Tag Archives: Philadelphia Art Shows

My Photo Day

DoN Brewer, Dollar Store, digital photograph, Philly Photo Day, October 18th, 2013

Philly Photo Day is a Social Practice photography public art project that is easy and fun to do as a participant and beneficial to the image Philadelphia displays to the world. The goal is to capture a visual portrait of Philadelphia with a social media campaign encouraging public participation through photography. Social practice as an art form creates a unique meandering narrative that utilizes the energy and ideas from the public at large to make ideas grow big. Endless combinations of stories based on the random nature of the photographs are possible.

The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is the conduit and curator of the event – simply take a photo in Philly on October 18th and upload it to their website, for free, by the following Monday. Every entry is printed in a vast display of hundreds of images of Philadelphia taken by photographers on that one calendar day creating an exciting interactive social experience. Philly Photo Day Gallery at 120 North 3rd Street, Philadelphia through December 28th, 2013.

October 18th, 2013 was a sunny day, perfect for a walk to the river with Katy the Art Dog. We walk past the Dollar Store almost everyday on the way to the dog park, I can see it in my head, but that day the shipping carts were all lined up after a delivery and I spotted this pattern about consumerism. My plan was to take lots of pictures all day, and the heightened excitement of looking for pattern recognition that is very Philadelphian felt strong and sensitive.

Katy and I walked through Fitler Square towards the Schuykill River, at the Southern tip of the park is a restaurant called Gavins, the ‘Ladies Only‘ sign has a vibrating meme about social norms and women’s history. The last lunch I had with mentor Francis Tucker was at Gavin’s, he paid for our soup and Argentine pastries while we talked about art. Places in Philadelphia are layered with memories that render emotional responses in nuanced and evocative images. When confronted with legacy the message is the massage.

DoN Brewer, Ladies Entrance, digital photo, October 18th, 2013

DoN Brewerr, Pug Guard Dog, digital photo, October 18, 2013

The light effect on my Pug Guard Dog with the big ball is naturally weird and the experience was a bit noisy. That dog would not stop barking. But, I was on a photo safari and I braved the barking – Katy by my side – and captured a little story of the Pug defending the iron gate to his territory.

DoN Brewer, Light from Yonder Window, digital photograph, 10/18/2013. $175.00

One of my things, work that I’m known for, is a series of photographs called ‘light beings‘. I look for reflections of sunlight onto urban surfaces from windows. This picture captures the source of the reflection, glass windows. Light reflects off the windows onto Philly’s famous stucco walls. I didn’t enter this one in Philly Photo Day but I did enter it into a show at Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Franks with the title Coupling. Even though I was part of the jury panel I entered anyway, I like being part of the annual juried art shows there, and took my chances. When my five entries came up for review I left the room and the other four jurors voted in two of my photographs. Both of my entries were from my Philly Photo Day shoot. Including the one below, Holding Hands, digital photograph, 11″ x 14″, 16″ x 20″ framed, $175 at Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Franks.

Proceeds of the sale of my framed photograph, Light from Yonder Window, in the Coupling show at Dirty Franks go towards the Sunshine Arts Foundation. The Coupling show is amazing with a display of contemporary art created expressly for a theme by truly fine artists, it’s such an authentic honor to be part of this extraordinary group show. Being on the jury panel is an interesting story, too. I’ll write a post about the experience soon.

The Social Practice aspect of group art shows is very energetic and Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Franks has a wonderful symbiosis with their local artist’s community. I also included Light from Yonder Window in my 11″ x 17″ folded one-sheet book, light beings, for RiTUAL Reading Room at 110 Church Gallery, $75.00.

DoN Brewer, Holding Hands, digital photograph, Philly Photo Day 2013 and Coupling, 9th Annual Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Franks

On October 18th, 2013, Philly Photo Day, I visited a dear friend at Pennsylvania Hospital, the oldest hospital in America, a warren of hallways and odd turns, swinging doors and curved paths that expresses the history and change of medical care architecturally. My friend was out of the Intensive Care Unit but her condition was very frail. I sat with her while Wheel of Fortune played silently on the TV and we just held hands.

Helen was a good friend to me. She was the lady who had all the neighbors house keys or was there to accept packages. She knew all the news about the neighbors and shared stories of mayhem, mischief and mystery as well as tidings of joy. This image captures our love and I will be forever grateful for those last moments together. My friends, it was really hard to watch the fading of a life, the terrible turn of events, but now I have experienced the realness, the liveness of the moments we are living in a way that will influence me forever.

I decided to use Holding Hands as my sole entry into the exhibit Philly Photo Day 2013 show because of the composition of the blanket folds and skin wrinkles and the empathetic narrative image of a day in the life of two old friends. Holding Hands was chosen by the jury at Philly Photo Day 2013 to be displayed on one of forty billboards throughout the city. The billboard with Holding Hands is located on Washington Avenue near 9th Street, near the Italian Market. When I saw the billboard my heart raced, I felt such happiness and joy, it was like a wonderful gift from Helen. Although she would have wanted her fingernails manicured, the image of generational shift and change is imbued in the lines of the picture, making up the connections of two friends in a pattern that touches the spirit and heart.

