No one was beaming more last night than the parents of Philly’s art czar, who has created a silk purse out of a sow’s ear!
Irwin and Wilma Steuer were there to cheer for their son Gary, the city’s chief cultural officer, and to admire the The Art Gallery in City Hall, which he has created at a time when the city’s fiscal picture is three degrees worse than dire. We said we thought Steuer was wonderful, a wizard for making this materialize. His parents agreed.
The beaming was pretty much universal for a crowd of about 150 art lovers and movers and shakers–from Fairmount Park Art Association’s Penny Balkin Bach to exhibiting artist Ben Volta to ex-pol Moore College pres. Happy Fernandez–who squeezed into the resplendent gallery space and poured into the hallway, where Steuer and Mayor Michael Nutter addressed the shiny faces (shiny from a mixture of sweat and delight).
Steuer said the gallery–and the offices, which unite all the city’s art programs, from Percent for Art to Art in City Hall and more, in one space for the first time–were made as green as possible, including some donated sustainable flooring made from recycled materials, from InterfaceFLOR (wall color of the offices are green, too!) He thanked a long list of people who made this happen with nearly no cost to the city.
Taking a picture of Steuer was tough. He was a moving target–that’s no doubt how he gets so much done.
Nutter, after multitasking on his Blackberry while Steuer spoke, called for young people to step away from their computers and come on down to City Hall to enjoy the art!
Last night was the soft opening, and today, from 10 to 4, the gallery is having an open house. The inaugural show, On the Rise, is a collaboration with The Center for Emerging Visual Artists, InLiquid and Philadelphia Sculptors. The show has work by 12 members in all from the three groups. The show runs to Aug. 6.
You can read more about how the city eked out this marvel in the Inky.
