Category Archives: Philadelphia

The Philly art scene is vibrant, filled with characters who create innovative, avant garde art in the 21st Century. New techniques and technologies are converging to develop a new vision of reality.

Women of Vision: 2012 Lauren Acton at Hidden River Gallery

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Women of Vision: 2012 Lauren Acton, Violated, at Hidden River Gallery

Women of Vision: 2012 Lauren Acton, The Agreement, at Hidden River Gallery

Lauren Acton explained to DoN, “I brought a bistro scene, I’ve done a lot of bistro women in a series, colorful women in bistro scenes because I lived in Paris. And it’s reminiscent of drinking a lot of wine, or having coffee or tea. My most recent pieces though are based on Roger de La Fresnaye who based a lot of work on nude women with business men, it’s so intriguing, the opposition of those two together that I’m focused on right now and the wine is introduced, I like somewhat abstract figures now with figurative pieces. They’re broken down spaces, then broken down again with color and treatment of layers, glazing, it’s just what I’m doing at this point.”

Women of Vision: 2012 Lauren Acton, The Girls at Hidden River Gallery

DoN asked if this is a response to the male gaze? Lauren Acton responded, “I’m not sure, this is a show with all women but Debra Leigh Scott picked the pieces, I thought that was appropriate for an all female show. A woman’s point of view to maybe, um, the waning feminist era we find ourselves in after the sixties. Debra and I had a big conversation about what happened to our feminist movement, I’m only 52 but I lived through the sixties and I know about Gloria Steinem and those girls. It’s important to understand a woman’s point of view and how a lot of successful business women are still fighting a lot of prejudice, even just being female in the working world there’s prejudice, it’s still an upward battle for a lot of women.” DoN asked about how Lauren Acton reacts to the current political discussion surrounding women today? “There’s still prejudice, that’s all I’m going to say.”

Women of Vision: 2012 at the Hidden River Art Gallery and Salon, 525 South 4th Street, Philadelphia hosted by Debra Leigh Scott through April 30, 2012.

DoN will be posting stories about the other featured artists Pamela Peitzman, Barbara Gesshel, Madeline Bates, Lilliana Didovic and Maria Lourdes Soloman on upcoming DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog posts.

Read more about Women of Vision 2012 at Side Arts Philadelphia Art Blog

Photographs by DoN Brewer

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Bruce Kravetz, Photographer

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Bruce Kravetz, Photographer, The Mills Artist Studios, Manayunk

Bruce Kravetz and DoN walked along the tow path in Manayunk along the canal, part of the bike trail that leads from Locust Street to Valley Forge, after having coffee at La Colombe on Main Street. Bruce’s photography studio is in The Mill Studios at 123 Leverington Street, an artist’s studio space since the late 1990’s, and the discussion was around his pending presentation of a new work at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center in Fishtown. Geese swam in the low greenish water of the canal, the roar of cars up on the expressway echoed across the valley. “It’s a place you can show your work and talk about it, it’s the first time I’m showing that eighty-five year old nude.”

Bruce Kravetz, Photographer, The Mills Artist Studios, Manayunk

“So, it should be kind of interesting. It’s the first time I’m showing it in public, I’ve shown my wife and my friends and I got their feedback but I’ve never shown it to a group of people. So, this is going to be kind of interesting, I don’t know how they’ll react. The size of the print is actually 44″ by 135”, shot with my Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS Digital SLR Camera with EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens, I printed it myself on my Epson Stylus® Pro 9880.” DoN spoke up like one of the squawking geese, “That’s a lot of paper! And ink! Is this a one shot deal, it must be expensive?”

Bruce Kravetz, Photographer, The Mills Artist Studios, Manayunk

“Well, no, I think the ink figures in at fifty cents a square foot and the paper is about a dollar a foot, it’s not that expensive. If you don’t count the price of the printer. If I can’t be good to myself, be big.” DoN asked about the subject of his project, aging nude female models, posed classically, “I always find for some reason young models are a dime a dozen, and they’re over done..I always find that older people have something to say, they’re not vacuous.”

Bruce Kravetz, Philadelphia Homeless #2, archival pigment print, (photograph courtesy of the artist), the photograph is included in the Photo Review 2011 Competition website.

How long have you been working on this project? “Well, I’d say about three months now. I get some interesting comments when I approach people, I have to be very careful when I approach women, reassuring them that they can have somebody accompany them. I’m having trouble getting models, I like people who look their age. I’m not looking for body-builders, I’m just looking for normal, everyday kind of people, normal wrinkles and normal things that happen to the body as it ages, I find it interesting and exciting. You can intellectualize it up the wazoo; a blank wall or a brick wall that’s old, with moss on it and stuff like that. I feel about it that same ways, it’s a body that has lived.” As Bruce Kravetz and DoN started the steep climb up Leverington Street back to the Mills he said, “And they say things to you with wrinkles and crevices, sagging parts that are certainly more interesting than a Photoshopped young twenty year old.”

Bruce Kravetz, Photographer, The Mills Artist Studios, Manayunk (photograph courtesy of the artist).

DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog

Photos by DoN except where noted.

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Her Philadelphia Tales, Book Party

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Lilliana Didovic, Of South 2, Smile Restaurant, Her Philadelphia Tales, The Art of Lilliana S. Didovic Book Signing Party, 2/25/2011, Instagram.

A brisk north wind bit into DoN‘s face as he walked up 22th Street to Smile Restaurant on a Saturday night for his book signing party. Lilliana and Joseph reserved the dining room upstairs and invited all of our friends to celebrate the publication of Her Philadelphia Tales, The Art of Lilliana S. Didovic. The creation of the book was an adventure in itself, DoN is a blogger, publication in print is not a goal for DoNArTNeWs. DoN is into page impressions, rankings and search engine optimization results and the effects of reporting on Philadelphia art in Google. But Lilliana said DoN‘s writing uses “nice words”.

