Category Archives: Public Art

Art events, installations and creations by Philadelphia area artists in public spaces

FIGMENT Phila

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FIGMENT Phila

FIGMENT Participatory Art Experience Announces First Annual Philadelphia Event       FIGMENT Phila

FIGMENT Participatory Art Experience Announces First Annual Philadelphia Event – “FIGMENT Phila” – on October 6th in Clark Park

Call for Interactive Art Projects and Volunteers Now Open (Philadelphia, PA) FIGMENT, a free, family-friendly participatory arts experience held in multiple cities and attracting tens of thousands of participants each year, will hold its first annual event in Philadelphia – “FIGMENT Phila” – on Sunday, October 6th from 11am-5pm in West Philadelphia’s Clark Park. Free to attend and open to all ages, FIGMENT Phila will transform Clark Park into large-scale, hands-on collaborative artwork – an explosion of creative energy. This day-long event invites everyone to actively participate in a multitude of interactive art projects throughout Clark Park – perhaps a game, workshop, challenge, or exploratory play – from artists in a variety of disciplines, in every conceivable medium. Produced entirely by volunteers, FIGMENT Phila is a celebration of interactive art and community where everything is possible. No matter who you are, where you’re from, or how old you are, we can all be artists. FIGMENT Phila is an exciting opportunity for artists of all trades and experiences to have their work come alive and take shape at the hands of willing participants. Artists interested in bringing a participatory art project to FIGMENT Phila must submit their idea online by August 23, 2013 for consideration.

Projects must be interactive, safe, and family-friendly. For information about project submissions and guidelines, please visit http://www.phila.figmentproject.org/submit-a-project. FIGMENT Phila is a non-commercial event powered entirely by volunteers and in collaboration with the University City District. We are seeking members of the community interested in donating their time and efforts to help build this experience. Those interested in volunteering are asked to fill out the Volunteer Interest Form: http://phila.figmentproject.org/get-involved/volunteer/

For more information about FIGMENT Phila, please visit www.phila.figmentproject.org.

About FIGMENT:

Founded in 2007 on New York City’s Governors Island with a handful of projects and a few thousand enthusiasts, FIGMENT has grown exponentially into a multi-day, multi-city vent that drew over 30,000 participants in NYC, Boston, Jackson (MS) and Detroit in 2011 and 2012. With the addition of Washington DC, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Geelong, Australia, and several other cities since 2011, FIGMENT is constantly growing and continues its mission to offer free, inclusive participatory art and creative culture to entire communities, removing the barriers of museum and gallery walls and entrance fees, and blurring the lines between those who create and those who enjoy art. For more information about FIGMENT, please visit www.figmentproject.org.

Figment is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization entirely funded by grants and indivual donations. FIGMENT accepts no corporate sponsorship of any kind. FIGMENT is supported by public funds from the National Endowment of the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, as well as by the Fund for Creative Communities, supported by the New York State Council on the Arts and Administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

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LandLab

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Kept Out, Stacy Levy, LandLab, CFEVA, Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, DoNArTNeWs

New Visual Art Program to Improve Environment and Educate Public

PHILADELPHIA — The Center for Emerging Visual Artists (CFEVA) and The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education (SCEE) announced today the launch of an innovative artist residency program designed to address local environmental issues.  LandLab, a joint project of SCEE and CFEVA is funded in part by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The program will bring the artists’ creativity and curiosity to bear on solving environmental problems and promoting environmental stewardship.  Artists will collaborate with environmental scientists to create real solutions to local environmental problems, such as rainwater runoff or habitat loss.  Each art project will also engage the public in meaningful way, either actively involving them in the scientific and creative process or with a strong educational component in the final project.

“The ultimate goal of LandLab is to engage more people in the effort to protect the environment and to foster new ideas,” said Jenny Laden, Director of Environmental Art at the Schuylkill Center.  “By bringing different perspectives to a problem, we gain new ways of looking at it—and new solutions.  Environmental art can also help engage the public with an issue in a very personal and meaningful way.”

Four artists will be granted six-month paid residencies to explore the Schuylkill Center’s property, conduct research, and develop and create installations which intervene with the land and demonstrate ecological solutions.  Residencies will run from April through October of 2014.  The final artworks will be on view to the public at the Schuylkill Center free of charge, and all four projects will be presented at the 2015 Science Festival.

CFEVA will help manage the recruitment and selection of artists and provide expanded exhibition opportunities.

“I’m thrilled to work with CFEVA” said Laden.  “Their stature in the art community and their resources will significantly expand the reach and impact of the project.”

LandLab is one of 48 winners of the prestigious Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia.

“At its core, great art inspires us, to be better people and to build stronger communities,” said Dennis Scholl, VP for arts at Knight Foundation.  “We hope that by using the arts as a lens to look at our greatest challenges, like the Schuylkill Center is doing, we can draw more people into designing creative solutions.”

