Tag Archives: Philadelphia Artist

Portraits

Portraits and Such 2 a solo exhibition by Mike Pavol

Da Vinci Art Alliance proudly presents our June exhibition and additional programming:

OVERVIEW

Philadelphia, PA Da Vinci Art Alliancee, located at 704 Catharine Street will present Portraits and Such 2 a solo exhibition by Mike Pavol June 1st - June 29th. Opening reception is Wednesday June 1st 6:00 – 9:00pm. Open gallery hours are Wednesday 6:00pm - 8:00pm and Saturday + Sunday 1:00pm - 5:00pm. In addition we will be open Friday, June 3rd from 6:00pm - 9:00pm.

THE EXHIBITION

The show consists of a group of representational and figurative oil paintings inspired from personal interests by South Philadelphia based painter Mike Pavol. The work combines mixtures of formal and intuitive devices, including the irregular grouping of panels, and incorporating unintended artifacts from the sketch into the final works.

THE ARTIST

Mike Pavol, originally from Phoenix, Arizona, started painting as a boy. After moving to Philadelphia in 1988 he studied at PAFA and Fleisher Art Memorial. Pavol creates oil paintings in many genres, including landscape, still life, and portraiture. Working from life and other sources, Pavol creates unique images that convey the vitality and depth of the subject, and his own personal perspective. Pavol’s work has been described as “Delicately perceptive and at times experimental, these works both uphold and challenge his medium of choice, as well as his own intentions.” He currently lives with his wife and son, quite a lot of cats, and a very soulful dog.

THE PROGRAMS

The ART of Tango June 9th, 7pm - 8pm

Join us for an evening of visual art mixed with Tango. Lesley Mitchell is a Philadelphia based dance teacher who has intensely studied Argentine Tango for more than a decade. A wellknown visual artist, dance is also a frequent theme of her visual artwork. Through demonstrations and projections of her artwork, we will learn about the simplicity, complexity and history of Argentine Tango. Who knows, you may also learn a few steps of your own! This event is free and open to the public.

Artist Talk June 15th at 6pm- 7pm

During open gallery hours, come hear from painter Mike Pavol as he guides us through his current exhibition. Free and open to the public.

Legal issues for Artists June 16th, 7pm - 8:30pm

Laura Solomon, lawyer, and Rachel Nave, Interim Director of Legal Services for Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts will join us for our popular monthly Third Thursday Salon. This event is free and open to the public.

Portrait of Self: Visual and Narrative June 20th, 6:30pm - 8:30 pm

Join DVAA and First Person Arts for a mixedmedia memoir workshop led by Jamie J, storyteller, writer and Executive Director of First Person Arts and Linda Dubin Garfield, printmaker/mixed media artist. All materials are included but participants are invited to bring a significant something to include in the portrait. Members of FPA or DVAA $10., Non Members $12.

ABOUT Da Vinci Art Alliance

Since its inception in 1931, the mission of Da Vinci Art Alliance as a dynamic organization confidently continues to meet the growing need for community based arts, and cultural and educational dialogue for artists, individuals and families. Da Vinci is one of the few nonprofit artistrun organizations boasting ownership of a building since 1959.

Da Vinci Art Alliance is a public, nonprofit 501(c)(3) artists’ organization located in South Philadelphia. The organization was founded in 1931 to serve the needs of professional artists and artisans in the Delaware Valley. Da Vinci currently has over 140 members and is supported through membership dues, gallery/studio rentals, sales commissions, grants, and donations. It holds exhibitions of members’ and nonmembers’ artwork as well as special events, workshops, performances, poetry readings, and lectures, and keeps its members informed on community events, news and opportunities. The mission of the nonprofit artists run organization is to support its members and to further community based arts, cultural, and educational exchanges.

To request photos, interviews and more information please contact: Jarrod Markman | Jarrod@davinciartalliance.org

Like Da Vinci Art Alliance on facebook

Like DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog on facebook

Follow the new DoNArTNeWs.com

Follow DoN on Twitter @DoNNieBeat58

DoNArTNeWs on Tumblr

DoN Brewer on Pinterest

@donniebeat on Instagram

Affiliate Marketing [disclosure page] Shop on-line and help support DoNArTNeWs

Donate via safe and secure PayPal in the sidebar.

