NEWS

Sad news from the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art on the passing of George A. “Frolic” Weymouth

We are saddened by the death of our founder and chairman of the board of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art, George A. “Frolic” Weymouth. Frolic was a visionary conservationist, a highly-talented artist and accomplished sportsman. He was an inspiration to all of us here at the museum and he will be sorely missed. If you would like to leave a memory or tribute to Frolic, please click here.

Also sad news, groundbreaking political-Pop artist Marisol died. Read the NY Times obituary.

New gallery news – Pilot Projects debuts May 14.

I hope this finds you well. It is the press release for the inaugural exhibition for the new arts space named Pilot Projects run by Jacob C. Hammes, Jen Nugent, and Zachary Rawe. Pilot Projects is located at 1719 N 5th St 19122.
Best,
Pilot projects

Prologue: works by Alex Jovanovich and Eric Ruschman
Opening Reception: May 14th, 7:00pm – 11:00pm

Pilot Projects is incredibly excited to announce our inaugural exhibition, Prologue: works by Alex Jovanovich and Eric Ruschman. For our opening exhibition we have chosen artists whose works draw upon playfulness and nostalgia, dwelling in the awkward space between optimism and loss. Ruschman’s diminutive, candy colored paintings merge minimalist legacies and popular television. Jovanovich presents Epic, an automatic slide projector that presents images detailing a short narrative about the absence of family members and the desire to begin a small garden.

In Lauren Berlant’s estimation, “nostalgia, in particular, is a great site for thinking about transnational variation and continuity. It is how different places figure the problem of collective loss out as a kind of intense individual experience.” Both of these artists draw upon emotive memories, and catalyze them into formal artworks that perform romanticization and unapologetically gush with fandom, short poetic verse, and cartoonish demeanors. These clever maneuvers layer together the ubiquitous with the personal, embedding loss with optimism and utilize puncturing observational humor. These are maneuvers that Pilot + Projects finds timely and relevant, and we are incredibly pleased to present the work of Jovanovich and Ruschman in our inaugural exhibition.

Alex Jovanovich is an artist and critic who lives in the Bronx. A selection of his work was recently featured in the 2014 Whitney Biennial. He currently has work in “Tomorrow’s Man,” a group exhibition curated by Jack Pierson at Galerie Thaddeus Ropac in Salzburg. He is a regular contributor to Artforum.

Eric Ruschman is an artist and curator based in Chicago, IL. He has recently participated in exhibitions in Chicago and Vicinity at Shane Campbell Gallery and was featured in New American Painters Midwest edition. In addition to these recent updates, Ruschman has exhibited throughout various locations in the U.S. including Ohio, Georgia, and Louisiana. In conjunction with being featured in New American Painters, Ruschman will be exhibiting at the Elmhurst Art Museum in Elmburst, IL.

New curatorial debut – Nice Futures presents “Welcome To The Jungle”, a group show of plant-themed artworks.

Nice Futures is a collaborative effort by artists Keith Warren Greiman and Nick Apice. Here’s what they told me in an email:

“Welcome To The Jungle” is the first show we’ve curated. We both really like drawing plants in our work and thought that could be a great common theme for a group show. We approached Shawn Hileman at Masthead and he offered us the gallery in May.

We sent out a request for submissions to a large group of mostly Philly-based artists and were so impressed by the responses. It really is a great line up we’ve been able to put together.

Here’s what we sent the artists…

“Who doesn’t love plants? We put them on our windowsills and water them in our gardens. They grow between the cracks in our sidewalks and at the bottom of the ocean. They are everywhere and we are paying them a tribute. Won’t you join us?”
Opening reception is Saturday, May 14 from 6-9pm at MASTHEAD Print Studio/Gallery and Phantom Hand.
208 Fairmount Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19123
Delicious beer provided by Highway Manor Brewing.
Animated Promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVqhl0SCPMo&feature=youtu.be
Instagram @nicefutures
MASTHEAD
Phantom Hand

Participating Artists:
Tim Gough
Matt Curtius
Gina Triplett
Martha Rich
Michael Carney
Justin Staller
Adam Carrigan
Keith Warren Greiman
Rita Greiman
Nick Apice
Abigail Bruley
Shawn Hileman
Ben Howard
Max Seckel
Terri Kasuba
Sarah Jacoby
Miriam Singer
Johnny Bobby
Jason Andrew Turner
Ryan Strand Greenberg
Dan Knapp
Nate Harris
Alex Peltz
Rocco Avallone
Scott Porcelli
Andrew Leach
Louis Tumolo
Eric Kenney
Shane Coslett
Jade Galos
Kevin Mercer
Luke Cloran
Dan McCartney
Phillip Brandt Imhoff
Laris Kreslins

Where are they now? It’s a year since the Artist and Social Responsibility (ASR) class of 2015 graduated last May.

