Category Archives: Philadelphia Art

Art in Philadelphia, PA.

Works on Paper 2012 at PSC

Sibylle-Maria Pfaffenbichler, Yes Indeed, acrylic & pastel, “The Annual Domenic DiStefano Memorial 2012 Juried Works on Paper Exhibition”, at The Philadelphia Sketch Club through 1/21/2012.

Richard Harrington, 1956 T-bird , gouache on paper at The Philadelphia Sketch Club “The Annual Domenic DiStefano Memorial 2012 Juried Works on Paper Exhibition”.

Lisa Lawinski Buchler, Acacia Tress and Bleeding Hearts, mixed media, The Philadelphia Sketch Club Works on Paper 2012

Lisa Lawinski Buchler, Acacia Tress and Bleeding Hearts, The Philadelphia Sketch Club “The Annual Domenic DiStefano Memorial 2012 Juried Works on Paper Exhibition”

Judy Engle, Loft Life with Ginger Cat, mixed media collage with tape at Philadelphia Sketch Club “The Annual Domenic DiStefano Memorial 2012 Juried Works on Paper Exhibition”.

Judy Engle‘s tape collage, Loft Life with Ginger Cat, has a depth and density that is confusingly 3D. Judy told DoN that friend’s told her that tape would deteriorate but the artist has found just the opposite. Ignoring the negative feedback, Judy Engle had both of her entries accepted into the exclusive exhibition and took home an Honarable Mention award.

Judy Engle, Philadelphia Sketch Club Works on Paper 2012. The reflected light is from the large window over the Winner’s Wall, you may even notice the model ship on the sill and the skylight which makes the gallery/studio so appealing for making art.

Harry S. Camarda, In Thought, charcoal, The Philadelphia Sketch Club Works on Paper 2012

The Philadelphia Sketch Club “The Annual Domenic DiStefano Memorial 2012 Juried Works on Paper Exhibition”, through January 21st, 2012, is an opportunity to immerse yourself in the variety of media, ideas and combinations of materials that constitutes art made on and with paper. Excluding photography, the show displays exquisite works by many of Philadelphia finest artists; the first place winner Harry S. Camarda‘s In Thought, a magnificent charcoal drawing that recalls the era of Thomas Eakins, a PSC founder, and reaffirms the mission of the Philadelphia Sketch Club – where artists grow.

Read about New Wave Art Fine Art Products on Side Arts blog.

DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog

Photographs by DoN
Kodak Digital Cameras

Blick Art Materials

New Members Plastic Club 2012

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Tecu’Mish Munha’ke, Put on Your Big Girl Panties and Cowgirl Up, three assemblages at The Plastic Club.

Tecu’Mish Munha’ke submitted three assemblages for the New Members 2012 exhibition, Put on Your Big Girl Panties and Cowgirl Up, Out of Order (a large assemblage sculpture that grabs your attention) and Feed Me. Take that all you Untitlers out there!

Cary Galbraith, Frog Hollow, oil, at The Plastic Club New Members 2012

At first glance DoN thought this languid landscape was by Robert Daniel Bohne’ but then DoN overheard someone say that she, Cary Galbraith, painted with Bohne. The cross influences artists have on each other is one of the best parts of being involved in an art group like the Plastic Club and is a hallmark of the Philadelphia art scene.

Leon Graff, Parkside, acrylic, at the Plastic Club New Member 2012

“Leon Graff was born in South Africa and was trained in South Africa and London. He has lived and exhibited in London, Seattle, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Montreal, Boston, Philadelphia and New York City. His paintings hang in many private collections in New York City, Philadelphia, Canada, Florida and Europe.” – Fine Art Liasons website

Leon Graff‘s paintings capture the vibrancy and fun of the thriving Philadelphia art scene. Congratulations to the New Members of The Plastic Club. Learn more about the art club in DoN‘s interview with Bob Jackson on the Philly Side Arts blog. Member’s of the Plastic Club looking to expand their web presence and consolidate their social networking links may consider an artist portfolio page on Side Arts.

Photographs by DoN Brewer
Kodak Digital Cameras

Kevin Lehman, The Need for Fundamental Change @ University of the Arts, Hamilton Hall Public Arts Initiative

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Kevin Lehman, The Need for Fundamental Change @ University of the Arts, Hamilton Hall Public Arts Initiative, Broad and Pine Streets, Philadelphia.

DoN walked past the sculpture vitrines in front of the University of the Arts and it appeared one of the sculptures had been pulled loose. It was January 3rd and the Mummers Parade crowd can get pretty rowdy, generally Philadelphians are art friendly but you never know. DoN felt anger and disgust that someone had damaged a public art piece, especially since some very beautiful and ephemeral pieces have graced the vitrines over the years with no vandalism.

But, this piece looks like it was moved across the plaza. In the light of day the reality of the installation came together – the sculpture had actually pulled itself loose from it’s mooring near the grand stairs to the Temple and crawled to the garden wall leaving a trail of wire and debris behind. In the garden, pod-like ceramic pots are birthing televisions and computer monitors, while the master motherboard hovers nearby protecting the brood. Smaller pots have already invaded the farther reaches of the Japanese-ish stone garden connected by umbilical cords of red wire to the mother pods. Kevin Lehman‘s studio is in Lancaster PA.

