Category Archives: Philadelphia Artists

Philadelphia’s art scene is vibrant, ever-changing, combining technique and technology for new visions of reality, creating a transformative influence on life-style in the urban community and beyond.

#PIFA2016

KIMMEL CENTER ANNOUNCES DETAILS OF

PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

APRIL 8 – 23, 2016

World-Class Festival Showcases Groundbreaking Work from

 International Artists and Local Partners for a Curated Exploration of the

Performing and Visual Arts

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts announces the return of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA), taking place across the venues of the Kimmel Center’s campus, as well as select locations throughout the city, from April 8 through April 23, 2016. A 15-day celebration of art and community, PIFA showcases innovation and a breadth of local and international performances and installations, all curated by The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. With more than 60 events across genres and art forms, PIFA is bookended by the Article 13 – a grand-scale fire and sand installation that tells the story of immigrants around the world – which serves as the grand opening of the Festival and culminates with the celebrated PIFA Street Fair.

 In this third installment of PIFA, the curatorial vision illustrates the concept “We Are What We Make.” The Festival will explore how our humanity is shaped, changed, inspired, and challenged by the world we create, all displayed through a variety of performing and visual arts. A massive installation by Mimi Lien – recipient of a 2015 MacArthur Genius Award – will consume the lobby of The Kimmel Center, bringing this vision to life and will be on display throughout the Festival.

 “We are thrilled to once again produce PIFA, the perfect manifestation of The Kimmel Center’s mission to introduce broad and diverse audiences to world-class, ground-breaking programming,” said Kimmel Center President and CEO, Anne Ewers. “To see our local arts organizations coming together in collaboration with one another, as well as with the renowned international artists joining us from around the world, is sure to be an extraordinary experience for the hundreds of thousands touched by PIFA.”

In addition to the featured international artists, local partners have joined forces with The Kimmel Center to present new works during this year’s Festival, further solidifying Philadelphia’s position as a pioneering force in the performing arts landscape. Local partners include The Barnes Foundation, The Clay Studio, The Center for Art in Wood, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Curtis Institute of Music, Jazz Bridge, Mural Arts Program, and PHILADANCO (The Philadelphia Dance Company). More local partners will be announced at a later date.

“‘We Are What We Make’ is the unifying thread and audiences will see it represented in countless ways through the art they’ll experience this year,” said Kimmel Center Artistic Director Jay Wahl. “The works were meant to challenge not only the artists but those who appreciate art to look deeper and get something unique from this experience, which will last long after the Festival is over.”

Tickets

Multi-event ticket packages are available now and include the PIFA Sampler Pass (three shows), PIFA Immersion Pass (five shows), or the PIFA All-Access Pass; all come with a wide range of added benefits including access to exclusive events. Single tickets for PIFA events will go on sale to the public beginning December 7, 2015. Tickets can be purchased by visiting kimmelcenter.org or calling 215-893-1999.

Full event details can be found below and a calendar of events is available at www.kimmelcenter.org/PIFA.

Thank you to Laura Krebs Miller for the content of this post.

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Duet

Counterpoint: A Visual Duet, Susan Richards and Melvin ChappellCounterpoint: A Visual Duet, Susan Richards and Melvin Chappell, Center on the Hill, The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill

Melvin A. Chappell, Photographer and Susan Richards, Mixed Media at Center on the Hill, The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA, 19118 215-843-5018 or 215-247-885

November 6th through November 29th. Artist Reception: Friday, November 6th, 5:00 – 7:00pm

Photographer, Melvin A. Chappell has had a long-time passion for photographing the Wissahickon Valley in its natural beauty throughout the seasons. The reception will include a booking signing of his newly released book on the Valley.

Susan Richards, a mixed-media artist, will be exhibiting a new body of work that incorporates collage, monoprints, found objects, and water color in unexpected juxtapositions. Richards is a member of the Philadelphia Dumper Divers.

Both are members of Da Vinci Art Alliance.

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Mimi

Mimi Lien, 2015 MacArthur Genius Grant,

Philadelphia Festival of the Arts 2016

Congratulations! Exciting news about the Philadelphia Festival of the Arts (PIFA 2016) newly announced set designer Mimi Lien. September 2015 she was awarded a 2015 MacArthur Genius Grant alongside performing arts titans such as Lin Manuel Mirand. You may recall, Ms. Lien designed the 81-ft. tall replica of the Eiffel Tower that was in the Kimmel Center’s Commonwealth Plaza for PIFA 2013. She has also made contributions to the Philadelphia arts scene designing sets for the Pennsylvania Ballet, The Wilma Theater, and Pig Iron Theater Company.

Now Mimi Lien has been selected by The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts as the designer for the massive lobby exhibit that will serve as the centerpiece for PIFA 2016 (Philadelphia Festival of the Arts). The PIFA 2016 design will be a large-scale, interactive art installation that will be on display throughout the Festival. More details about PIFA will be announced in October and details about Lien’s design will be unveiled later this fall.