I caught up with ASR student Gabrielle Patterson, who graduated from University of Pennsylvania a year ago with a BA in Fine Arts, and some wizardly animation skills. After graduation, Gabrielle decided to stay in Philadelphia where she has been working part time for an educational media production company, Fabian-Baber, Inc. in Media, PA. She’s also working at the Lea school’s after-school program. And this summer, she will be teaching an animation workshop for high school students at the Brandywine Workshop. Check out below her wonderful 2015 animation reel and the nifty animated logo she produced for the Brandywine.  And scroll through her other animations on vimeo. Congratulations, Gabrielle!

Moore Announces New Chief Academic Officer – Patricia C. Phillips

Moore College of Art & Design, the first and only visual arts college for undergraduate women in the United States, is pleased to announce the appointment of Patricia C. Phillips as the College’s new Chief Academic Officer/Academic Dean.

Phillips, Dean of Graduate Studies at the Rhode Island School of Design (who also served as Interim Associate Provost for two years), will begin her new role at Moore on July 1, 2016. Her breadth of experience includes past roles as professor and chair of the Cornell Department of Art; editor-in-chief of Art Journal; dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts; chair of the Department of Art at the State University of New York-New Paltz; and program coordinator of the master’s program in Architecture and Design Criticism at The New School for Social Research – Parsons School of Design.

In addition to her experience in academia, Phillips is a well-regarded writer, having published articles, essays and reviews about contemporary art, design and architecture in Artforum, Art in America, Art Journal, Metropolis and Public Art Review, among others. She authored the books City Speculations, It is Difficult: Alfredo Jaar and Ursula von Rydingsvard: Working.

Phillips’ curatorial projects include a one-person exhibition on the artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles at the Queens Museum in Flushing, Queens and Making Sense: Five Artists’ Installations on Sensation at the Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York. She has lectured extensively on public art, contemporary art and design across the country and abroad.

Phillips earned her BA in Art/Art History from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA and did graduate work in Landscape Architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Museum news – SFMoMA opens it’s new Snohetta-designed expansion-Wowza!

And stay tuned, because Temple University selected Snohetta for its new Library! We will have more on that soon.

In other museum news…Our favorite security guard, Linda Harris, was interviewed by ArtNews, where she will be featured in the May issue!

Congratulations, Linda! We’ve been talking to and learning from Linda for many years. Here’s a lovely appreciation by Edward Epstein we ran in 2006.

OPPORTUNITIES

Via Roses Madrigale…(thanks, Roses!)

Summer and fall internships at Semilla Arts Initiative. I’m looking for 5 hard working individuals to assist on various projects in the studio, murals by me and a few guest artists and gallery installations at A Seed on Diamond Gallery. Send resumes to www.betsycasanas.com This internship is for adults only. Please forward in your networks to anyone who may be interested. Individuals with an art background and an interest in learning about public and community arts preferable.

ARTIST NEWS

Artblog favorite Shelley Spector in residence in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Please join me on Sunday, May 15, 12–3 p.m., for the opening of Shelley Spector: I Live Here. The exhibition, featuring works in sculpture, embroidery, print, and installation by Philadelphia artist Shelley Spector, will be the first exhibition of objects here at Room & Board – which has previously focused on performances and events. The show draws from multiple bodies of work in Shelley’s practice, and includes new pieces on view for the first time. All works are animated by the artist’s reuse of discarded and unwanted materials, as well as their complex relationships to the idea of home.

The exhibition, which runs until June 26, will be open every Saturday andSunday, 12–6 p.m., and by appointment or coincidence. The artist will be present on opening day, along with bagels, coffee, and other brunch accessories. I look forward to seeing you there!

On Saturday, June 11, 3–6 p.m., Shelley will return to Room & Board to lead a workshop in constructing tomato-shaped pincushions inspired by her research into Victorian craft traditions.

Shelley is a multidisciplinary artist who builds works that use personal objects, experiences, and ideas to search for communal identity. Her work is part of many public and private collections including The PhiladelphiaMuseum of Art, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, DC. Her most recent solo exhibition, Keep the Home Fires Burning, was at The PhiladelphiaMuseum of Art in 2015. Spector has received grants from the Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Leeway Foundation.

My very best,

Julia

—
Julia Pelta Feldman
Director, Room & Board
153 Bedford Avenue
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
www.roomandboard.nyc

Room & Board, founded in 2014, is an artist’s residency, salon, and art space in a red brick townhouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It is also the home of its director and curator, Julia Pelta Feldman, who invites artists of all stripes to live with her for a month and present their work in the space. Shelley Spector’s work will be resident in May and June, 2016.