Kevin Lehman, The Need for Fundamental Change @ University of the Arts Hamilton Hall Public Arts Initiative.

Kevin Lehman, The Need for Fundamental Change is the artist’s MFA Thesis Exhibition through January 15th, 2012. For more information on the Hamilton Hall Public Arts Initiative contact jgirandola@uarts.edu

Kevin Lehman, The Need for Fundamental Change @ University of the Arts Hamilton Hall Public Arts Initiative

Photos by DoN Brewer

Castles Made of Sand

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Sanding Ovations, Treasure Island, Florida

DoN was reading the art blog on the Huffington Post and came across a story about a sand castle artist. DoN attended the Sanding Ovations Sand Castle competition on Treasure Island, Florida in November 2011 and was impressed by the high content level of the sand castles created with such lowly materials. Sand castles is a misnomer because the artist’s create sculpture out of a difficult and ephemeral material. DoNArTNeWs abandoned the story as vacation pics and not Philadelphia Art related, but it was a really good show, very competitive and extraordinarily creative. And if Huff Post can cover sand sculpture art, so can DoN.

The metaphors and memes are just all over this category of sculpture from fading beauty to art as play to time conquers all. The term sand castle just blows up with memories of childhood beach days. Sanding Ovations exposes art to the community in a fun, understandable if confounding way and creates an experience design that’s inspiring to kids and adults.

First Place Prize and Sculptors Award Winner at Sanding Ovations.

The sand castle metaphor is apropos for artists who have to pull together disparate elements creating an object like a painting to be accepted by the community as a work of art. Like herding cats, DoN chases after elusive grants, competes for wall space in art shows, makes new art, visits art shows, writes and promotes daily, constantly developing the DoN brand. The sand castle DoN is working on now includes this blog, Contributing Writer to Side Arts, a tech start up, Philly based company, offering an excellent web presence for artists and DoN is near completion of a new book about Lilliana Didovic based on her art and the reviews DoN has published on DoNArTNeWs and Side Arts.

Karen M commented she hadn’t seen DoN around much lately, he’s been building sand castles and the wind and the waves slow his progress. But, today The Philadelphia Sketch Club and The Plastic Club have openings with an abundancce of art and artists, last night DoN experienced Kile Smith’s, Vespers with Piffaro the Renaissance Music Band and The Crossing at Old Saint Joe’s Church in Old City – there’s another show today, if you can get tickets, the music, singing and orchestration is transcendental. Talk about castles made of sand, about forty singers and musicians come together and produce an hour of spectacular beauty that wafts away on the breeze like a sand castle erodes from the weather.

View a clip from the Vespers premier in 2008, DoNBrewerMultimedia on YouTube.

DoN

Photographs by DoN Brewer shot with

Kodak Digital Cameras

Keyword: Philadelphia Art

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Laurentiu Todie, The One @ Art Ability Bryn Mawr Rehab Center, Malvern, PA.

DoNArTNeWs finally appears on page one in Google for the search term “Philadelphia art blogs“, thank you very much! DoN has written more than four hundred reviews, interviews and promotions about the Philadelphia regional art scene for DoNArTNeWs. The most frequently accessed pages include the term “Philadelphia art” in the web site statistics, “art” is the number one search term. Philadelphia art is a search term that thousands of people are investigating because the Philly art scene is, as Mayor Michael Nutter stated at the West Collects press conference, “Strong!” Great art has become synonymous with Philadelphia because of the high end cultural institutions like PMA and the innovative neighborhood artist enclaves, clubs, alliances and collectives that pervade the city and the region, creating an amorphous idea of what is Philadelphia art? Is it the great art speak that PAFA teaches it’s students? Is it the gritty allure of Fishtown, Northern Liberties or Germantown and the satisfaction of getting in early on something bohemian, eclectic, outrageous or controversial? Is Philadelphia really the sixth borough of NYC?

Art is strong and vibrant in Philadelphia with wonderful resources but DoN has heard institutional leaders say the majority of public dollars get directed to the top tier while smaller groups compete for shrinking grant money and must endure its grueling paperwork. Rachel Zimmerman of InLiquid, one of the oldest artist profile websites of its kind in Philadelphia, told DoN this past Summer that artists have three jobs: making art, selling art and the job to pay for buying art materials. Artist Gregory Prestegord told DoN there are more like seven jobs to get to what he calls “a state of meditation“, the time he actually gets to spend making art, a broad circle of activities, many unrelated to art production, must happen to get to the moment of meditation when art appears out of seemingly nowhere. Art and the creative economy is enormous in Philadelphia, the competition for money is daunting, yet artists keep pushing against the obstacles and work hard to be known as a Philadelphia Artist, the second most popular search term for DoNArTNeWs‘ Philadelphia art blog.