Conceptual musings about art and fine craft
Walking through downtown Old City, Philadelphia last Friday night – I became quite mesmerized by a small-scale group of Karen Freedman’s paintings I discovered at Muse Gallery’s 2012 Invitational. Freedman works entirely in encaustic, the process of working that incorporates warmed beeswax and powdered pigments into compositions, which are sculpted into definitive geometric forms; in…
Read More
So much of the art scene in downtown Philadelphia comes nearly to a halt during the late summer months, as residents scatter throughout the tri-state area to the New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland beaches. However, the contemplation of and dedication to craft is alive and well in Olde City Philadelphia’s The Clay Studio. Last Friday,…
Read More
This past weekend, I felt compelled to view in-person some of the newer works that Philadelphia-based oil painters are conjuring up inside their studios as of late. New Faces of 2012 currently at Artists’ House Gallery, in downtown Olde City, showcases eleven regional artists who seem to approach the oil painting medium as a self-unique…
Read More
Ani Kasten’s delicate ceramic vessels were a sheer delight to see at Philadelphia’s The Clay Studio last week, as her solo exhibition, Offering, opened on Friday evening to a bustling area of “First Friday” art gallery visitors. As I walked around the airy and open front rooms of the exhibit space, I couldn’t help but…
Read More
FiberPhiladelphia 2012 continues to thrive city-wide in local galleries, major institutions and art collectives, as the international fiber biennial continues its festival throughout the area. Strings + Things, currently at the 3rd Street Gallery in downtown Olde City, features significant pieces by fiber artists Melissa Maddonni Haims and Carol Wisker. Maddonni Haims’ Purge series showcases…
Read More
Earlier this week, I spoke of two artists showing as part of the FiberPhiladelphia 2012 international biennial currently showing across various venues in the city. My trek through Olde City took me to the Wexler Gallery where Narrative Thread (a group exhibition) is currently installed. New York-based artist Donna Rosenthal’s Days of Wine and Roses…
Read More
FiberPhiladelphia 2012 brings the eighth such international biennial celebrating the textile and fiber arts to Philadelphia. However, those attending the First Friday gallery openings in Olde City this past Friday night did not see the everyday mind’s eye image of cotton or wool-loomed rugs or fashionable clothing that one might expect. Starting at the Snyderman-Works…
Read More
Last Friday evening, I braved the colder weather of Olde City, Philadelphia to investigate new work by artists showing as part of the “First Friday” evening art gallery openings. Katherine Fraser’s paintings at Artists’ House Gallery were by far the most engaging items I found amongst the various media on the numerous gallery walls and…
Read More
Several years back, I was on a gallery hunt in NYC to look at artwork that spoke of feminist issues that were currently at the surface. Sculptor, mixed media and performance artist Lesley Dill (b. 1950, now living in Brooklyn, NY) was having a solo show, Voices in My Head, at George Adams. Part of…
Read More
artdoesmatter 