Category Archives: Philadelphia Sketch Club

Philadelphia Art Season, Fall 2010

Charles Cushing

Charles Cushing @ Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Festival, mid September 2010.

The Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Festival attracts artists and collectors to the famous park in Center City, the perimeter lined with white tents each artist displaying their collection in the late Summer heat.  DoN talked with Philly favorite, fine artist Charles Cushing about the large scale painting attracting crowds to his booth – he worked on the oil painting over several months creating a nose-bleed view of the ball park all the way down town.

The Philly Fall art scene explodes this weekend with Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, Photography 2010 @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia Images @ The Plastic Club and DoN Brewer‘s one-person show, Dark Matter, @ Bonte’s Cafe, 17th & Sansom Sts., a Photographic Society of Philadelphia event- this is the weekend to plan your art crawl carefully to experience the unique, open, accessible art world embedded in Philadelphia culture.  And the Phillies clinch fourth straight playoff berth – Go Phillies!

 

Photo by DoN, 2010.

Kodak Digital Cameras


www.DickBlick.com - Online Art Supplies

Philadelphia Sketch Club 150th Anniversary Members Exhibition @ Art in City Hall

Pat Wilson Schmid Philadelphia Sketch Club 150th @ Art in City Hall

Pat Wilson-Schmid works at being an artist full time, a tireless volunteer, and art advocate; the Philadelphia Sketch Club relies on Pat because she always makes the extra effort to keep the team on task.

Edna Santiago - Philadelphia Sketch Club 150th @ Art in City Hall

Edna Santiago told DoN the painting is an uncle who moved to Philly to raise his family, she said he would be proud to know his visage is being shown in City Hall.  The acrylic on plastic painting is unique, confounding and bold, the narrative takes us to a time and place that is old Philadelphia yet very contemporary and urban, the passages of dark and light are deeply moving.  Chicken Louis, acrylic on plexiglass, Edna Santiago.

Piety Choi - Philadelphia Sketch Club 150th @ Art in City Hall

Piety Choi, Manna, mixed media on canvas.  The splashy painting paired with the intensely decorative tile work mixes time lines, metaphors and ideas on what is beautiful in contemporary culture.  Choi continues to surprise, inspire and challenge the Philly art-erati to step up their game, her works continuously win awards and draw people together to talk.

P J Foster - Philadelphia Sketch Club 150th @ Art in City Hall

 P.J. Foster, Unexpected Journey, acrylic & egg shell @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club Member Exhibition @ Art in City Hall.

Art in City Hall featuring the Philadelphia Sketch Club’s 150 Anniversary members show is the oldest art club in America’s first show at the world famous City Hall and it’s 20 year old public art in City Hall program.  The shown is immense with hundreds of art works by many of Philly’s best artists.

 

Photos by DoN.

Haus of DoN, Summer 2010

Hello my little DoNsters, the Haus of DoN, DoNBrewerMultimedia, is slowly rising from the muck of the economic melt-down of 2010 like a lotus with petals opening onto a new season of art and culture.  DoN is so grateful to the Center for Emerging Visual Artists and the Coffee Bar for the extended exhibition of his photo series titled “light beings” through the end of August, 2010. 

As reiki energy would have it, the Photographic Society of Philadelphia‘s long running series of solo member exhibitions @ Bonte’s Café, 17th & Sansom Streets is hosting DoN Brewer‘s “Dark Matter” a collection of images gleaned from the on-going 16 x 20″ show @ the other PSoP venue @ 9th & Walnut Streets and photographs from the “light beings” series.  The exhibition is being installed Thursday, September 9th, 2010 @ 4:00 PM, it is so cool to continue to show DoN‘s art in the heart of Center City.  Thank You so much to PSoP for their confidence end enthusiasm.

light being (Dennis), digital photograph, 2010, DoN Brewer @ Bonte’s Cafe, 17th & Samsom Sts.

From Downtown Center City to Bartram’s Garden in West Philly, Friday, September 10th, 2010 @ 6:00 pm at the Bartram’s Garden Gallery, the Da Vinci Art Alliance is hosting, “What’s the Buzz?”, a DVAA Members Event based on bees; Bartram’s Garden is now cultivating bees and it’s the Honey Festival, too.  Mmmm.  DoN will be gallery-sitting Saturday, September 11th, 2010, 10:00 AM – 2:00PM in the delightful art space in the oldest barn in Philly, stop in for a curated tour by artists participating in the weekend-long show.

Pemberton Street Garden, digital photograph, 2010, DoN Brewer @ Bartram’s Garden Gallery, September 10th – 12th, 2010.

Later that evening DoN will be at the opening of “Through My Window“, a Da Vinci Art Alliance event at The Perkins Art Center in Collingswood, NJ.  The group show’s only caveat was include an old window, each artist visualizing their own view of reality into a work of art – the show has been exhibited at Smile Gallery in Center City Philly and the Renaissance Riverfront Center for the Arts in Millville, NJ. 

 

DoN Brewer & “Vue de la 22 Rue Rambuteau“. colored pencil drawing.

Sunday, September 12th, 2010 @ 2:00 PM DoN will join the party for the Absolutely Abstract 2010 juried exhibition at The Philadelphia Sketch Club, it is such an honor to have abstract landscape photograph from the “light beings” series included in the exclusive art collection for the third year in a row.  Read more about the exhibit @ DoNArTNeWs.

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light beings (Sid & Nancy), digital photograph, DoN Brewer @ The Philadephia Sketch Club’s Absolutely Abstract 2010.

DoN‘s blog, DoNArTNeWs, continues to grow in popularity with a DoN‘s eye view of the gallery scene in Philly.  Thank you to all the artists who share their work, their stories and their passions with DoN; creating a narrative of the warren of alleys in the Philly art world is fun and frustrating with so many exciting and inspiring events to participate in and attend. 

