Newsletter

Bill Hutson Life and Art Memorial, Philly Celebrates Jazz, African American Museum in Philadelphia has new board members, Melissa Joseph at List Gallery, plus opportunities

Hi, this week we share sad news in the passing of architect Rafael Viñoly, designer of the Kimmel Center. Events happening soon can be found in the memorial to artist Bill Huston. As well as in Philly Celebrates Jazz, an annual celebration featuring live jazz music, jazz-inspired block parties, jazz poetry events, jazz walking tours, and more. Philadelphia artist Odili Donald Odita opens a solo show, Windows, at Stevenson in Amsterdam. Some interesting gallery shows are soon to open in the form of the List Gallery hosting Conflicting Truths by Melissa Joseph and Automat exhibiting Centennial Rust by Christine McDonald. I hope you'll find this week fruitful and possibly visit some exhibitions and events.

EVENTS

Memorial Celebration of Bill Hutson’s Life and Art

A black and white image of a black man (Bill Huston) facing to the right edge of the photo. The text William R. Huston 1936-2022 is overlayed.
Image Courtesy of Bill Huston.

The Department of Art, Art History, & Film, the Phillips Museum of Art, and the President’s Office invite you to a memorial celebration of Bill Hutson’s life on Saturday, April 1st, at 1pm in the Gipson Grand Forum of the Winter Visual Arts Center. A light luncheon will be served from 12:00-1:00pm on the second floor of the same building.

Please join us at this gathering to celebrate Bill Hutson’s life and art. There will be a reception at Bill’s studio, 107 Church Street, after the events on campus.

More information here.

Philly Celebrates Jazz 2023 Kickoff

On a red background in the left side a black silhouette of a tenor saxophone player plays reaching his sax into the air. An orange silhouette in the bottom left reaches his trumpet in the air. On the right of the sax player a trombonist plays. The right side of the poster displays the type Philly Celebrates Jazz in a wild orientation.
Philly Celebrates Jazz is the City of Philadelphia’s annual celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month each April. Image Courtesy of The Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy (OACCE).

Tuesday, March 28, 12 – 1 pm
LOVE Park, Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19102

The Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE) invites you to join us as we kick off Philly Celebrates Jazz by attempting to set a new world record for the number of people doing jazz hands at once. Join OACCE at LOVE Park at 12 p.m. (noon) on March 28, 2023 to be pictured in the record-setting photo alongside Mayor Jim Kenney. The event will also feature live music performed by local jazz band Mobbluz, and the announcement of OACCE’s Philly Celebrates Jazz 2023 calendar of jazz-inspired events during the month of April. Arrive early to get complimentary white jazz gloves to wear in the photo.

RSVP here.

Philly Celebrates Jazz is the City of Philadelphia’s annual celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month each April that infuses Philadelphia’s neighborhoods with live jazz music, jazz-inspired block parties, jazz poetry events, jazz walking tours, and more. The kickoff event will launch the Philly Celebrates Jazz calendar, featuring more than 100 jazz-related events across the city.

More information here.

Visit here for full calendar of Jazz events.

NEWS

Rafael Viñoly, Architect of the Kimmel Center dead

Uruguayan-born New York-based architect Rafael Viñoly Died on March 2nd, 2023. He designed landmark buildings internationally and the beloved Kimmel Center here in Philadelphia.

Here’s an interview the Kimmel Center did with him.

The African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) Appoints Four New Members to Board of Directiors

PHILADELPHIA – The African American Museum in Philadelphia Board has announced the addition of four new members to its Board of Directors: Dr. Denise Christian, Chief Clinical Officer at CINQ Care Inc.; Joan Gubernick, President of 1818 Select and former Chief Marketing Officer for Einstein Healthcare Network. Derek G. Redcross, Co-Founder of Redcross, Martin & Associates; and Antonio D. Tillis, Ph.D, Chancellor of Rutgers University-Camden.

“We are so honored to have these four remarkable individuals join our Board of Directors,” said Sabrina Brooks, Chair of AAMP’s Board of Directors. “As AAMP reaches a pivotal time in our growth, we are excited to have these individuals contribute their knowledge, business acumen, and time to develop strategies that support our mission and vision as a cultural destination.”
Theresa Spencer, Account Executive

Learn more about the AAMP here.

