Kassem Amoudi is a Palestinian Jordanian American artist who came to the US in 1983. He got his MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and now teaches there. The first time I remember seeing one of his paintings was at the Woodmere Art Museum. Like a philosopher Kassem thinks in terms of dualities, pairs of things that complement one another. He told me about one of the greatest of these pairings. – John Thornton, arts videographer
Artists in the Time of Pandemic, Kassem Amoudi
One of the paintings I will show at Cerulean Arts Gallery from the Stripes series. It is a 48×48 Acrylic. The show starts May 5th with social distancing and masks. The opening will be a Virtual tour and talk on Saturday the 8th at 2 pm. You can register for it at the gallery website when they add it. It hasn’t been posted yet because there is another show right now. — Kassem Amoudi
Cerulean Arts Collective, Kassem Amoudi
Cerulean Arts Collective
I will be One of the panelists at this webinar at Woodmere Art Museum May 6th at 7. Please click the link to register. Closing Reception (virtual): Group ’55 and Midcentury Abstraction in Philadelphia Presenters: Bill Valerio, Woodmere Director & CEO; Patricia Stark Feinstein, Curator of the Samuel L. Feinstein Trust; Barbara Wolanin, PhD, Curator of the Group ‘55 exhibition; Kassem Amoudi, Artist Join Woodmere in celebrating the art and artists of the Group ‘55 exhibition through an online closing reception. The online program will feature a new film on the exhibition, along with a conversation between Bill Valerio; Patricia Stark Feinstein; Barbara Wolanin, PhD; and Kassem Amoudi. Group ‘55 and Midcentury Abstraction in Philadelphia is on view through Sunday, May 9. This event will be held online via Zoom, and registration is required. Participants will receive event information via email upon registration. Free | 7pm | Click here to register. https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aCKZqyA-R-WFIqoOgyrUEQ
Kassem Amoudi, Cerulean Arts Collective
Thank you to Kassem Amoudi and John Thornton for the content of this post.
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A solo exhibition by Sarah Detweiler, presented by Paradigm Gallery.
April 23 – May 22, 2021
Sarah Detweiler, Life of the Party, Oil on Canvas, 16”w x 20”h (oval canvas with beveled edge)
Paradigm Gallery is pleased to present mOTHER, a solo exhibition by figurative painter Sarah Detweiler. mOTHER features 12 new vibrantly haunting works from Detweiler’s ongoing series, Hidden Mother, which adeptly subverts the portrait form and instead, focuses on a woman’s self-imposed perceptions and expectations that a mother attaches to their identity. Her evocative paintings use concealment as a way to reveal deeper truths. mOTHER marks Detweiler’s first solo exhibition at Paradigm Gallery and will be on view* from April 23 – May 22, 2021 with a virtual opening on Friday, April 23 at 5:30PM, RSVP is required:
The Hidden Mother series was inspired by a trend in Victorian portrait photography in which mothers concealed themselves in fabric while they held their children still for long exposure photographs. Detweiler’s images remove the children, showing only the women covered and posed alone within each frame. In this way, they are both hyper visible and hidden. While the artist used herself as the model for previous works, her new collection turns her gaze toward other women, thus expanding the view of motherhood as both a connective thread and as an experience that is unique to each individual.
Though the series has been ongoing since January 2020, mOTHER marks the first body of works where Detweiler collaboratively created the pieces with her subjects. Detweiler worked closely with her subjects to best tell their stories, intuitively translating their experiences and feelings onto the canvas. By personalizing her paintings to her subjects’ stories, their life experiences shine through the patterns and colors of the work, even as their faces are obscured. Though Detweiler knows her subjects personally, in maintaining the anonymity of her subjects, she preserves a universal relatability — the woman under the shroud could be you, your mother, your friend.
Sarah Detweiler: mOTHER, The Night Owl
The paintings in mOTHER include hand-stitched embroidered elements that add texture and dimension, while alluding to a craftwork traditionally associated with femininity. The stitching is often only noticeable upon closer inspection, reinforcing the significance of that which is hidden in plain sight. The resulting images in this exhibition are deep, vibrant, and fantastical. They express their subjects’ ambivalence, acceptance, and embrace towards their changing roles as mothers, all while celebrating the true multiplicity of their identities.
Detweiler opens the conversation around transformation and identity, honoring each woman’s existence beyond motherhood. Her powerful images are both eerie and whimsical, cathartic and hopeful. Though the subjects are hidden on a superficial level, the coverage actually allows the artist to see more deeply, revealing them in new and beautiful light.
*Due to COVID-19, ”mOTHER” will be open for regular weekend hours with limited capacity andis available to view by private appointments during the week until further notice. The digitalexhibition twin is available on https://www.paradigmarts.org/ for viewing from home.
