DoNArTNeWs

Shag Tapestries, $100,00 @ Arts Street Textile Studio: handmade by the homeless,  Art on South Street initiative master-minded by visionary artist Isaiah Zagar of the Magic Garden.  Fantastic galleries have opened up along South Street including the Art Street Textile Studio, an ongoing weaving project begun in a homeless shelter where people were taught to weave on a loom as well as crochet, knit, sew and embroider; the administrators found the activity therapeutic and many of the weavers have followed the program even after the shelter project was complete.  Now on South Street the team has a beautiful storefront where people can come in and see the looms and the fabulous results.

Arts Street Textile Studio: handmade by the homeless, 6th & South Streets, Philly.  Hours of operation are Wednesday through Sunday from  3:00 to 8:00PM. For more information please contact: Kathryn Pannepacker via email: kpannepacker@gmail.com or phone 215.769.1016. Leslie Sudock via email: la.sudock@verizon.net or phone  215.735.3978.

This guy isn’t homeless but he was being instructed by Robert,”the only homeless guy left in the group.”  Sparkles, one of the artists, was out front encouraging people into the packed gallery on the hot Autumn night to see the cool looms and good folks.  When DoN got home from the event, the beautiful hand-loomed scarf he bought for only $20.00 is signed,”Robert.”

Even when the project was homeless itself, for a while they were a living installation in the Free Library, this simple loom was placed near food distribution points for homeless people and weavers would continue making the fabric, the device was never damaged by vandals, simply chained to a bike rack.

Hand loomed winter scarves @ Arts Street Textile Studio: handmade by the homeless. Hours of operation are Wednesday through Sunday from  3:00 to 8:00PM. For more information please contact: Kathryn Pannepacker via email: kpannepacker@gmail.com or phone 215.769.1016. Leslie Sudock via email: la.sudock@verizon.net or phone  215.735.3978.

Karl Olsen lights the subject of an impromptu critique of Yeoun Lee’s paintings during the monthly Salon des Plastiques @ The Plastic Club on the Avenue of the Artists.  Lee took up the challenge from a previous meeting to bring out a few paintings on the sweltering Summer evening to stand up to the observations of Anders Hanson, Bob Jackson, Mike Quinn, Alan Klawens - the guys behind the on-going series of exhibitions at one of Philly’s premier artist clubs.  DoN couldn’t help to harken back to the days when air conditioning was a dream yet to be realized.  Yeoun explained the cosmological influence on her current work with light being represented by a subtle rainbow of color.

Yeoun Lee @ The Plastic Club’s Salon.

The Casual Summer Show @ The Plastic Club showcases artist favorites.

Members of the Plastic Club are showing works not directed by a theme allowing for a salon like diversity of styles and medium; curators Alan Klawans and Bob Jackson filled the main galleries with a spectrum of light and color.

Marlise M. Tkaczuk, 3 Big Monkeys, silk screen in The Casual Show.  The Plastic Club has long represented printmaking with a great print room and print shows; Marlise’s confrontational funky monkeys are part clever and engaging, jumping off the wall.  Check the clubs website for info and links to events.

Diane Keller @ The Dumpster Divers Gallery on South Street near 7th; the gallery is temporary contemporary like some pop-up shop for art.   Keller’s paintings of little girl outfits is sweet yet disconcerting, looking back to a time when kids weren’t covered in logos.

Diane Keller created these pillows by combining digitally printed fabric she designed at Philadelphia University as the result of an award she won at Da Vinci Art Alliance.  The artist combined vintage fabrics she’s been saving with her own painterly pattern with a lush cushion meeting the demand of the art being created with recycled materials.  Diane told DoN she recently re-created her mural of The Rizz @ The Italian Market as the result of a building rehab, the muralist says with the new paint and techniques ol’ Frank looks better than ever.

Photos by DoNBrewerPhotography

 I Was Here, DoN Brewer, digital photograph @ Da Vinci Art Alliance’s Apocalypse Soon: 2012.

With money bombs, pandemics, oil spills, World War III fresh in our consciousness and the 2nd Wave Depression looming, Apocalyse Soon: 2012 is prescient, nihilistic funk-a-rama drama.  Curator Dr Deb Miller and Juror & Awards Judge, Elin Danien, Consulting Scholar, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology gleaned a strange harvest of occult dreamscapes, blob-a-zoid sculptures and paranoid visions of the end of the future.

“I know it’s the last day on earth
We’ll be together while the planet dies
I know it’s the last day on earth
We’ll never say goodbye”

Marilyn Manson - The Last Day on Earth

Curator’s Tour, Lecture, and Opening Awards Reception:  Sunday, August 8, 1pm-4 pm(doors open at 12:30)

Brujo de la Mancha, Mexican Identity in the XXIst Century
Debra Miller, PowerPoint lecture, Calendar Cycles of Creation and Destruction in Pre-Columbian Art
Debra Miller, Curator’s tour, Apocalypse Soon:  2012

Photo by DoN Brewer.

Robin Hotchkiss, To The Opera, oil on wood @ A Show of Hands, Salon des Amis in Malvern.

