Tag Archive "crane-arts"

Chickens, sirens, at new Old School Studios

The chicken was a thing of beauty with a long speckled neck and banded body. She settled next to a small cement mountain. A blue neon light served as a negative sun. A photographer, Mike Kopena, there to document the installation, walked away from his tripod to the other end of the room to alert the two artists:  The chicken had dropped a load on the floor–and was sitting in it. Aargh.

Weekly Update – A great big Woot! from Tyler’s graduating MFA’s

Maybe it’s spring or the waning recession, but Woot!, the group show at the Ice Box consisting of graduating MFAs from the Tyler School of Art, is a nice change from the art world’s current obsession with noir-ish nightmares. Or maybe it’s this particular class of students that makes this show so fun and friendly. With rambunctious works that explore everything from pop culture to current events and personal material, the 22 artists in this student-organized and faculty-judged exhibit are explorers at play. In some cases, the works are tinged with a little anger and irony, but the good news is that this show ... More » »

Weekly Update – Inscrutable, a show about differences

“To make honey, young bee need young flower, not old prune,” says Mr. Miyagi, the Yoda-like master in the 1984 movie “The Karate Kid.”   More than 25 years on, the idea of the “inscrutable Asian” is mostly swept aside by a sushi-loving West.  And now, a local art exhibit uses the one-time insult to mock it. “Inscrutable,” at University of Delaware at Crane Arts (UD Crane), a two-venue show of ethnic artists’ works at UD Crane and Asian Arts Initiative, proves that differences still exist yet nothing is inscrutable. My review covers the UD Crane portion of the show. See ... More » »

Weekly Update – Bring on the fleas, in Troupe de Fetishe

A macroscopic look at the microscopic world, Troupe de Fetishe, a video installation involving a tiny flea circus projected onto the 100-foot-long, 25-foot-high east wall of the Icebox at Crane Arts, is just the latest in a string of entomological art that’s been exhibited in Philly.** Right now you can also see Jennifer Angus’ miniature Victorian sitting rooms that utilize insect carcasses in patterns adorning wallpaper (currently up at the Philadelphia Art Alliance)

Fired up about clay, the tour — Part 2

This post continues the tale of our NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) shuttle bus tour on Mar. 31 of ceramics exhibits in the Fishtown/Northern Liberties parts of town. Little Berlin “Scene,” an international show organized by Jennifer Woodin at Little Berlin is spare and a little chilly. The grid of ceramic knots held up by wire by Henny Linn Kjellberg (of Sweden) reminded us of how many other grids we had seen that day — at Tyler, up on Amber St. and elsewhere.  Grids are great, but we had trouble conversing with the ceramic knots in the ... More » »

Grants for Crane, Vox Populi and six more arts groups for jobs and projects

Money time!  $500,000 in Creative Industry Workforce Grants were announced by Mayor Nutter yesterday in amounts ranging from $20,000 to $100,000.  Eight arts-related organizations received the grants for capital projects that will provide permanent and/or temporary jobs.  The grants come from the Community Development Block Grant program’s funding as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA).  Read more in Philadelphia art czar Gary Steuer’s blog post.  Below is the list of recipients and a description of the projects.