Underneath

Leave a reply

Underneath, The Life and Art of Gregory Gillespie

John Thornton Films

“A character in a Bruce Springsteen song sings, “Maybe you got a kid, maybe you got a pretty wife, the only thing that I got been bothering me my whole life.” The painter Gregory Gillespie was not that guy. He had a lot in his life including worldly success, loyal friends, a family, and an absolute genius for art. But I do think he also had something that bothered him his whole life.

I met him once when I was a drunken art student and he came to an opening of an important group show of realists that he was in at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. I was in the men’s room, and looked over as I was urinating and there he was standing next to me. I yelled his name, stuck out my hand, and he shook it. He was the nicest famous artist I have ever met.

In 1977 when Gregory was only 40 years old, he had a retrospective at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC. In 2000, age 63, he hung himself.” – John Thornton

Life and career

“Gregory Gillespie was born in Roselle Park, New Jersey. After graduating from high school, he became a nondegree student at Cooper Union in New York. In 1959 he married Frances Cohen (1939–1998), who was also an artist, and the following year they moved to San Francisco where Gillespie studied at the San Francisco Art Institute.

In 1962 he received the first of two Fulbright-Hays grants, for travel to Italy to study the work of Masaccio. He lived and worked in Florence for two years, and in Rome for six years, studying the works of such Renaissance masters as Carpaccio, Mantegna, and Carlo Crivelli, who was a particular favorite of Gillespie. During this time he was awarded three Chester Dale Fellowships and a Louis Comfort Tiffany grant. In 1971 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1994.

He had his first solo show in 1966, at the Forum Gallery in New York. In 1970 he returned to the United States, where he settled in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. He exhibited in several Whitney Biennials, and in 1977 the Hirshhorn Museum organized a touring retrospective of his work.

Gregory Gillespie became known for meticulously painted figurative paintings, landscapes, and self portraits, often with a fantastical element. Many of his early works were made by painting over photographs cut from newspapers or magazines, transforming the scenes through photographic collage and by adding imaginary elements. In his later work he abandoned his early fascination with creating hyper-realized realistic imagery, instead focusing on a looser and more expressive style. He often combined media in an unorthodox way to create shrine-like assemblages.

He was found dead in his studio in Belchertown, Massachusetts, apparently a suicide by hanging, on April 26, 2000.” – Wikipedia

Gregory Gillespie, Self Portrait in Blue Hooded Sweatshirt, Forum Gallery

Thank you to John Thornton Films for permission to share this enthralling video.

Subscribe to John Thornton Films on YouTube

Like DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog on facebook

Follow the new DoNArTNeWs.com

Follow DoN on Twitter @DoNNieBeat58

DoNArTNeWs on Tumblr

DoN Brewer on Pinterest

@donniebeat on Instagram

Affiliate Marketing [disclosure page] Shop on-line and help support DoNArTNeWs

Donate via safe and secure PayPal in the sidebar.

Transformations

Leave a reply

Transformations At Main Line Art Center

2016 Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art Recipients: Matthew Courtney (Philadelphia), Sun Young Kang (Bryn Mawr), Zahra Nazari (New York)

Curated by: Amie Potsic, Executive Director of Main Line Art Center through April 17, 2016

Main Line Art Center in Haverford is proud to announce Matthew Courtney (Philadelphia), Sun Young Kang (Bryn Mawr; 2015 Finalist), and Zahra Nazari (New York) as the 2016 recipients of the Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art. Selected by Members of Main Line Art Center’s Board of Artistic Advisors and Executive Director through a highly competitive application process, Courtney, Kang, and Nazari will be featured in Transformations, the 12th Annual Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition, on view at Main Line Art Center through April 17.

Masters of their primary mediums and inspired by cultural specificity, each artist expands their artistic practice to embrace installation with works that fully engage the audience in constructed objects, the spaces they inhabit, and the concepts they conjure. Through painting, ceramic sculpture, and paper arts, the artists transform, not only their own materials, but the galleries themselves into unexpected environments that dance between the evident and the ethereal.

Now in its twelfth year, Main Line Art Center is proud to present an annual exhibition in memory of Teaching Artist Betsy Meyer featuring the work of forward-thinking artists who are pushing boundaries within their artistic practice. As an artist, Betsy exemplified what is most exciting about engaging with the artwork of living artists: watching them experiment with their media and tackling complicated and tough subjects. As a teacher, she encouraged her students to follow her example and expand their practice into new frontiers. And finally, as a member of the board and exhibition committee, she assured that the Art Center was there for the artistic community of Philadelphia.

The Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art, presented by Main Line Art Center in conjunction with the Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition, consists of an award of $1000 and a solo exhibition to each selected artist. This award and associated exhibition program is an effort to support the talented contemporary artists in the region, to honor deserving artists in the field, and to encourage excellence and experimentation in artistic practice, presentation, and community involvement.

Approximately three artists are awarded annually. The 2015 recipients of the Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art were Seunghwui Koo (New York), Tasha Lewis (New York), and Kate Stewart (Philadelphia), whose work was featured in Tweak of Nature, presented at Main Line Art Center in Spring 2015. 2016 Recipient Sun Young Kang, was a finalist for the award in 2015. The 2016 finalists are as follows: Jennifer Crupi (New Jersey), Christina Day (Philadelphia), Tim Eads (Philadelphia), Michael Froio (New Jersey), Oki Fukunaga (New Jersey), Erica Loustau (Pennsylvania), and Adrienne Moumin (Maryland).

The Main Line Art Center gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, and Friday through Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm. Each of the artists will also facilitate a workshop on their process during the course of Transformations. For more information about these programs, including registration, visit www.mainlinert.org or call 610.525.0272.

Matthew Courtney is a ceramic sculptor living and working in Philadelphia. He received his B.S. from the Philadelphia College of Art and his MFA at Kent State University. He teaches at The University of Pennsylvania, The University of the Arts, and Tyler School of Art. He has received an Ohio Arts Council Artist Fellowship and a Jerome Foundation Fellowship and was awarded a Challenge Exhibition at Fleisher Art Memorial in 2000. Recent exhibitions include, “On the Precipice” Cerulean Gallery, Philadelphia PA 2014, “Artists Musings: An Installation”’ CCC Gallery, Plymouth NH 2014, and “2015 Reflections from the West,” Lanzhou City University, Lanzhou, China. In 2015, he was selected by the Dunhuang Creative Center, DCC, to spend two months of the summer of 2015 to work as an artist in residence at Lanzhou City University Lanzhou China, “producing work inspired by the rich history and contemporary life of Gansu Province.”

Sun Young Kang is a book and installation artist, originally from South Korea, living in Bryn Mawr, PA. From small intimate books to room size installations, she uses paper with its duality of strength and delicacy to create physical and conceptual space. Kang received her MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from the University of the Arts in 2007, and was a fellow of the Center for the Emerging Visual Artists in Philadelphia from 2013 to 2015. A participant in the 2013 Sofia International Paper Art Biennale and the Pittsburgh Biennial in 2008, Kang’s work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally at venues including the Susquehanna Art Museum, Queens Museum, Whatcom Museum, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and the Ganser Gallery at Millersville University. Her work is also included in the PA State Museum Permanent collection, Museum of Modern Art Franklin Furnace Artist book collection, and in numerous libraries’ special collections.

Zahra Nazari is a painting and installation artist, originally from Iran, living in New York, NY. Nazari received her BFA from the School of Art & Architecture in Tabriz, Iran, and her MFA in Painting/Drawing at State University of New York in New Paltz, NY. She is currently a recipient of The AIM Fellowship from the Bronx Museum, NY and received a Visiting Artist Fellowship from the Cooper Union School of Art in New York, NY and a Ruth Katzman Scholarship from the Art League Residency at Vyt, Sparkill, NY. She has exhibited worldwide at: Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ ; China Millennium Monument, Beijing, China; Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA ; Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, NY; Saba Institution, Tehran, Iran; The Painting Center, New York, NY; Woman Made Gallery & Zhou B Art Center in Chicago, IL. Forthcoming exhibitions will be presented by the Spartanburg Art Museum, Spartanburg, SC; Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY; Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT; Penn College in Williamsport, PA; and Von Faunberg Art Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Amie Potsic, curator of Transformations, began her tenure as Executive Director of Main Line Art Center in July of 2012. Prior to that, she served as Director of Gallery 339 and Director of the Career Development Program at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists (CFEVA) in Philadelphia where she curated exhibitions and planned professional development programming for emerging and professional artists. Potsic has curated over 70 exhibitions at venues including The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Moore College of Art & Design. Potsic is also an established photographic artist who has exhibited her work nationally and internationally. In addition, she is currently Chair of the Art In City Hall Artistic Advisory Board to the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy.