About The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education

The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education (SCEE) was founded in 1965 as the nation’s first urban environmental education organization.  Its 365-acre sanctuary serves as a living laboratory to foster appreciation, deepen understanding, and encourage stewardship of the environment.  SCEE reaches over 15,000 Philadelphia-area residents each year with an array of educational programs, including standards-based programs for schoolchildren, continuing education for teachers, and a full calendar of events for the public.  The environmental art department sparks awareness of the natural environment with exhibitions of the highest quality that attract, educate and inspire the public.

About the Center for Emerging Visual Artists

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists™, formerly Creative Artists Network, was founded in 1983 by Felicity R. “Bebe” Benoliel to encourage the career development of emerging visual artists. Since then, the organization has worked steadily harder to provide the support essential to talented individuals building careers in the visual arts. The Center dedicates itself to making art careers viable for those who choose them, helping emerging artists reach their audiences, and promoting interest and understanding of emerging visual art among citizens of the community.

About the Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts.  The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged.  For more, visit KnightFoundation.org.

Contacts

Schuylkill Center, Jenny Laden, Director of Environmental Art, 215-482-7300 x 113, jenny@schuylkillcenter.org

Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Ann Peltz, Director, Studio Tours & Exhibitions, 215.546.7775 ext. 13, Ann@cfeva.org.

For more information: http://www.schuylkillcenter.org/departments/art/LandLab-Program.html

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Dialogic

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Artists explore the internal contradictions, hidden meaning, and implicit ideologies of language Glassboro NJ: Rowan University Art Gallery presents Dialogic a multi-media group exhibition of work by artists that explore the internal contradictions, hidden meaning and implicit ideologies of language as a critical component of their practice from September 3 through October 8 – 8 pm followed by a spoken word event at 8:30 pm. Both events are free and open to the public.

Curated by Gallery Director, Mary Salvante, the exhibition includes work by Jenny Holzer, Glenn Ligon, Jaume Plensa, Lesley Dill, John Giorno, Keith Brand, Erik den Breejen, DataSpaceTime, Bang Geul Han, Barbara Hashimoto, Meg Hitchcock, Dawn Kramlich, Melanie McLain, Ben Pranger, Buy Shaver, Chris Vecchio and Sue White. How language is perceived, communicated, and translated is informed by the visual qualities and symbolic power of the texts, words, and poetic phrasings incorporated into the video, sound-scapes, interactive tech-works, sculpture, paintings and works on paper included in this exhibition.

Works by Jenny Holzer, Glenn Ligon, Buy Shaver, and Dawn Kramlich reproduce text as aphorisms, precepts, and dictums to influence the thoughts and actions of the viewer.  John Giorno’s ground breaking Dial-A-Poem project, Keith Brand’s exterior soundscape, Melanie McLain’s performative video, DataSpaceTime’s  QR code mural, Bang Geul Han’s motion activated video and Chris Vecchio‘s public art action and interactive works focus on the physical and aural complexities of language.  The sculpture, paintings, works on paper, and installations by Lesley Dill, Jaume Plensa, Barbara Hashimoto, Meg Hitchcock, Erik den Breejen, Ben Pranger and Sue White deconstruct  and recontextualize language through reimagining systems of communication found in advertisements, books, braille, poetry, Morse code and scripture.

Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 10 am to 5 pm (with extended hours on Wednesdays to 7 pm); and Saturday, 12 to 5 pm. For more information, call 856-256-4521 or visit www.rowan.edu/artgallery. Rowan University Art Gallery is located on the lower level of Westby Hall on the university campus, Route 322 in Glassboro, NJ. A public reception will be held on Thursday, September 12, 5:30.

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Life’s a Drag

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Life's a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina

Life’s a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina

Performance by Icon Ebony Fierce, Porcelain and Ann Artist, photography by Michael Valtin, video by Kate Brazina at Moore College of Art and Design Senior Exhibition 2013.

“The evolution of drag has it’s first recorded roots in the Thirteenth Century Theater and now is widespread on various platforms such as film, television, underground theater and nightclubs.” – Kate Brazina

Life’s a Drag stands out among great art installations at the Moore College of Art Senior Show because of the manipulation of context, situation, audience, history and future of public art installations. In a Warhol-ized world, art curators seek that cultural awareness nerve that will signal something is different, strange or unknown that can be discovered. The presence of three high profile Philadelphia drag queens along side the graduating class of 2013 of America’s only women’s art school was disorienting and fabulous.

Life's a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina, Porcelain

Life’s a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Porcelain

Through facebook messaging DoN asked Kate Brazina some questions: Moore College of Art is a unique institution for women. Did your investigation into drag culture have anything to do with the school’s signification of women as separate? Is your work impacted by the male gaze?

“My interest in drag culture mostly came about because I work in nightlife with a lot of queens. But, my interest in feminism and femininity definitely came from my time at Moore.”

“Moving forward through the next 800 years drag has become a progressive form of entertainment and integral part of the gay community catering to people of all walks of life.” – Kate Brazina artist statement.

Life's a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina, Ann Artist

Life’s a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina, Ann Artist, Moore College of Art Senior Exhibition.

“My work has a lot to do with the male gaze and playing with comfort zones.”

