Taj Ra’oof Nahl / TR7 exhibits Cross Pollination with Marginal Utility, Vox Populi opens four exhibitions in May, Lane Timothy Spiedel double publication and reading at Partner and Son, The Clay Studio’s Spring Pottery sale, Barnes West artists partnerships, Plus more
This week we have many gallery listings and a few new exhibitions that are set to open. Friends of The Artblog are doing big things, Taj Ra’oof Nahl will be exhibiting a new work titled Cross Pollination happening at four different sites. Lane Timothy Spiedel, one of our writers, will be reading from two of their books at Partner and Son. Vox Populi is set to open four new exhibitions in early May. PAFA is holding a series of workshops, presentations, and tours for Indigenous People’s day providing an opportunity to learn about the Lenape of Philadelphia as well as Indigenous immigrants. Something I’m particularly excited about is the Clay Studio spring pottery sale. I hope you all find something fun to do in this nice weather. Enjoy yourselves!!
Taji Ra’oof Nahl/TR7 Cross Pollination. Image courtesy of Marginal Utility.
May 5 – Jun 26, 2023
Opening reception Friday, 5 May from 6–10PM
Marginal Utility is proud to present an interim-survey of works by Philadelphia based artist Taji Ra’oof Nahl / TR7.
As a conceptual artist, TR7 works through avant-garde modalities of art production and embraces an egalitarian approach to materials. For this exhibition, TR7 will explore the gallery’s spatial dynamics. The gallery will serve as an observatory that presents the ongoing creative research into his Calculating Banneker; Apis Project. TR7’s Cross Pollination project will move between four sites; Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild’s Apiary at Awbury Arboretum, The Rotunda & The House of Schlesinger.
Programming will be fed back to the observatory (Marginal Utility) from the various sites. Cross Pollination
Sunday, May 14th, Field Trip – Apiary @ Awbury Arboretum 11AM -12PM Sunday, May 28th, Rotunda 4-7PM
Friday, June 2rd @ House of Schlesinger 7- 8PM
More times TBA
Around the Neighborhood presented by Cerulean Arts Gallery
James Toogood, Mixed Emotions, watercolor on paper, 22″ x 30″. Image courtesy of Cerulean Arts
April 26 – May 21, 2023
Opening reception Saturday, April 29, 2 – 5PM
Virtual Tour and Talk Wednesday, May 10, 6PM
Cerulean Arts Gallery, 1355 Ridge Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19123
Cerulean Arts is pleased to present Around the Neighborhood, featuring paintings by Tracy Everly, Elizabeth Heller and James Toogood. Tracy Everly’s oil paintings of houses are an attempt to capture the remains of an experience that gives her joy before it slips away. Working from observation, photographs, and memory, her expressive treatment is marked by deliberation; every gesture is carefully considered. Elizabeth Heller finds her streetscape subjects “in between,” where remnants of Philadelphia’s industrial age rub shoulders with new developments. She paints in oil outdoors on the spot, knowing that as the day and days advance, what she captures will be a compilation of many moments. James Toogood’s carefully rendered watercolor cityscapes emphasize variations of light, texture, and atmosphere. His mysteriously depopulated images straddle the line between realism and abstraction, enabling viewers to appreciate them at multiple levels.
Jermaine Ollivierre, Thy Kingdom Comes Apart. Image courtesy of AUTOMAT.
April 13 – May 20, 2023
AUTOMAT Collective
Suite 105, Crane Arts Building
1400 N. American Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
AUTOMAT presents new work by artist Jermain Ollivierre, the first solo exhibition of his sculptures in Ollivierre’s hometown of Philadelphia.
Themes of safety, protection, childhood, and resilience linger on the carefully-chosen surfaces of Ollivierre’s work. A football helmet wrapped in fabric and perched on a satin pillow asks questions about protection of the head, both as the physical skull and the mental health of its wearer. A pair of the artist’s own Nikes hang from the ceiling by two red shoelaces, hovering inches from the surface of a chair.
Kenza Bousseloub from exhibition titled Echoes / أصداء. Image courtesy of Vox Populi.
May 5 – Jun 11, 2023
Opening reception Friday May 5, 2023 6-9 PM, Free to attend
Echoes / أصداء
Batikh Batikh is proud to present its second exhibition at Vox Populi’s Black Box Theater. Echoes / أصداء is the first solo exhibition of work by Algerian-American Artist, Kenza Bousseloub, Featuring photography and moving image material gathered over multiple trips to visit her extended family in Mila, Setif, and Algiers, Algeria, this show is also the World Premiere of Bousseloub’s documentary film, Nissa’a Djazaïriat, Voices of East Algeria.