Main Line Art Center is our community’s home to discover, create, and experience visual art. A frequent recipient ofBest of Awards for its beautiful galleries and high-quality art instruction, the Art Center’s visual art classes, Accessible Art Programs for artists with disabilities, and contemporary and innovative exhibitions stimulate creativity, conversation, and joy. The mission of Main Line Art Center is to inspire and engage people of all ages, abilities, and economic means in visual art through education, exhibitions, and experiences. Last year we inspired 16,000 people at Main Line Art Center and touched the lives of over 80,000 through programs in the community.

Main Line Art Center is located at 746 Panmure Road in Haverford, behind the Wilkie Lexus dealership just off of Lancaster Avenue. The Main Line Art Center is easily accessible from public transportation and offers abundant free parking. For more information about Transformations, please visit www.mainlineart.org or call 610.525.0272.

Thank you to Amie Potsic for the content of this post.

Read about Tweak of Nature, 2015 Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art on DoNArTNeWs

Like Main LIne Art Center on facebook

Like DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog on facebook

Follow the new DoNArTNeWs.com

Follow DoN on Twitter @DoNNieBeat58

DoNArTNeWs on Tumblr

DoN Brewer on Pinterest

@donniebeat on Instagram

Affiliate Marketing [disclosure page] Shop on-line and help support DoNArTNeWs

Donate via safe and secure PayPal in the sidebar.

Jazz

Leave a reply

Emannuel Ohemeng, Esperanza Spalding at the Keswick Theatre, photography

Philadelphia City Hall Exhibits Celebrate Jazz and Photography

Live Philly Jazz – Through the Photographic Lens February 29 – May 6, 2016

Juror: Stephen Perloff

Art Gallery at City Hall, Room 116. Second Floor, NE corner display cases

The Clef Club at 50 through May 6, 2016

Curators: Don Gardner and Lovett Hines from The Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts

Jazz returns to City Hall this spring with two photography exhibits: Live Philly Jazz – Through the Photographic Lens, a juried exhibited located in the Art Gallery at City Hall; and The Clef Club at 50, which is located on the second floor near the Office of the Mayor. The exhibits will coincide with Philadelphia Jazz Appreciation Month in April. A joint reception will take place on March 28, from 4:00 – 6:00 pm.

Live Philly Jazz was juried by Stephen Perloff, editor of The Photo Review, a nationally recognized journal of photography that began in 1976. A call for photography was sent out in the fall, asking artists to submit work that captures the spirit of jazz during live performances, or subtle behind-the-scenes creative moments. The aim was to acquire original works of art that show a mastery of the photographic medium, depicting the rhythms, sounds, energy, and intricacies of jazz music.

Mr. Perloff selected 32 photographs: “At the heart of jazz is performance, which is reflected in a majority of the images in this exhibition that capture a wide range of performers from some of the jazz greats to street musicians.”

Juror’s Statement

Jazz may be the most quintessential American art form. From its birth in New Orleans it has spread like kudzu throughout the United States and around the world. And it has influenced all other succeeding forms of music from the blues to rock and roll and beyond. At the heart of jazz is performance, which is reflected in a majority of the images in this exhibition that capture a wide range of performers from some of the jazz greats to street musicians. There are many fine images among these. But I’m also heartened to see images that go beyond performance, from details such as Peter Applebaum’s Mr. Hornblower, whose lined fingers with glistening rings hold a battered horn that reflects years of playing; to Gerald Cyrus’s Freddie on Fire, which bursts with the pure energy of intense music making; to the composites of Regina Schlitz’s Jamaaladeen Tacuma Upright Abstract and Melissa Teasley’s Jazz-N-Around City Hall Sax Throwback; and even to Lynn Goldstein’s Beat Out of Box, a mostly abstract picture that captures the gestural quality and the balance between structure and improvisation of jazz. Philadelphia has its own rich jazz history and also a wonderful group of photographers who have managed to portray jazz’s soul. – Stephen Perloff, The Photo Review, Editor

Participating photographers:

