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Gee Wesley’s Living Library, Septa’s Popemageddon, Taller Puertorriqueno breaks ground, Candy Coated, TSA all over, Gravers Lane, Manny Avalos and MORE


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[Today in the News, Roberta congratulates the Association for Public Art and Taller Puertorriqueno for excellent achievements; reminds you of Septa’s Papal Pass complications; and links to a couple cool opportunities you might like to know about. — the Artblog editors]

News

painting on a building
Street art from the picture-rich Brooklyn Street Art blog

From the better late than never department, I just discovered the Brooklyn Street Art blog —great aggregation of street art images, interviews and news from around the world. Let this be your external companion to Conrad Benner‘s great Philadelphia Streets Department blog of street art here in our fair city.

Ahhhh, SEPTA. Taking pains to help complicate our transit rides during the Pope’s visit, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority has created the Papal Pass, a special One-Day Regional Rail Pass Required for Sept. 26 and 27 during the Papal visit.

Here’s what I understand: If you buy a regular monthly pass for the RRs, you can’t use it those days, since

All riders using Regional Rail on Sept. 26 and 27 – including regular SEPTA customers and visitors – will be required to pre-purchase a special one-day Papal Visit Pass. No other fare instruments, such as TrailPasses, will be accepted. Papal Visit Pass purchases are non-refundable.

Passes On Sale Monday, July 20; All Customers – Regular Riders & Visitors – Must Pre-Purchase Passes to Ride Regional Rail Sept. 26 and 27; Quantities Limited

book lending library outside
Gee Wesley’s Living Library will be on Pearl St.

Gee Wesley’s Living Library pop up reading room is underway this summer and early fall on the 1200 block of Pearl St., part of Asian Arts Initiative’s Pearl Street Project. With 68 books (commemorating the activist year of 1968) and with book discussions led by Gee and Ethan Sherman, the Living Library suggests you borrow a book and donate one in return — great idea! Here’s the dates: Saturday, July 18th & 25th, August 8th, 15th, 22nd & 29th, 1pm-3pm,
Friday, September 4th, 6pm-8pm. In case of rain, the Library will live inside Asian Arts, 1219 Vine St.

Taller Puertorriqueno breaks ground on its new building Sept. 18, 4-6PM, at the site, 2600-2624 N. 5th St. (5th and Huntingdon). Billed as the “largest Puerto Rican/Latino-based arts and cultural facility in Pennsylvania and the region,” this 25,000 sq. ft. building will have a 200-seat theater, cafe, parking lot, classrooms, playground, garden, gift shop and gallery. Ten years of planning and fundraising will turn this dream into a reality— felicitaciones, Taller!  More information here.

colorful scenes outside during the day and at night
Candy Coated’s Magic Carpet and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s piece honored by CODA

Two Association for Public Art projects, Candy Coated’s “Magic Carpet” and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s “Open Air” receive a nod from CODA (Collaboration of Design+Art) as two of the 100 best collaborative works in design and art. Way to go, guys!  In more Candy Coated news, watch for artist-decorated Indego Bike Share bikes coming soon. Designed by Candy and students from the Laura W. Waring Elementary School, the multi-colored bikes were made in partnership with the Mural Arts Program.

Works by James Toogood, the late Mac Fisher, Anita Morris and others, from gallerist Richard Rosenfeld’s private collection go on sale at the Old City Jewish Arts Center, 119 N. Third St., in Old City, Friday, August 7. Artwork will be priced 50% off market value and some of the proceeds will benefit the OCJAC. The show will be up through August. Rosenfeld’s eponymous Old City gallery closed recently.

Opportunities

Copyright Law Workshop – August 6, 5:30PM, hosted by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Philadelphia Chapter of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. Speakers are: Nancy Wolff, law partner at Cowan, Debaets, Abrahams, & Sheppard, LLP, artist David Graham, and Philadelphia Photo Arts Center’s Executive Director Sarah Stolfa.

Registration/$$ticket required
Location – Pepper Hamilton LLP
3000 Logan Square
Philadelphia , PA 19103

Tickets at Eventbrite. $20 plus $1.39 fee

Thank you, NYFA, for leading the way, helping the artists figure it out. Check out this article on the NYFA site — How Social Media Can Help Your Job Search.