DoN Brewer, Holding Hands billboard at 9th Street and Washington Avenue, Philly Photo Day 2013

Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is also generously including Holding Hands in a group show of 175 images selected from the Philly Photo Day exhibit at the Philadelphia Airport for six months in 2014. Purchases of the print from Philadelphia Photo Arts Center are being donated to them as my thanks for their service to the Philadelphia arts community. Being part of the group show is a thrill in itself, no kidding, but the organization provides exceptional education about photography to the community that is truly beneficial to everybody.

I have made wonderful connections and friendships by being in this annual show. To have a photograph that I took in an intimate moment of a special personal relationship to be expressed in public in such a big way makes my heart burst with joy. Philly Photo Day made me look at the world a little closer for a day, the effort to examine my surroundings for beauty resulted in recognition of my creative vision of art and I feel gratitude for the embrace of the Philadelphia arts community for my efforts.

Here’s the link to the Philly Photo Day Billboard map. The exhibit of all 15,000 plus photographs is on display at Philly Photo Day Gallery at 120 North 3rd Street, Philadelphia through December 28th, 2013.

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Written and photographed by DoN Brewer.

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Art in the Open 2014

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Art in the Open Application now due January 3rd, 2014

Professional artists working in all media are invited to participate in Art in the Open 2014. From Friday, May 16 through Sunday, May 18, 2014, artists will use Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River Banks as their studio space, creating new works of art ‘outside, on-site.’

Art in the Open re-frames the plein air tradition in a contemporary context, encouraging both artists and audiences to draw inspiration from the city’s natural and urban landscapes. Using the Schuylkill River Banks Park as studio space, participating artists will have the opportunity to explore new or extend current working methods, develop process-oriented projects, and respond to a compelling intersection of urban and natural spaces in the public realm. Selected artists will have the opportunity to participate in complementary programming, public engagement events, and to exhibit artwork created during AiO in the gallery at The Center for Emerging Visual Artists. For more information about the event and to view a gallery of AiO 2012 artists visit http://www.artintheopenphila.org.   AiO Statistics: • 8-12,000 visitors per year (on the Schuylkill Banks) • 30+ Organizational Partners 25 Related programs off and on-site  2014 Art in the Open Jurors    Gerard Brown Tyler School of Art at Temple University’s Center for the Arts  Harry Philbrick Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum,  Christine Pfister Pentimenti Gallery,  Theresa Rose, FringeArts .

Final application deadline is January 3, 2014. Local, national and international artists are invited to apply.  To apply visit https://cfeva.slideroom.com/#/login/program/17400 or  CLICK HERE TO APPLY  For more information or questions, contact Genevieve Coutroubis at Genevieve@cfeva.org.

Juror Information

Gerard Brown writes about art and makes pictures about language. His work has been exhibited in group- and one-person shows nation-wide. As an independent curator, he has organized exhibitions throughout the Philadelphia region and has been the recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Grant in Visual Arts Criticism. He earned his BFA from Boston University and his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is currently an Assistant Professor and the Chairperson of Foundations at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University’s Center for the Arts.

Christine Pfister studied at Christie’s Education at Christie’s in New York and since 1995 she has been the Co-Owner and Director of Pentimenti Gallery in Philadelphia. She has given many lectures, and participated on panels, in the Philadelphia area. Lectures/panels include the University of Pennsylvania, the University of the Arts, the American Association of Museums, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art, Moore College of Art & Design, Kutztown University, Kutztown, and more. She is active in a variety cultural organizations including CFEVA, ArtTable and the Maurice Rohrbach Fund.

Pentimenti Gallery exhibits contemporary art by emerging to mid-career artists. The gallery’s exhibitions were reviewed in major magazines and newspapers, such as Art in America, The Art Economist, Timeout New York, the Brooklyn Rail, USA Today, Philadelphia Style Magazine, Philadelphia Inquirer, and more. The gallery has exhibited nationally at various art fairs: Pulse NY, Volta NY, Texas Contemporary, Miami Project and CONTEXT Art Miami.

Harry Philbrick, Edna S. Tuttleman Director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, directs a museum known internationally for its collections of 19th- and 20th-century American art. The museum’s archives house important materials for the study of American art history, museums, and art training. Mr. Philbrick is spearheading a revived engagement with contemporary art at PAFA, creating a substantial endowment to rekindle the Museum’s program of actively collecting contemporary art and curating an ambitious series of contemporary exhibitions. Under his guidance the Museum will open a dedicated Works on Paper Gallery in September, 2013.