Lilliana proposed collecting reviews from DoN‘s blog posts with her art in book form, an art book to sell and use to further her career as a painter. Writing a book and writing a blog are not the same thing, page layout in a column is very different from designing a book. A blog you can always go back and fix, a book is a one shot deal. No pressure. The book is published by CreateSpace on Amazon.com. The 98 page book is full color, 9.5 x 11″ glossy soft cover with beautiful prints, even now when DoN thumbs through it feels surreal that an actual, tangible product has emerged from his writing.

Beyond Lilliana and DoN‘s wildest expectations, right at 6:00pm people emerged from the freezing Winter evening to crowd into the dining room made ready with a table full of beautiful Thai appetizers by chef Ken and Lilliana‘s own famous Bosnian chicken salad. The wine flowed and people actually lined up to buy books and sit with the Lilliana and DoN to have their copy autographed. C. Todd Hestand the mastermind behind the Side Arts blog platform which enabled the bulk of the material used in the book was there chatting with artists, gallery owners and educators…Lola Z, Spike, Ted and Ona (the Ona-bomber), Carl and Liz, Regina, Steve, Chris Z, Rachel, Kathryn, Dr. & Mrs. Dunn, Gordan’s liver transplant doctor…OMG – it was so crowded and the roar of conversation was so loud that Chris Z yelled in DoN‘s ear, “I think there are a lot of Bosnians here!” The evening was wonderfully cosmopolitan, so many languages, so many people from all diverse backgrounds, artists and entrepreneurs, all together in the middle of down town Philadelphia for something as East Coast elite and snobbishly intellectual as a book signing party. DoN LoVeD IT!!! The night will always be one of DoN‘s most memorable moments.

Thank you so much to Lilliana and Joseph for hosting a beautiful evening. This fantastic team of husband and wife, who have been through so much, have shown hospitality towards DoN that has always been exceptional. Telling Lilliana‘s amazing story with DoN‘s writing and information design is an accomplishment DoN has only dreamed about until now.

Lilliana Didovic, The City, Smile Restaurant, Her Philadelphia Tales, The Art of Lilliana S. Didovic
Book Signing Party, 2/25/2012.

Her Philadelphia Tales, The Art of Lilliana S. Didovic, Lilliana S. Didovic book signing party, February 25th, 2012.

Other stories about Lilliana S. Didovic: Lilliana Didovic @ TRUST, Lilliana’s Tales, Her Philadelphia Tales, Structure and Gesture

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Leap Year! DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog achieved a new milestone for page views topping 2000 unique visitors on one day, February has seen a consistent climb in page views achieving the highest rankings for the blog so far. DoN is also a Contributing Writer to Side Arts Philadelphia art blog and is participating in a demonstration on how to write a blog post on the Side Arts platform at the Corzo Center for the Creative Economy at the University of the Arts, March 24th, 2012, 1 -3:00pm.

Get tickets http://corzocenter.ticketleap.com/side-arts-demo/

This Is My Home

InLiquid v.12

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Ellie Brown, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Brenna K. Murphy, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Clarissa Shanahan Schirmer, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Jim Houser, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Jung Wah Ahn, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Jordan Griska, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

LGTripp Gallery, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Donna Usher, LGTripp Gallery, InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012, ICE Box Gallery, Crane Center for the Arts

Rachel Zimmerman, the mastermind behind the artist representation website InLiquid, sent DoN a FaceBook message asking if he had received his V.I.P. invitation to the InLiquid v.12 Benefit Auction 2012? DoN double checked his inbox and passes to the pre-opening Silent Auction cocktail party for the biggest art event in town unopened. Cool! 4:00 – 6:30pm, Friday February 10th – DoN had copped the ultimate art party early-bird special!

The ICE Box Gallery in the Crane Center for the Arts is massive but the hall was filled with art of all kinds, tables brimming with collectibles throughout the room, even extra walls to accommodate the array of art and DoN had it all to himself, sort of, for about thirty minutes. Wandering through the collection DoN spotted familiar artists from across Philadelphia and lots of new faves. A cocktail bar was in the middle of the room and a bartender made DoN a drink with gin, aloe vera juice and muddled basil, in the Gray Area (the large gallery next to the ICE Box) tables with fantastic treats like a thin crustini with a smear of sun dried tomato paste topped with a dollop of pate’. Displayed around the room were silent auction bidding sheets for dozens of desirable services and a group of prints selected by jurors from submissions. So, even if you didn’t win your bid you can still buy a collectible art print.

Soon DoN had a good buzz going from the gin, wandered back in the hall to absorb the sights and ran into artist Amie Potsic. Walking and talking we were struck by the high quality of the art: a bold red and black painting by Da Vinci Art Alliance Executive Director David Foss, massive abstract expressionist paintings by one of Amie’s faves, Jung Wah Ahn, Brenna K. Murphy‘s hair art, Ellie Brown‘s bag photographs (she photographs people and the contents of the bag they carry) and so much more by many great Philadelphia artists.

Amie Potsic is an artist, photographer, maven, Director of Career Development at CFEVA, and has been an InLiquid member artist since it’s inception in 1999 – that’s pre-Google. Amie told DoN the more web presence she has the better. InLiquid is a non-profit organization providing hundreds of artists not just portfolio web pages but real world opportunities to show their artwork, their website is information rich with artist images, bio’s, statements, events and news. Some of the donated art is still for sale on the InLiquid website. Support the efforts of InLiquid artists and businesses who gave so generously from their own inventory to help the artist community hub in Fishtown grow and thrive.

More photographs on DoNArTNeWs FaceBook page.

DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog

Photographs by DoN Brewer

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