This Fall, DoN is included in the Art Ability art show at Bryn Mawr Rehab Center in Paoli, the huge exhibit of hundreds from artists from all over the world is a juried exhibition of art by works by people living with disabilities.  DoN is also helping to brand Vision for Equality, Inc , designing custom SEO code, resulting in the non-profit organization, which advocates for and monitors people with intellectual disabilities, a page one ranking in Google!  DoN is also writing blog posts for NUVISIONS for Disabled Artists and Diversified Art blog is featuring DoN‘s “light being (Mary)” on their gallery page.  DoN also posts stories on PhillySideArts , QBN and is the Reporting Secretary for the Vitruvian Quarterly art newsletter for the Da Vinci Art Alliance.

light being (Walt), digital photograph, DoN Brewer @ Art Ability this fall.

For now, my lovely DoNsters – the Haus of DoN has withstood the attack of the latest distortion wave in the time space continuum, with super-friends at CFEVA, Da Vinci Art Alliance, The Plastic Club, the Philadelphia Sketch Club, PANMA and The Philadelphia Council for Community Advancement helping DoN survive the money bomb of the Great Recession.  With the LoVe and support DoN feels from comrades & cohorts, making art, communicating visions, telling stories and realizing dreams is now back in fine focus.

Thank you President Obama and Mayor Nutter, without your programs and plans for the people, the Haus of DoN would have collapsed like a house of cards; DoN has been dealt an exciting second hand and has big plans for the future in Philly.

LoVe

DoN

Absolutely Abstract 2010 @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club

John Williams @ Absolutely Abstract 2010 The Philadelphia Sketch Club

John Williams, Mountain Big Top, acrylic, ink, flashe on panel, Best in Show Absolutely Abstract 2010 @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club.

Absolutely Abstract 2010 @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club

Click the thumb-nail below for a closer look.

Absolutely Abstract 2010 @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club

The selection of ninety-eight art works by jurors David Foss and Michael Gallagher for The Philadelphia Sketch Club’s Absolutely Abstract 2010 exhibit is engaging, exciting and challenging.  The range of interpretations runs through almost any media you can think of – Kyle Margiotta‘s, Ribbon, pencil drawing takes basic materials and elevates them to an alternate reality, Rik Viola‘s painting is a triumph in context and Mina Smith-Segal suggests surrealism, impressionism, brutalism, naive primitive-ism…all modern and contemporary styles but stretching the envelop of the popular view of abstraction.

DoN Brewer - light being (Sid & Nancy), photograph, Absolutely Abstract 2010

DoN Brewer, light beings (Sid & Nancy), digital photograph, archival ink-jet print, 2008.  This is the third consecutive year DoN Brewer‘s photographs have been included in the Philadelphia Sketch Club‘s annual Absolutely Abstract show, this year’s piece is named after the tragic punk lovers Sid Vicious & Nancy Spungen who he once saw shopping in Fiorucci’s in NYC in the 70s.

Ring Droppings, Rodney Miller, digital print on canvas @ Absolutely Abstract 2010

Rodney Miller, Ring Droppings, digital print on canvas.  Fall under the spell of the fractal-like inter-twined rings in Miller’s ultra-trippy contemplation on color, shape and depth of field – go see the real thing at The Philadelphia Sketch Club on the Avenue of the Artists, Camac Street in Center City Philadelphia.

 

Photos by DoN.

 

Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club

Carly Valentine - Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show

Carly Valentine @ The Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show at The Philadelphia Sketch Club.

Carly Valentine - Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show

Carly Valentine @ The Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show at The Philadelphia Sketch Club.

Carly Valentine - Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show

Carly Valentine - Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show

Carly Valentine @ The Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show at The Philadelphia Sketch Club.

Carly Valentine’s black and white photography looked gorgeous mounted on the historic walls of the venerable Philadelphia Sketch Club Gallery on Camac Street.  Four times a year the club hosts the grads of AI to show their work in the gallery with a gala party; a great reason to dress up and have a drink.  Valentine’s deeply narrative work, mostly self portraits, nod to modern art with Magritte-like compositions, beaux arts frames and costumes from another era.  The rich blacks, creamy ecru and dreamy metaphors filled books, the walls over the fire place and the entire “winners wall” of the gallery.  Carly was unaware of the historic significance of exhibiting in America’s oldest art club, her grandmother, DoN‘s good friend Jeannette Walsh, was long time president of the Regional Art Association in Clementon, NJ (the foundation of DoN‘s art career), who was a fine artist in her own right, as well as a blue grass musician and entertainer.  Jean would be so proud to know Carly is excelling not just in fine art and photography but in being a really nice person, a trait no school can ever teach.

Gabriela Girova - Art Institute of Philadelphia

Gabriela Girova @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club.

John Moore - Art Institute of Philadelphia

John Moore‘s painterly photographs combine natural elements with ethereal industrial constructs creeping into the composition.  The grad show at PSC was very gratifying with a focus on business, including business cards, book arts, web sites and unique presentation for their photography, information useful for art students emerging into a competitive market.  DoN appreciated that Moore bucked the trend and “forgot” his cards, DoN wrote his name on another grad’s card.  The graduates had a crash course in installing a show at The Sketch Club which concurrently has Phillustration 2010 running, they had to take down a complete show, install a new one, then re-hang the first show in the same order – welcome to the art world!

Art Institute of Philadelphia Grad Show @ The Sketch Club

Tamara Brown

Tamara Brown’s carved books with photo emulsion images inside the books are fabulously evocative and transmogrifying, combining text and technique in a unique mash up.  LoVe iT!