Philadelphia Artist Odili Donald Odita opens solo show “Windows” in Amsterdam

In an white gallery with a concrete floor a blurred man inspects the multicolored angular compositions of Odili Donald Odita.
Odili Donald Odita, Windows. Image Courtesy of Stevenson Gallery.

March 11 – April 15, 2023

STEVENSON is pleased to present Windows, a solo exhibition by Odili Donald Odita.
For his first exhibition in Amsterdam, the artist presents a series of new small-scale paintings that reflect the geometric abstraction that characterizes his practice.

More information here.

Artnet’s recent studio visit with Odita.

NOTABLE EXHIBITIONS

List Gallery Presents Conflicting Truths by Melissa Joseph

A family of figures with dark skin, white masks, and white clothing are painted and felted onto a dark brown irregularly shaped piece of stoneware. The left side is painted the right side is felted.
Melissa Joseph, Kadankavil Family, 1954, 2022, 12 x 18 inches, inlaid stoneware, needle felted wool on industrial felt. Courtesy of the artist.

Opening Reception Thursday, March 16, 2023
Artist’s Talk: 4:30 – 5:30 PM
Reception Follows: 5:30 – 7:00 PM

The List Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Melissa Joseph, the 2023 Marjorie Heilman Visiting Artist. Curated by Exhibitions Manager Tess Wei, Conflicting Truths brings together numerous wall-mounted and sculptural forms that prioritize intimacy in scale, irregular edges, and softness of image. The artist will give a lecture about her work on Thursday, March 16 in the Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema at Swarthmore College. A reception in the gallery will follow from 5:30–7:00 PM. List Gallery hours are Tuesdays through Sundays, Noon–5:00 PM. Gallery admission and all events are free and open to the public.

Mining her family’s photographic archive as the starting point for her subjects and scenes, Joseph translates these family snapshots through a range of processes, including: altering textiles through wet- and needle-felting, combining stoneware through inlaying, and forming delicate, linen surfaces through paper-making. What unites all of these processes is the use of friction and pressure to transform highly malleable materials into relatively taut forms: repetitively rubbing strands of wool in a soap-and-water mixture to interlace the fibers; flattening clay bodies of differing colors with a rolling pin to create continuous ceramic surfaces; and pouring and dripping linen pulp onto a screen to form an integrated sheet of paper.

More information here.

AUTOMAT Collective presents Centennial Rust by Christine Mcdonald

A plastic bag like material with a yellow tinge is filled by four fans creating the shape and impression of a car. Each of the fans acts as a wheel.
Christine McDonald, Centennial Rust. Image Courtesy of Automat.

On View Through April 8, 2023

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Demolition Derby and General Motors’ invention of planned obsolescence, Centennial Rust considers the lifespan of vehicles through the manipulated processes by which they are produced, preserved, and pressured into entropy. Multimedia artist Christine McDonald situates herself and her vehicle amidst the complicated relationship between production and destruction while investigating the origin of and destiny for obsolete vehicles.

Connecting the tactics of the automobile industry to the sports and sites which arise out of its overproduction– specifically the Automobile Daredevil Demolition Derby, Aerobatics, and the Tucson, Arizona Airplane Boneyard– Christine McDonald interprets her own temporality. She uses archive, video, sculpture, installation, and pigment created from disintegrated car body to explore the symbiotic relationship between production and destruction.

This exhibition was curated by Danielle Degon Rhodes at AUTOMAT Collective. AUTOMAT will hold open gallery hours for Centennial Rust on Saturdays from 12pm – 5pm at 1400 N American St, Philadelphia, PA. The exhibition will be on view through April 8, 2023.

More information here.

Opportunities

Mural Arts seeks candidates for Educator-in-Residence Program Pilot, Spring/Summer 2023

Mural Arts Philadelphia seeks applications for a new residency program designed to engage an educator in meaningful collaboration with Mural Arts teaching artists and Art Education staff. The Educator-in-Residence will help identify and deepen best practices, provide professional development to Mural Arts teaching artists & Art Education staff, and propose new approaches based on the needs of program participants.

The Educator-in-Residence will serve as a thought-leader and our “eyes and ears” to the field for the Spring and Summer. The Educator-in-Residence is afforded a stipend, and access to staff and resources to develop and realize their projects. We seek applications from dynamic educators to act in an advisory role to the Art Education department, lead professional development sessions, and develop curricular and classroom resources for teaching artists.

Applications accepted beginning March 6, due by April 14, 2023
For more information about this opportunity visit Mural Arts.

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