DoNArTNeWs – 4/27/08

Thursday, DoN and Art Friends Alden Cole, Shoshana Aron and Aida Berzins attended the opening of Color, Spirit, Innovation: The Art of Sam Maitin – Selections from a Fifty Year Career atThe Art Institute of Philadelphia, 1622 Chestnut Gallery.  Curated by Sam’s wife and artist Bob Jackson, the party was well attended by friends, family and admirers to celebrate the brilliant career of one of Philadelphia’s favorite artists and teachers.  Maitin was a modern renaissance man working in mixed media, intent on sending messages, encoding his work with symbolism and speaking out against injustices like the war (Viet Nam that is), rascism (Aparteid that is) and volunteering his talents to various Philadelphia institutions (like The Philadelphia Theater company).  Maitin’s art work helped define the modern visual landscapes of the city of Philadelphia (art card).  Co-curator Bob Jackson credits Maitin with his own artistic breakthrough and now leads a weekly workshop at The Plastic Club – the legacy lives on.

Art opening celebrating the career of Sam Maitin @ The Art Institute of Philadephia Gallery.

Mixed media by Sam Maitin @ The Art Institute.

 

This piece is from the 1960s by Sam Maitin.

Phyllis & Bob Jackson (co-curator) @ Sam Maitin retrospective opening party.  The Sam Maitin exhibit is up through May 30th.

 

Phyllis Jackson is on the auction committee for SafeHome Philadelphia, an organization dedicated to ending homelessness in our town.  SafeHome is sponsoring “The Royal Flush” – a glamorous poker party at the Cira Center on May 22nd.  $175. contribution includes dinner and an auction with a $5000. first prize!  SafeHome is dedicated to ensuring every child has a safe place to sleep and every parent an affordable home by helping homeless families create stable homes in our community and connecting them with resources.  DoN is proud to know such nice people.

Saturday evening DoN, Shoshan and Alden attended the closing party of Touch at the DaVinci Alliance; conceived and curated by Mary Pat Coyle and Trish Maunder, art educators and exhibit developers, Jordan Jacobson, exhibit designer and Amanda Maglio, intern, the exhibit was an extraordinary and absorbing event.  With sculptures and assemblages by Carol Cole, Carol Saylor and Rosalyn Driscoll as well as pieces designed by visually impaired students from St. Lucy’s Day School and Students from New Jersey Blind Citizen’s Association, the idea was to allow yourself to be blindfolded and then led from piece to piece and examine the art by touch.  The experience was amazing with phosphene light explosions occurring in parts of DoN‘s brain he didn’t know existed; especially exciting was Carol Coles‘ Keyhole – when asked by guide Amanda what he thought it was, DoN blushed since the oval wall sculpture had an opening with a furry center that turned out to be a keyhole surrounded with the indentation of real keys.  The creative team has been invited to participate in a Museum Education Forum at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Quilt patches created by visually impaired students from the St. Lucy Day School.

Sculpture by Carol Cole @ Touch exhibit.

Jordan Jacobson exhibit designer, Mary Pat Coyle and Trish Maunder, art educators and exhibit developers and Amanda Maglio, intern and museum education student at Uarts.

Carol Cole’s Keyhole – Trish Maunder and Philadelphia artist Slavko Milekic.

Sunday was the Fairmount ArTs CrAwL; DoN started out at the North Star Bar where he met up with DoNArTNeWs favorite – Brooke Hine.  Once again, Brooke did a spectacular job pulling together an awesome show of creative talent as well as displaying her own distinctive ceramic constructions.  The Fairmount Arts Crawl is a community open house – where the entire Fairmount district becomes a showplace for local art and music, displayed and performed on the streets and in restaurants, bars, cafes, and other local businesses–all with an open door policy for the day (art crawl website).  DoN focussed on Brewerytown which is closer to Girard Ave. and is unsurprisingly packed with artists.

Artist Brooke Hine with her work upstairs at the North Star Bar in Brewerytown.

Painting by McClept @ North Star Bar. 

Painting by McClept @ North Star Bar.

Robot drawing by Peter Orovitz upstairs @ North Star Bar.

Artist Chris Gauvain with his art installation featuring fish @ North Star Bar.

 Stephanie Corr-Gartanutti’s- a.k.a: “SCoRR” created this wire sculpture.

Brooke and DoN then visited Sanctuary Arts and Wellness at 2737 Cambridge St. to see Friend of DoN, Eleanor Day who exhibited a broad range of her colorful, painterly, engaging art works featuring women, children and kitties. The vibe at the Sanctuary is laid back and welcoming with cute kids running around, lots of people making good food in the kitchen and a fabulous cityscape view – the center offers wellness and healing treatments such as massage – duh!

Eleanor Day with her paintings @ The Sanctuary.

Sanctuary proprietor Charlyn Griffith with paintings by Eleanor Day.

  

Paintings by Nattie Rebel (Andre Jones) @ Sanctuary.

Photography of Philly street scenes and people by Dave Moser @ Sanctuary.

Painting by Jane Dell @ Sanctuary.

Pretty cool, huh?  DoN didn’t want to leave but stumbled on over to ERA Bar and Restaurant @ 2743 Poplar St. – red balloons marked ArT CrAwL participants – and immediately met artist Maria DesMarias who explained her method of creating art based on tropism.  First she doodles and then lets the art sort of grow on it’s own, then framing them with art trouve or sheet metal.  Maria has an upcoming show of her new work at Bambi Gallery on Frankford Ave in Philadelphia. The opening will be on Friday, June 6, and will be a really great time. 

Marie DesMarais with her art at E.R.A.

Art by Marie Annick DesMarais.

Fabulous photo by Luke Haggerty @ E.R.A.  Haggerty’s work was scary and inspiring, check out his website.

DoN is having an art show at The Beauty Shop Cafe, 2001 Fitzwater St. starting May 10th featuring pieces from his “light being” series.  The reception starts @ 7:00, DoN hopes to see you there.  Stop in the Beauty Shop to see Julia Koprak‘s photos of her trip to China, meet proprietor Jon, have some coffee and buy some art.

Screen shot from Julia Koprak‘s website currently featured @ Beauty Shop Cafe

DoN @ Touch show.

LoVe

DoN 

All photos by DoNBrewerMultimedia Photography except where noted.