Peter Appelbaum
Steven Berry
Rachel Bliss
Matt Cohen
Blinky Comix
Elliott Curson
Gerald Cyrus
Dean Anthony
David Dzubinski
Meredith Edlow
Peter Fitzpatrick
Annarita Gentile
Melissa Gilstrap
Lynne Goldstein
Alan Jackman
Leandre Jackson
Alonzo Jennings
Rob Lybeck
Jeff Lynch
Bill May
James McWilliams
Brian Mengini
D. Jacob Miller
Sarah Nathan
Emmanuel Ohemeng
Luzselenia Salas
David Simpson
Sound Evidence
Melissa Teasley
Bruce Turner

Rob Lybeck, Pat Martino, photograph

For 50 years, The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts has been an enduring cultural hub for Philadelphia’s jazz community. Art In City Hall, with the help of Don Gardner and Lovett Hines, the club’s respective Executive Director and Artistic Director, is presenting this extraordinary triumph through a display of photographs and memorabilia from the club’s collection. The Clef Club at 50 features images of past jazz legends that have graced Philadelphia’s jazz scene and some of the people who helped make it all happen. Many of the photographs on display were taken by South Philly’s John T. “Bunky” deVechhis, who passed away last year after decades of capturing Philly’s jazz scene.

Brief History:

The Clef Club began in 1966 as the social club for Union Local 274 of the American Federation of Musicians – Philadelphia’s black musicians’ union created in the mid 30s by Frank Fairfax. At the time of its incorporation, over seven hundred musicians were members of the club; including: Nina Simone, John Coltrane, Shirley Scott, Philly Joe Jones, the Heath Brothers, Butch Ballard, and Dizzy Gillespie among others. Other luminaries such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Art Blakely, Sara Vaughn, Max Roach and Clifford Brown would be frequent performers.

In 1971, Local 274 disbanded, but The Clef Club endured. In 1978 it expanded its mission to include jazz performance, jazz instruction, and the preservation of Philadelphia’s rich jazz history. It changed its name to The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts. In the 1980s, the William Penn Foundation – led by its Executive Director, Dr. Bernard Watson – allocated $2.8 million to construct a new facility at 738 South Broad Street, as part of the development of cultural organizations on the Avenue of the Arts. The state added an additional $1 million. Ground was broken in 1994 and the club opened its doors the following year.

Today, The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts houses a performance hall that can seat over 200 patrons, and contains two levels of classrooms and practice studios for its educational programs. It boasts some of today’s finest jazz musicians as former students, and continues to present world-class performances in its mission to celebrate and preserve the legacy of jazz.

The Photo Review

The Photo Review is a critical journal of national scope and international readership. Publishing since 1976, The Photo Review covers photography events throughout the country and serves as a central resource for the Mid-Atlantic region. Editor Stephen Perloff, a respected writer, educator and photographer, has been interviewed for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Bucks County Courier Times, and Art Matters. He has received two critic’s fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. For more information on The Photo Review, please visit: http://www.photoreview.org/

The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts

Jazz is a true, original American art form and The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, in Philadelphia, is the first facility ever constructed specifically as a jazz institution – a testament to our national’s history. Located on the Avenue of the Arts at 738 South Broad St, the building houses a 240 seat performance hall, in addition to multiple classrooms and practice studios, making it ideally suited to fulfill its mission of celebrating and preserving the legacy of jazz. For more information, please visit:

http://clefclubofjazz.org/

Art in City Hall

Art in City Hall brings the people’s art to the people’s building, establishing a presence for the visual arts in one of the city’s most important civic spaces, and provides space for the local cultural community to display their work. City Hall showcases juried exhibits of professional artists, local artists, arts and cultural institutions, community organizations and schools that utilize the arts in their programming. Encompassing a variety of mediums, techniques, and subjects, the program is committed to presenting a diversity of ideas and artistic explorations. For additional information on Art in City Hall,

Creative Philadelphia — City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy

The mission of the Creative Philadelphia — City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy is to support and promote arts, culture and the creative industries; and to develop partnerships and coordinate efforts that weave arts, culture and creativity into the economic and social fabric of the City. For more information on the OACCE, visit: http://www.creativephl.org.

Thank you to Tu Huynh, City Hall Exhibitions Manager, Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy for the content of this post. Thank you to Rob Lybeck for sharing his photograph.

Like Art in City Hall on facebook

Like DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog on facebook

Follow the new DoNArTNeWs.com

Follow DoN on Twitter @DoNNieBeat58

DoNArTNeWs on Tumblr

DoN Brewer on Pinterest

@donniebeat on Instagram

Affiliate Marketing [disclosure page] Shop on-line and help support DoNArTNeWs

Donate via safe and secure PayPal in the sidebar.