Echoes explores themes around time, the history of Algerian women and the emotional labor and care within North African women’s communities, Bousseloub’s photography is experienced as snippets of important events; from family dinners to weddings, in a welcoming but disorienting fashion, outside of time and place.
Painting is frozen music presents an intergenerational survey of Philadelphia based painters, intentionally pairing artists at different stages of their careers who have maintained a connection to this infernal/beautiful place sometimes called Philadelphia and the infernal/beautiful practice called painting. I am interested in this generational correspondence because I have found that, as a craft, our practice is enriched by our knowledge of its history, and those we are in community with who have chosen painting as a way of life.
For eight years the Shut Down Berks Coalition fought to close the Berks County Detention Center, which imprisoned families and later adult women. On January 31, 2023, the coalition of immigrant leaders, organizers, grassroots groups, interfaith leaders, lawyers, and activists, WON.
In Queremos Justicia: How We Shut Down Berks, learn how the coalition won this victory through the art made for the campaign and how it played an invaluable role in education, mobilization, and community building. Learn more about the artists who supported the campaign with their talent and most importantly, view the art and messages of those most directly impacted, the families held at the Berks County Detention Center themselves.
Tiger Strikes Asteroid Philadelphia members have worked collaboratively with artists inside and outside of their membership network on pieces for the exhibition. The show name Constellations refers to expansive artists, communities, and ideas that influence the work.
Partners and Son welcomes Lane Timothy Speidel for a Double Publication release party
Friday, April 28, 6 – 9 PM
Partner and Son 618 S 6th st, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Lane and friends will be reading excerpts from ALL EXITS, a collection of short stories, and Light Sleep: love poems written in between naps.
Readings start at 6:45PM and include:
Anne Ishii
Bambi Heggeman
KT Pe Benito
Kim Altomare
Schuyler Thum
Jordan Deal
Jim Strong
Ariadne Brazo
Shea Retherford
Please join us to celebrate Lane and these beautiful books!
About the books:
ALL EXITS contains observant aliens, ancient eels, missing cats, inter-dimensional doorways, and reflections that move on their own. Filled with insights and bizarre sensory descriptions, decorated with charming illustrations and photographs of night, ALL EXITS is a little book that will walk through your mind like a mischievous cat – tipping over things you didn’t even know were there.
Light Sleep: love poems written in between naps is about curiosity and surrender and asks many questions, but is ultimately willing to fall deeply in. There are sweet poems, silly ones, philosophical ones and sexy ones. Wishing to question the boundaries of knowing, naming, sex, and both group and individual identity.
Indigenizing the Rising Sun with Indigenous People’s Day Philly at PAFA
Saturdays, May 13, 20, 27
11:00 AM – 1:00PM
A Journey: Indigenizing the Rising Sun is a series of workshops led by Indigenous People’s Day Philly with panel presentations and interactive activities. The series will provide participants the opportunity to learn about the Lenape, Delaware Nation presence, stories of survival on a Navajo Reservation and of Indigenous immigrants in Philadelphia.
The Clay Studio 1425 N. American St, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Join the Clay Studio for the return of the Annual Pottery Sale! Attendees have the opportunity to purchase armloads of ceramic treasures by artists and students at rock bottom prices. Come early to get the best picks from an enormous selection of works on sale. All proceeds support The Clay Studio’s Scholarship Fund. Guests can also tour the latest exhibition Small Favors 2023 in the Jill Bonovitz Gallery or check out the latest featured items for sale in The Shop.
The Clay Studio serves as a place where established and emerging artists can come to shape their careers through its internationally-renowned artist residency, exhibitions, and community engagement programs.
Zine makers and enthusiasts are invited to join us in the Writers House garden for our annual Zine Fest, co-organized by students in Kayla Romberger’s Pixel to Print course. There will betable space available for anyone who wants to bring their zines for sale or trade and there will be food!
Barnes West’s Everyday Places Artists Partnerships returns for a third year
Deadline May 5, 2023
This four-month West Philadelphia artist-in-community program is seeking four social impact artists for the 2023 cohort.
The partnership is a collaboration that connects everyday places like restaurants, parks, and service organizations with artists of all disciplines to create a participatory art experience in West Philadelphia neighborhoods.
There are three in-person and one virtual opportunity that include a stipend, supplies, and a partnership with a neighborhood location to create community-facing art/art experiences.