Mr. Philbrick has twenty-plus years of experience in museum management, exhibition curation, development, and educational programming and was the Director of The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum from 1996 – 2010. Mr. Philbrick furthered The Aldrich’s mission of exhibiting provocative and significant contemporary art and establishing education programs that serve as national models in museum education. Mr. Philbrick received his Master of Fine Arts from London University’s Goldsmiths’ College. His own artwork has been exhibited in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Theresa Rose is currently the Visual Arts Program Director for FringeArts. From 2007-2012, Rose was Public Art Project Manager for the City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy where she managed the Percent for Art program and lead the City’s first temporary public art commission, Soil Kitchen, by the artist team Futurefarmers. Independently, Rose is the founder and one of the organizers of Philly Stake, a micro-granting program for relevant & creative community engaging projects. She is also a Knight Foundation grantee for her upcoming participatory art and food series entitled Operation Food for Thought. Prior to her employment at FringeArts and city government; Rose worked on several projects as an independent curator and artist including exhibitions at Crane Arts, Seraphin Gallery and Little Berlin. She received her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where she co-chaired the Visiting Artist Lecture Series Program.

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RiTUAL Reading Room

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My Winter Coat, Barbara Henry, NJ and A Summer Morning’s Ritual, Pia De Girolamo

RiTUAL, Reading Room, 110 Church Gallery, 110 Church Street, Philadelphia PA 19106, 267 871 9375, HOURS: Thursday 1:30 – 6:30 pm, Friday 1:30 – 6:30 pm (except First Fridays, 5 – 8 pm) Saturday Noon – 4:00 pm, other times by appointment.

ARTIST RECEPTION:  Saturday, December 14, 2013,  3:00 – 6:00 pm

110 Church Gallery invites you to retreat from the cold into our gallery, transformed into a reading room. Be surrounded by stories, engulfed by pages, dazzled by over two hundred books. Books on shelves. Books on tables. Books hanging. Walls covered with books on display. Take books down, curl up and read. Fall in love with a book, buy it, and take it home.

Each of these books has been constructed from a single-sheet surface that is no larger than 11 x 17 inches. Over one hundred artists submitted books, addressing the theme: ritual.

RiTUAL, Reading Room, 110 Church Gallery

RiTUAL Reading Room is a meme based in Social Practice. To get the idea out into the Philadelphia art scene and have participation, the message had to be simple, easy to explain and memorably fun. By adding terms and conditions the curators established a concept that artists could share with each other, all you had to do was follow simple instructions. Making books in the Age of Digital Reproduction is a challenge to artists desiring to express themselves on paper. RiTUALS let’s the artist write whatever kind of book they like and then share the wall space with other artists, their work pixelated into the matrix of the meme, each book like a nerve connecting to the central nervous system of the art show. It really makes you think.

The design is simple and elegant with each book, loaded with information, waits to be unpacked by a viewer. Action is required to view the books displayed artfully in clear bags, concise tagging and information design creates a clever design experience. At the First Friday opening people ‘reading’ the books in random order mostly said, ‘Cool!’ There’s no better word.

110 Church Gallery, RiTUAL, Reading Room

RiTUAL as a social practice experience is intellectually satisfying from the ad campaign with the sample instruction books to the on-line campaign to the virtual display, the idea is to express a concept within constraints. The books nearest the door are hung from display pins so the wind won’t blow them over, object-like books such as the tea-bag book are on pedestals and tables and the rest are displayed on slim racks with taut string keeping them in place.

The origami-like fold of the paper creates a four page book, with 8 sides and the opposite side of the paper can be a poster. There are books of prints, poems, recipes, photos, patterns, drawings, paintings, embroidery and sculpture. And there are stories told in eight pages that will make you laugh or cry. The tactility of handing the books and sharing the discoveries with others opened up communications so that people interacted instead of the anonymity of the library.

110 Church Gallery, RiTUAL, Reading Room

RiTUAL creates an environment saturated with information, ideas and design. The cable knit sweater book by Kate Flake is an expression of the information technology of sewing communicated as memetic code. A meme of cozy comfort is translated into the book in a language different from words; a thread of thought creates a story in an un-named tongue that is easily understood and re-interpretted into words.

110 Church Gallery, RiTUAL, Reading Room

Pia DeGirolamo’s books are delightfully informative and rich with style and taste. And by taste I mean food. Tomato Sauce Ritual teaches how to be resourceful and make yourself some decent Italian food; you live in Philly you should know how to make sauce. The illustrations, text and paper all add to the narrative in ways that are visually tasty.

110 Church Gallery, RiTUAL, Reading Room

Thank you to Stella and Margaret from 110 Church Gallery for taking up this idea that involves depending on a lot of artists to create something new and making the exhibition a reality. The show has hundreds of books, there is an on-line catalog with pages about the artists and their books. RiTUAL is a lot of information that required deep thought and attention to detail to make happen.

110 Church Gallery consistently presents art that is thought provoking and unique, with RiTUAL the curators have communicated with the arts community in a way that they responded to with exciting and beautiful concepts of their own. Creating a spirit of community is the essence of the art show and if you spend time reading the books in the gallery you will learn about the people of our community and their rituals.

RiTUAL online catalog

Written and photographed by DoN Brewer except where noted.

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