Via Phennd #1 – flip: Looking for Collaborators in 3D Game Creation Tool for Kids — Hacker and programmer alert! This is a cool 3D game for kids with some STEM ideas embedded. Do you want to help with this game development?

Via Phennd #2Philadelphia Futures seeks Writing Instructor for high school juniors.

Artist News

senior citizen holding guitar
Manny Avalos, posing with one of his hand-made guitars. Courtesy of Upland Films

Paul Overstrom of Philly-area’s Upland Films sent us a heads up about a film they made about Manny Avalos, an 89-year old retired professor who builds classical guitars! The 4-minute video is a sweet watch.

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Niels Post, On Spam, Love #07, 2015, from the Baltimore show Self Organized

Alexis Granwell (Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia) and Norm Paris (TSA NY) are participating in a meeting of the tribes show in Baltimore organized by two artist run spots, Transmitter (NY) and Guest Spot @ the Reinstitute (Baltimore). The big show, titled “Self-Organized – Aesthetic Politics of the Artist Run (July 18-Aug 22, 2015) sounds great!  By the way, Tiger Strikes Asteroid now has a Los Angeles branch, and their members are showing work at TSA Philly this month.

Artists/ Participants:
Arts & Sciences Projects / New York City / Baltimore, MD
Lauren Adams / Ortega Y Gasset Projects / Brooklyn, NY
Kat Chamberlin /  Common People / Brooklyn, NY
Henry Chung / Robert Henry Contemporary /  Brooklyn, NY
Mathew Crowther / Crusade for Art / Chicago, IL
Hilary Doyle / projekt 722 / Brooklyn, NY
Alex Ebstein / Nudashank / Baltimore, MD
Robert Alan Grand / Kimberly Clark / Brooklyn, NY
Alexis Granwell / TSA Philly / Philadelphia, PA
Tom Griggs / Fototazo / Medellín / Antioquia / Colombia
Reid Hitt / projekt 722 / Brooklyn, NY
Rhia Hurt / Trestle Gallery / Brooklyn, NY
Bonny Leibowitz / Curating Contemporary / Dallas, TX
Mathew Mahler / Small Black Door / Brooklyn, NY
Keri Oldham / Field Projects, / New York, NY
John O’Toole /  Oranbeg Press / Boston, MA
Norm Paris / TSA NY / Brooklyn, NY
Lauren Portada / Regina Rex / New York, NY
Niels Post / Kunst en Complex / Trendbeheer / Rotterdam, Netherlands
Trevor Powers / Cat Labs / Easthampton, MA
Jacob Rhodes / Field Projects / Brooklyn, NY
Joaquin Segura / SOMA / Mexico City, Mexico
Ginevra Shay / The Contemporary / Baltimore, MD
Conor Stechschulte / Open Space / Baltimore, MD
Julie Torres /  Curator / Brooklyn, NY
Iemke van Dijk / IS Projects / Leiden, Netherlands
Robert Walden / Robert Henry Contemporary /  Brooklyn, NY
Guido Winkler / IS Projects / Leiden, Netherlands
Patricia Zarate / Key Projects / Queens, NY

 

Friend of Artblog, Gravers Lane Gallerist Bruce Hoffman sent us a note about gallery artist Bennett Bean and his studio, featured on New Jersey State of the Arts.

outdoor table with garden insert and people planting seeds
Planting seeds in the outdoor garden table at Street Road.  It’s almost time to harvest the crop and have a meal.

Street Road Artists Space gets featured in Anthropology News for its exhibit and project, Crisis Farm: Seed to Table, a food/farm related installation by Maryann Worrell and Doug Mott. The project includes an outdoor table with an inset garden box that’s growing stuff — and there’s a harvest event and community meal planned for Aug. 1, 12-6PM.

And in case you missed them, here are some recent Artblog posts!

Natalia enjoys the PMA’s “Discovering Impressionism” show, which highlights the much-beloved genre through the lens of one of its primary champions, the Paris art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel.

Roberta interviews Colin Quashie about his provocative and political show “Plan-ta-shun at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.

Marvin finds a new artist to watch, David Kessler, at the group show, The Usable Earth at Esther Klein Gallery.

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