Gaze is a psychoanalytical term brought into popular usage by Jacques Lacan to describe the anxious state that comes with the awareness that one can be viewed. The psychological effect, Lacan argues, is that the subject loses a degree of autonomy upon realizing that he or she is a visible object. This concept is bound with his theory of the mirror stage, in which a child encountering a mirror realizes that he or she has an external appearance. Lacan suggests that this gaze effect can similarly be produced by any conceivable object such as a chair or a television screen. This is not to say that the object behaves optically as a mirror; instead it means that the awareness of any object can induce an awareness of also being an object. – Wikipedia

Life's a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina

Life’s a Drag, Drag Performance and the Taboos of Femininity, Kate Brazina at Moore College of Art Senior Exhibition

Kate Brazina has tapped the zeitgeist of the gender-fuck cross-dresser as a meme for rebellion in the larger context of society in a powerful and appealing presentation including the prerequisite chairs, TVs and drag queens, the metaphorical psychological mirror.

DoN remembers watching Milton Berle on a black and white TV in the 50s prance and sissy it up in a funny sexualized way. This week America’s Next Drag Superstar, Jinkx Monsoon, was crowned on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 5, a cable TV reality competition show exposing many of drag’s secrets to a curious audience. RuPaul said in a recent interview that the biggest audience for her product line is teenaged girls. Impersonating women in an all girl’s school takes, as Rupaul would say, charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent. Condragulations Kate Brazina.

ps. DoN‘s drag name is Gayla Dolly.

Read more at www.DoNArTNeWs.com about  Emerging Artists & Designers: Senior Show 2013, Moore College of Art and Design 

Written and photographed by DoN Brewer except where noted.

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Dear Farmers, Florists, Community Leaders and Artists

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MILLVILLE DOWNTOWN MERCHANTS TO PRESENT FIRST ANNUAL FLOWER FESTIVAL ON SATURDAY MAY 11TH 2013 -STARTS 10:00AM

You or someone you know may be interested in participating in Millville’s First Annual Flower Festival, created by the Downtown Millville Merchants Association, the same folks who bring you the AMA Festival every year since 2008.

Please read the Press Release pasted below and find the attached postcards for your convenience.  If you would like to register, reply to ivy.wilson@gmail.com to get your registration forms emailed!

Ivy Chaya

MILLVILLE DOWNTOWN MERCHANTS TO PRESENT FIRST ANNUAL 

FLOWER FESTIVAL ON SATURDAY MAY 11TH 2013 -STARTS 10:00AM


February, 2013, Millville, NJ.   Planning for a regional Spring Flower Festival is well underway by a group of High Street merchants, organized to advocate the interests of Millville’s Downtown arts and business community – it was announced by Edward Shiffler, a local musician and Downtown gallery owner.  The first in what will be an annual festival will take place Saturday, May 11, starting at 10am, in the heart of the city’s Glasstown Arts District.  Sidewalks and storefronts along High Street, open lots and the Riverfront, will be filled with flowers, floral art, installations, performers, music and vendors for the daylong event.  Colonial Flowers, Levoy, RRCA and Master Gardener at Garden on High, Kim Conner are lending their support on behalf of the City, together with the Millville Development Corporation, for what the merchants’ steering committee envisions as ‘made for families, moms, and flower lovers’ event, thematically set the day before Mothers Day, while showcasing the region’s important artists, merchants and gardening guru’s of every discipline.

The Flower Festival was part of Jim Penland’s dream, when he started the Arts Music and Antiques Festival back in 2008 along with the DMMA.  “We want to showcase the work of serious artists working in a variety of disciplines…” Said Jim about the AMA Festival, “We intend to make this Festival an expression of the aspirations our city planners had for the Glasstown Arts District when they conceived it…”  Our goals and commitment to Millville and the first annual Flower Festival are the same.  Jim’s dream for Millville’s Arts District is as alive in our hearts as ever, and so is the district itself.  Now all we need is to successfully bring the regional and community support pumping back into the heart and veins of the Glasstown Arts District. More of these well conceived and properly executed festivals plus smaller downtown events will bring returning business to our local artists and merchants, as well as businesses in the surrounding area.

Respected practitioners of the arts and crafts, florists, farmers, garden, and environmental groups are invited to participate.  Local and regional plein-air artists also have an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to capture Spring flowers in the moment at sidewalk easels.  Registration deadline is April 25, 2013.  To request a registration form, email ivy.wilson@gmail.com or eddie.shiffler@gmail.com.  A $35.00 exhibit fee for each 12’ x 8’ space will be charged to Festival participants coming from outside Millville.  Plein-air artists living outside Millville will be charged a $10.00 entrance fee.  Sponsorship opportunities are available.

For more information, please contact Edward Shiffler at www.ivychayaart.com or call 609-425-3510 or 347-813-5090.

MILLVILLE DOWNTOWN MERCHANTS TO PRESENT FIRST ANNUAL FLOWER FESTIVAL ON SATURDAY MAY 11TH 2013 -STARTS 10:00AM