MLMME12

Leave a reply

Mary Liz Memorial Masters Exhibition 2016

at Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Frank’s

As many of you know, we usually open a show the Thursday after it goes up. This time, our festivities fall a week later, but the staggered logistics have no correlation to the practically staggering talents on display.

We’re speaking, of course, of our 2016 MARY LIZ FELLOWS — painter BOB GORCHOV, photographer WENDY PLOGER and assemblage artist/sculptor WAYNE URFFER -who are a week off the usual trajectory but right on target with their art. High marks are in order because the MARY LIZ MEMORIAL MASTERS EXHIBITION, named for our founding director, is the greatest honor we can bestow on artists in our community.

So without further ado, we cordially invite you to the show’s 12th renewal — MLMME12, for short – which opens its seven-week run THIS THURSDAY, MARCH 10, with a 7-10 PM OPENING RECEPTION featuring our favorite drinks, light hors d’oeuvres, fabulous conversation and a chance to meet the artists. You may already be familiar with one of more of our esteemed trio, who rank among our most accomplished artists.

The paintings of BOB GORCHOV have won over our hearts even since “the red coat” lit up the Wall in December 2008. Ten shows later — yes, MLMME12 is fitting his 12th outing in this space! Bob has lost none of his bewitching use of color or emotional buoyancy. Each time we see a new canvas, it’s like experiencing Bob’s work for the first time. Some might try to make a connection between this immediacy and his background as a self-taught artist, but we resist the notion of pigeon-holing the invigorating creativity that has defined 35 years of painting and drawing.

Even the artist cannot put a finger on what might emerge from the next canvas. “I rarely know how a painting will turn out,” says Bob, “and this is part of what makes the process interesting for me.”

WENDY PLOGER‘s journey from Brooklyn to 13th Street is a story we like to tell. Our friend Gail Stolp, a bartender here at Dirty Frank’s and at Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar, discovered Wendy’s photography and introduced us. Two years passed before Wendy’s work appeared at the end of 2013, to great acclaim, with diptychs humorously pairing disparate street photographs. The next year her intriguing, gender-bending series became the hit of our Autumn Invitational. Now, amazingly, Wendy brings us TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT bodies of work (!): tintypes, created with traditional wet-plate photography, and digital collages “projecting” Wendy’s strong female portraiture against natural settings.

This different pacing for the artist holds a new-found sense of satisfaction. “A few years later, with well over a hundred professional shoots under my belt,” Wendy says, “I have felt the need to slow things down in this age of instant gratification and pinpoint accuracy.”

Fewer and fewer MARY LIZ FELLOWS began their OFF THE WALL careers under the curatorial watch of our founding director. WAYNE URFFER is an exception, having enjoyed a boffo debut here before Mary Liz’s passing in 2004. He’s also only the second artist ever to be named a Fellow for the second time, following in the footsteps of Bob Jackson, a fellow master of the assemblage. Wayne’s work is always richly layered and rewarding. He brings ponderous questions to the floor of our 3D space (and, in this case, the Wall) – ranging from pop culture to religious zealotry, existentialism to addiction but he does so is such an accessible, non-judgmental manner, leaving much to the viewer’s interpretation, that you never feel the weight of agenda.

In fact, you may feel he sometimes enters the creative space with an open mind, too, “My process is to gather materials that capture my interest and allow them broadly to dictate the size and composition of my work,” says Wayne.

You can readily see why we’re so excited about MLMME12. What we love most about this show is that it’s as much about mastering media as it is about the lifeblood of art: experimentation and evolution. Whether you are encountering Bob’s paintings, Wendy’s photos and Wayne’s boxes for the first time — or simply rediscovering them — you’re in for a rare treat.

We look forward to seeing you Thursday!

Togo Travalia, Manager, OFF THE WALL GALLERY at Dirty Frank’s, NE Corner, 13th & Pine Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Thank you to Togo Travalia for the content of this post.

offthewallgallery@gmail.com

facebook.com/OTWDirtyFranks

@OTWDirtyFranks on Twitter

(215) 732-5010 (bar)

Like DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog on facebook

Follow the new DoNArTNeWs.com

Follow DoN on Twitter @DoNNieBeat58

DoNArTNeWs on Tumblr

DoN Brewer on Pinterest