These policies are dependent on the current policies of the CDC, WHO and the Governor and Mayor’s offices. Paradigm Gallery’s number one priority is the safety and wellness of their visitors. For live updates on the exhibition and appointments, please visit the Paradigm website and socials. For any questions on Paradigm’s current policies, please email info@paradigm-gallery.com.
About Sarah Detweiler
Sarah Detweiler is a Philadelphia area-based, mixed media painter. Her experiences as a woman and mother are explored through figurative narratives created with a combination of embroidery with oil, acrylic, gouache, and watercolor.
Sarah has a BFA from the University of Delaware in Visual Communications and a Masters in Art Therapy from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. She has exhibited in group and solo shows in various locations including New York City, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Chester County, PA and Philadelphia. Sarah has been featured by The Jealous Curator, Create Magazine, Making Art Films, and Thrive Art Studio. Her work has been published in Uppercase Magazine and Create Magazine.
Sarah’s art centers around themes of fertility, motherhood, female empowerment, and the human experience.
About Paradigm Gallery
Paradigm Gallery + Studio® was established in 2010 by co-founders and curators, Jason Chen and Sara McCorriston. The gallery exhibits meaningful, process-intense contemporary artwork from around the world. Now open 11 years, Paradigm Gallery is globally recognized and known as a tastemaker within their greater Philadelphia arts community. As the gallery grows, it maintains its original mission to keep art accessible. Through monthly donations, free public art installations, and initiatives like Insider Picks, Paradigm Gallery, continues to be a champion of small businesses and emerging and mid-career artists.
Location:
746 S 4th St
Philadelphia, PA 19147
Media Contact:
Lainya Magaña, A&O PR
347 395 4155
lainya@aopublic.com
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Ebb & Flow, Sarah R. Bloom and Rosalind Bloom at Da Vinci Art Alliance
Ebb and Flow
Ebb & Flow, Sarah R. Bloom and Rosalind Bloom at Da Vinci Art Alliance
Nature reclaims what is hers. Whether by destructive or creative measures, nature repurposes. In the two-woman exhibition, Ebb & Flow, abandoned spaces become renewing entities and collage landscapes become sites of infinite possibilities. Through photographs and mixed media collages, Ebb & Flow celebrates nature’s force and vitality. Sarah R. Bloom’s excursions to abandoned spaces capture growth among the rubble and hope amidst the decay of manmade structures.
Sarah Bloom, How Am I Not Myself?
By exploring these places and staging her photographs, Sarah R. Bloom forms a sense of kinship with the space and captures the comforting process of the earth reclaiming what is hers. Her photographs form a bridge to Rosalind Bloom’s work which presents natural elements abstracted into beautiful collages, the very work a repurposing of the old. Rosalind Bloom’s mixed-media collages of nature acknowledge and celebrate nature’s force, its antic energy, and its mystery. She restructures and reclaims the boundaries of the image, while demonstrating the inevitability of the earth reclaiming her space. Ebb & Flow reminds us that we are all here temporarily, and that nature will always prevail.
Rosalind Bloom, A Lovely Day in the Garden
Ebb & Flow will be on view physically by-appointment February 18th – March 7th 2021 at Da Vinci Art Alliance and as a recorded video tour on the Da Vinci Art Alliance website.”
Sarah and I will have the opportunity to speak about the work during the Zoom session. We hope you can join us! Roz
Dear Artists, I am so happy to announce that we plan to resume programs at Kuerner Farm beginning in July with a few minor changes made to ensure everyone’s safety. Plein air and photography opportunities will begin this summer, and classes with Karl J. Kuerner will resume in mid-September. Please see links below for information and to register.
Pygmalion, Roberta Gross, Shapes and Colors of Summer in July, The Plastic Club
Shapes and Colors of Summer in July ONLINE MONTHLY EXHIBITION AT PLASTIC CLUB
The Plastic Club’s building is closed, but the Club is resuming its regular schedule of monthly shows with an online exhibition devoted to the shapes and colors of Summer.
The Summer show opens Wednesday, July 1. The art can be viewed on the Plastic Club‘s website (www.plasticclub.org) then. There will also be one of the Club’s “Third Sunday” online Salons with discussion about the exhibit on Sunday, July 19, from 1 to 2 PM.
Entries can be realistic or abstract, based on reality or your imagination, or any combination of these approaches. Any medium is accepted. Physical artwork must be submitted in the form of a photograph or video. A reasonably clear cell phone photo or video should suffice. As always, original digital imagery, photography and video are also welcome.
Due to the building closure, we have devised a simple method to submit your photograph, image or video along with your contact information. For detailed instructions, see the “Call for Submissions” on the Exhibitions Tab of the Club’s website, www.plasticclub.org.
A lottery will select three entrants to win a prize: four free workshop sessions when the Club re-opens.
The Plastic Club, located on historic Camac Street, was founded in 1897 by a group of women artists to promote the arts to the public and support artists both in the Philadelphia community and beyond.
