Jordan Griska grew up in Narberth in a household with a mom and dad who are physicians, and in fact Jordan was pre-med in college for a while until he changed his mind, switched to art, and transferred to Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Griska makes sculptures and installations from found parts and re-used materials. He has accordian-pleated a real gasoline pump (he bought it online) transforming it into a small, R2D2-like version of a functioning pump. Now, he is working on a big commission for a large temporary sculptural for Lenfest Plaza, the new public space at Broad and Cherry Sts. “Grumman Greenhouse” features a Grumman Cold War-era defense plane (he also bought that on eBay). The artist is altering into a sculpture-cum-greenhouse. It will be placed in the space nose-down and wings-up as if it landed accidentally and tragically. We spoke with Griska at the Philadelphia Traction Company, a huge shared studio space that used to be a trolley barn many years ago. Grumman Greenhouse is scheduled to arrive in Lenfest Plaza Sept. 15 and will be inaugurated Oct. 1, along with the Claes Oldenburg Paintbrush.
![jordangriska2 jordangriska2](https://www.theartblog.org/wp-content/uploaded/jordangriska2.jpg)
This episode is edited by Peter Crimmins. The music is by Eric Biondo. Thanks to the Knight Foundation for helping us get the ball rolling on this project. Thanks to J-Lab‘s Enterprise Reporting Fund and William Penn Foundation for additional support and to our partner WHYY NewsWorks for their ongoing support. You can listen to Artblog Radio on Apple and Spotify.