Robin Hotchkiss organized the theme show about hands, the quirky gallery near Valley Forge has a broad array of art by Philly regional artists.  Divine & To the Opera, oil on wood by Robin Hotchkiss - the sculpted ceramic hands are by Markels Roberts.

Robin Hotchkiss, From the Past, oil over antique painting, Ellen Benson, Springtime Divas, mixed media and Ann Keech, found object assemblage @ Salon des Amis.

Alden Cole, Magic Hans, oil on canvas @ A Show of Hands at Salon des Amis.

The Sunday afternoon opening drew Shoshka, Alden & DoN out to the tiny gallery on the hillside near Valley Forge to see A Show of Hands at Salon des Amis, a themed group art show of art focusing on hands - drawings, paintings, photos, sculptures, jewelry, hats…each artists’ unique approach expands and illuminates how important the image of hands are in popular culture.

Photos by DoNBrewerMultimedia.

Karl Richard Olsen took home the Gold Medal in the Plastic Club’s Members’ Medals Show for “Norge“, graphite & pastel.  Check out the perfect hoop earring, a simple shape created with confidant strokes, anchoring the image in a time, place, personality, style… it’s amazing how charcoal & pastel can look so liquidy & fluid. Olsen has a major installation for MCGOPA @ The Inquirer Building in Conshohocken.

Robert Bohne won the Dorothy Invernizzi Guinn Memorial Prize for his masterpiece, “Crustacean Feast“.  The award honors realist paintings because Dorothy didn’t get abstract art and this oil painting is a timeless example of atmospheric naturalism of the highest achievement.  As an artist, when viewing a painting which speaks of years of observation, practice, study, patience & wisdom, it leaves a sensation of living forever, feasting in the moment and leaving a mark on the world.

DoN Brewer, Denmark, photograph, Marie Samohod, Night Still Life, acrylic, Morris Klein, Washington Square, photograph and Eileen Eckstein, Finger Painting, photograph.

Tom McCobb, Adirondack Tea Party, oil.

Burton Greenspan, Albert, oil.  Honorable Mention Award for The Plastic Club’s Members’ Medals Show.

The Members’ Medals Show presents 130 artworks throughout three gallery spaces, Alan Klawans explained that volunteers organize and hang the show; the organic mix of paintings, drawings, photos & mixed media often is brilliant with quirky juxtapositions, DoN is confused by the placement of Syd Torchio’s Art Porn, Take 3, a fantastical painting with a grown up fun-house vibe that gets a bit lost in the dim hall, the best view is from the stairs.

Brenna K. Murphy @ Wind Challenge Exhibitions #3, Fleisher Art Memorial.

Brenna’s installation @ The Fleisher Art Memorial is part drawing, part conceptual art, part performance art, part photography & part crafting like a recipe for 21st Century modern art.  Murphy uses human hair to draw on the walls, sews hair into her photographs and over time will wash the hairs off the wall to put in the bowls on the floor, an idea she came up with when she was de-installing her last show.

Brenna K. Murphy draws onto the photograph by sewing hair into the paper, creating an illusion of a documentary photo, DoN thought she had installed huge drawings of furniture like the ones in the gallery.

Detail of hair drawing on the wall @ Fleisher Art Memorial by Brenna K. Murphy - DoN had to do some Photoshop magic to get the delicate lines to appear for the web, in real life the stray strands are poetic and serene.

Human hair wall drawing of a dresser with a small bowl on the floor, each Wednesday Brenna plans to wash off some of the hair and put it in the bowls.  Brenna Murphy’s drawings are loaded like meme bombs filled with memory, loss, dreams, beauty, ritual, divinity all playing out on long stands on hair.  Filaments of the imagination.

2010 Philadelphia Open Studio Tours -  pdf

Register @ http://www.philaopenstudios.com/Opportunities.aspx

Steven L. Spathelf created a mural sensation in Dunedin, Florida when the long-time muralist started painting oranges on garage doors late at night ala graffiti tagging or Obey stickers.  Soon the artist started noticing signs on garage doors asking for an orange to be painted there; the community recognized his contribution to the reputation of the art enclave in North Tampa and commissioned the “Welcome to Dunedin” mural.  Currently, Spathelf is working on undersea scene murals for a children’s hospital and managing the artist studios at 608 Vine Avenue, an art center with gallery/studio space for local artists similar to Spring Garden Studios in Philly, The Goggleworks in Reading or the Banana Factory in Bethlehem.

Mural by Steven L. Spathelf, Dunedin, Florid.  The artist is working on three separate panels simultaneously to be stretched and framed for exhibition in a children’s hospital.  Steven & DoN chatted about how important and calming art is for kids (and grown-ups) who are being wheeled into hospital exam rooms.  Spathelf is very familiar with Philly’s Mural Arts Program since he’s done private and public murals in Florida for decades, it’s not surprising Philly has a good reputation for public art.

Steven L. Spathelf’s studio in Dunedin, Florida housed on the second floor of an office building with many solo and shared studios throughout the large art space.  The art scene in Dunedin is integrated into the community just as much as the Baseball Spring Training season with Second Friday events, lectures and art events happening though out the village.

