 p.m.

LOCATION: Horsham Township Library, 435 Babylon Road, Horsham, Pa. 19044

ADMISSION: $25; high school and college students, $10 (proceeds will go to donate art supplies to children in need)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 215-672- 3140; www.scatterjoyarts.org

Thank you to Naila Francis for the content of this post.

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Party

Paint Party, Dahlak Paradise, Nile Livingston

Paint Party, Dahlak Paradise Ethiopian Restaurant & Bar, Nile Livingston

Paint Party in the rear patio of Dahlak Paradise Ethiopian Restaurant & Bar 4708 Baltimore Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19143

Wednesday, August 12th from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Hosted by Nile Livingston!

Sign-up includes happy hour drink specials, 20% off your meal, acrylic paints, step by step instructions from two professional artists, and a 12″ canvas for you to take home. If it rains we’ll host the party inside. There are a limited number to table easels available. Please RSVP early and arrive time. Purchase tickets at: http://nilelivingston.com/dahlakpaintparty

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