June 2007 Archive

Antiquities at the Met — Fabulous

Greek antiquities in the new wing at the Met museum. Stella, Steve and I went to the Met last week to see the new antiquities wing and whatever else we could see in the big museum. Cate joined us. The Greek and Roman galleries, redone with skylights in vaulted ceilings are glorious spaces to be in–the kind of space that elevates you and makes you feel grand, elegant and like you’re worthy of a dignified stroll among the ruins. Roman antiquities at the Met. Here’s where cellphones, youTube, email falls away before something more tangible — something really important, civilized ... More » »

You can’t tell a man by his sculpture: Mark di Suvero speaks

Mark di Suvero, Iroquois, installed along the Parkway, on a grassy triangle near 25th and Spring Garden. The sculpture was donated by humanitarian and art lover David Pincus, long a member of the boards of the art museum and the Fairmount Park Art Association. The big surprise at the Iroquois sculpture dedication and talk that followed at the Fairmount Park Art Association meeting was the artist himself, Mark di Suvero, a guy whose gargantuan I-beam constructions–with the occasional moving part–suggest testosterone on legs. A smallish crowd of about 100 braved the heat, slight relief supplied by a tent and a ... More » »

We stop and shop for Yummy

Nick Cassway, Nexus Executive Director, gets a hug from Whole Foods shopper Elyse yesterday at the Nexus 5% fundraiser at the store. We–Roberta, her daughter Stella, and I–shopped at Whole Foods yesterday to help support the combo catalog-cookbook for Nexus’ upcoming Yummy show. Five percent of all store receipts from yesterday will be directed towards Yummy, which opens December 2007 and runs through January 2008. Tuan who works in the produce department got a kick out of us posing with the peaches. So we took his picture too. The money will support the Yummy show and catalog. When we stopped ... More » »

Not about us–Feltonville School mural

A post about the terrific new mural at Feltonville School for the Arts just perked me right up. Check out the tree trunk!!!! Hats off to all who participated, including lead artist Michael B. Schwartz and assistant Erika Matyok and all the kids and teachers at the school. (I do believe this is part of the program that has been cut!!!! Are they nuts?)

It’s all about us, #2

Check out how smart we sound on Annette Monnier’s post in Vulture Droppings, like we know what we’re even talking about. The Vulture is a product of those hip and trendy folks at Gyro Worldwide. They describe their own publication as “unusually incisive and occasionally cruel trendspotting weblog.” How they managed to write something so kind about the always sappy, often generous us is one of the mysteries of life and trend-spotting. But we’re not fighting it.

Year Three of the Cooke Museum of Art

This is the third year for the Cooke Museum of Art at Jay Cooke Elementary School. Just off North Broad Street in the Logan section, the school’s Museum of Art is a project organized by Diane Pieri who also works with Cooke students as an artist in residence through the PMA’s Art Partners Program. Pieri works closely with the school’s art teacher to do the project. This year the school had a new art teacher, Young Kim, who worked with the artist and the students to get the Museum off the ground. Pieri got the idea for the museum project ... More » »

Weekly Update – Art Alliance shows

This week’s Weekly has my review of the Philadelphia Art Alliance summer shows. Below is the copy with some pictures. Crafty Bastards After a misstep a few years back when it got rid of a popular curator, Philadelphia Art Alliance rebounds strong with a mix of big and small shows. PAA’s dedication to showing local emerging artists in its smaller spaces is especially welcome. Opportunities for solo exhibits by young Philly artists are few and far between. Most established galleries have full stables and rarely pick up new talent, and museums mostly eschew Philadelphia artists except when they’re a) dead, ... More » »

Shop with artblog tomorrow!

In a burst of enthusiasm we’ll be squeezing the oranges tomorrow at Whole Foods to help Nexus raise some dough. (See previous post for more). We’ll be there around noonish with out cameras so watch out! We’ll be looking for you. If you recognize us say hello. We will be posting pictures afterwards–a couple on the blog and all of them on flickr. We heart Nexus.

I want to go

Fabulous amazing hall of Mirrors in Versailles is ready for prime time after a $16M face lift that took three years! Read the Alan Riding story in the NY Times.

Yummy! Nexus needs you to shop!!

This just in from Nick Cassway of Nexus. I’m not sure if it’s the first instance of a supermarket/art gallery tie-in but it’s the first time in my memory that a grocery store has given cold hard cash in the cause of art (they often cough up cookies and juice for school openings etc). So good going, Whole Foods!! and get out there and shop, y’all, and support Nexus and its show, Yummy, which is about America’s food fixations, eating habits, table manners and food faux pas. On Wednesday, June 27th (this coming Wednesday!), Whole Foods Market at 10th and ... More » »