Steven L. Spathelf of Sterling Art Studios, 668 Vine Ave., Dunedin, Florida.

The Dunedin Fine Art Center is the hub of the art scene with workshops, galleries and exhibits in a modern, thoughtful art center designed to draw the community together with art.  The center has galleries for special shows, faculty exhibits and most importantly student show spaces with professional lighting and installation.

DoN regrets he doesn’t have the artist info on this piece but it reminded him so much of work by the Philadelphia Dumpster Divers with the use of old bundt pans, their memetic nostalgia vibrating with the wacko sculpture.  Visiting the art center in Dunedin really made DoN homesick but a studio/gallery near the Gulf of Mexico is really attractive.  The artists DoN spoke with all praised the support they’ve received from the public and their community; art is the glue that holds a town together, creating conversation, developing personalities and opening lines of communication.

Jo Schmidt, 3 Feathered Friends, acrylic @ Dunedin Fine Art Center.

Mary E. Haas, The Dream, stone @ The Dunedin Fine Art Center.

Barbara Kampe, Tu Jest Przyjemny Widok, acrylic and Carol Y. Bardes, Incan Kitchen, colored pencil in the hall of the Dunedin Fine Art Center.  The art center used all viable space to exhibit art without seeming crammed.

Student gallery @ Dunedin Fine Art Center.

Carol Ann Loven, River Rock, fiber and Stephen Decaire, In The Drink, mosaic @ The Dunedin Fine Art Center.

Bill Renc of The Painted Fish Gallery  paints dreamy tropical landscapes from plein air and memory as well as managing a large gallery & frame business.  It’s a wonder the gregarious artist gets any work done since he’s more than willing to chat with all the customers wandering through; even though it was a Monday afternoon there was steady foot traffic through the art district.

That’s Bill Renc on the left, his colorful painting of the quirky Dunedin street signs is available as print and cards, the informative and fun sign posts point in all directions at once.  The variety of interesting and colorful object, especially all the bright color which feels so alien to DoN’s city eyes, comment on the lifestyle of the Tampa Bay area.

Bill Renc of The Painted Fish Gallery in Dunedin Florida.

Ira Burhans ceramics at Clay and Paper Gallery of Art are award-winning collectibles with avid clients, the ceramicist sells his work wholesale!  Yet also manages a lovely gallery and interacts with his collectors.  Burhans was familiar with the Philly art scene since he comes to trade shows here but the warmth and clear light of Dunedin is a great place to make art.  The gallery represents about 25 local artists as well as Ira’s beautiful pots.  If you’re ever in Tampa, DoN recommends visiting this enclave of art culture in the midst of beach life, it’s a great mix.

4th Generation, Janelle Adamska, acrylic scrim/screenprint and burn-out.  Janelle told DoN she uses a wood burning tool to burn out the negative space of the design totally time-tripping DoN back to the old Sears Dream Book with the cool wood-burning tools, remember the smell?  The artist fell in love with a borrowed tool so a friend gave her one of her own, Adamska’s scene-stealing piece sure isn’t like drawing a horse head into a piece of pine.

Tic-Tac-Toe, Beverly Godfrey, tapestry, 2009.

Text, Leslie Haas, paper.  This simple paper construct is such a great meme with little scrolls stuffed in a box like memories of futures passed crammed with lots of overlapping narratives and keepsakes.  Sweet.

Margin Notes, Pat depaula Klein, hand stitched with cotton floss.

Sorry, DoN doesn’t have the artist’s name for these super-kawaii postcards like old fashioned pot holders with stitched cliche’ greetings.

Pondering the Possibilities, Francine Strauss, quilted mixed media wall hanging.

Pop Can Patchwork, Caroline J. Maw-Dies, pop can labels, nails, wood in traditional patchwork/quilt/basket-weave pattern, 2009.  Like tramp art of old this collage of metal embodies that home-spun crazy quilt vibe of the DIY movement, instead of bottle top ropes or toothpick clocks Pop Can Patchwork is informed by invasive advertising and cultural collapse.  Maw-Dies represents the 21st Century Gleaner, recycling and re-purposing detritus into modern beauty and contemporary design.

Saturday evening Kathryn Pannepacker, curator of the TeXt/TeXtiLe, a Philagrafika event, held a pot luck dinner and movie party @ Da Vinci Art Alliance with a great turn out of artists, good food and chummy conversation.  The homey comfortable-ness of the event, lively with old and new friends, is sure to become a tradition - it’s a great way to get people to come see an art show.  The movie was about the current DIY scene across the country featuring artists working in art & crafts and “making a living” - DoN flashed back to December’s First Friday, it was freezing and wet out and 2nd Street had maybe a hundred kids trying to sell paintings, T-shirts, hats, fudge…while the movie was fast paced, very informative and offered insight into successful models for art business’, there’s still an underlying sense of a new kind of tactic to simply survive the Great Recession by one’s own means.

Today while walking KaTy the ArT DoG & Lady Doofus, the St. Bernard/Chihuahua mix, through Rittenhouse Square, DoN spotted a tree wearing a colorful crocheted legging - a secret crafter mafia tagging style with fiber instead of stickers or spray paint.  Obey!