The Wall Street Journal on Mimi Lien:

“Mimi Lien, 39, is a set designer for theater, opera and dance in New York who draws on architectural training to create large immersive sets that wash over the audience as well as traditional scenes bounded by the proscenium. From pictures of decadence to those of stark simplicity, Ms. Lien’s sets amplify the work of those on her stages. For more information about Lien visit her website www.mimilien.com

According to the MacArthur Foundation:

“The grant is a “no strings attached” award of $625,000 (paid in installments over five years) that is given directly to individuals rather than to support specific projects or institutions. In other words, recipients are not expected to produce specific work and are not evaluated by the foundation during the grant period. Instead, the award is “an investment in a person’s originality, insight and potential,” the foundation writes on its website. “The purpose of the MacArthur Fellows Program is to enable recipients to exercise their own creative instincts for the benefit of human society.”

PIFA 2016

April 8 – April 23, 2016

“A city-wide, 15-day celebration of art and community, PIFA 2016 showcases innovation and a breadth of local and international performances and installations. With events ranging from a living, participatory paper jungle to a jaw-dropping fire installation and everything in between, the festival will kick off with over 50 events across genres and will conclude with the celebrated PIFA Street Fair, providing an incredible day of fun and festivities for the entire family.  From the expected, PIFA creates the unexpected. And from our own city, it takes us someplace wholly new.  Visit kimmelcenter.org for more information.”

Thank you to Laura Krebs Miller, Vice President, Cashman & Associates for the content of this post.

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Gala

The Philadelphia Sketch Club 155The Philadelphia Sketch Club 155th Anniversary Gala, Diane Burko, Vincent Desiderio, Garth Herrick, Barbara and Richard Rosenfeld

Please join us for our 155th Anniversary Gala on Saturday, October 17th. The Gala will be held at The Philadelphia Sketch Club, 235 S. Camac Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, from 7:00 to 11:00 PM. You will have a fun time and get to mix with many prominent members of the artistic community.

The Philadelphia Sketch Club will honor three of America’s top artists, Diane Burko, Vincent Desiderio and Garth Herrick, with the presentation of the Philadelphia Sketch Club Medal. We will also present medals to Barbara and Richard Rosenfeld who ran the prominent Rosenfeld Gallery for nearly forty years. Many members of the Honorary Gala Committee will also be present. The Honorary Gala Committee includes: David R. & Holly Trostle Brigham (David is CEO of PAFA and Holly is an artist); Donald R. & Linda Aversa-Caldwell (Donald is Chair Emeritus of PAFA’s Board of Trustees); Bill Scott, artist; William R. Valerio, Director & CEO, Woodmere Art MuseumKathleen A. Foster, Senior Curator of American Art at Philadelphia Museum of Art; David Weiss, Vice President at Freeman’s Auctions, Fine Art and Antiques and a specialist on the Antiques Roadshow; Dr. Luther Brady, MD and art patron; Liz Price, artist and former Fleisher Art Memorial President; Dick Ranck, artist; Cindy and John Affleck, President of Woodmere’s Board of Trustees; art patrons Joseph & Pamela Yohlin (Joe is on Woodmere’s Board of Trustees); Frank Giordano, CEO of Philly Pops; and Dianne Semingson, art patron and Chair of the Avenue of the Arts, Inc; and Derek Gillman, former CEO of PAFA and the Barnes Foundation and currently Distinguished Visiting Professor of Visual Studies at Drexel University.

In addition to the medal presentations, highlights of the evening will include an unreserved live auction of artworks by the honored artists as well as some contemporary and historic works by Ranck, Bye, DiStefano, Lear and Ricciardi and Simon. The live auction will be led by David Weiss, Vice President at Freemans and a specialist on the Antique Roadshow. There will be an open bar, hors d’oeuvres and a buffet dinner. The Gala is on the same weekend as PAFA’s Family & Alumni weekend. Given the strong connection between The Philadelphia Sketch Club and PAFA, and the number of PAFA individuals being honored at this year’s event, PAFA has agreed to promote the Gala as part of the schedule of events so we may be honored by a good number of PAFA alumni.

You can order tickets at www.sketchclub.org or by calling 215-545-9298. Please order tickets promptly as we must provide a headcount to our caterer plus our capacity may be exceeded by the demand for tickets. The Philadelphia Sketch Club 235 South Camac Street, The Avenue of the Artists, Philadelphia, PA, 19107

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Cathedral

Marilyn MacGregor, Philadelphia

Marilyn MacGregor, Philly artist and designer, has created a special limited edition print in honor of Pope Francis’s visit to Philadelphia, with sales to benefit the hungry and homeless. Her series Philadelphia: Famous Sites & Famous Places, a fresh new take on well-known landmarks and neighborhoods in Philadelphia, combines her original, on-site sketches with appealing colors and crisp design.  The series is readily available as cards and prints in stores around the city as well as from her Friday merchant cart at Reading Terminal Market.

This signed limited print, in an edition of 50, honors Pope Francis’s work on behalf of the poor and needy and the environment, and will benefit Philadelphia’s hungry and homeless through the Francis Fund. This offer is made independently and was not commissioned by any agency.

 “I don’t believe one needs to be a Catholic or a churchgoer to understand that this Pope is using his voice and his position in an important way in a time of great need. This is my artist’s way of supporting him and his work with my work.”

The print, in Marilyn’s loose contemporary style, shows Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul and has a commemorative message for the Pope’s historic visit. See details at http://www.macgregor-art.com/benefit-prints-for-good-causes.html

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