Episode 279 – Roberta and Ryan discuss Holland Cotter, this year’s winner of the Rabkin Prize for Art Criticism, Rob Blackson leaving Philadelphia to head the Kohl Gallery at Washington College, Commonweal opening, La Egoista showing on Broad St, Tarot at Morris Arboretum, Gravers Lane Gallery opening and a whole lot more. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy!
Links for the show
Art criticism: Rabkin Award, Holland Cotter donated funds to International Association of Art Critics (AICA-USA) & Forge Project
La Egoista @ Philadelphia Theater Company (PTC)
Click to expand the podcast transcript
Roberta: Hi everyone, it’s Roberta.
Ryan: And this is Ryan, and this is the Midweek News
Roberta: on Artblog radio. Okay, so in the news I have three things and then a fourth, Rob Blackson. In the continuation of the churn in the leadership of the arts community, Rob Blackson is now taking a job in Maryland, at Washington College. He’s not leaving yet, but he has assumed the position and he’ll be doing his work up here with the million projects he has going on.
And I guess a 5th thing, I was going to mention Commonweal Gallery’s grand re-opening Saturday, October 5th in its new space on Mascher Street.
Here is a really wonderful story. Holland Cotter, longtime art critic for the New York Times, who is now the chief art critic since Roberta Smith stepped back just received the Rabkin Prize this year, a $50,000 prize, and he gave it away. He gave it to two organizations that foster art writing. One is called the Forge and the other is called AICA. (International Association of Art Critics and the Forge Project. Unbelievable generosity. Hats off to Holland Cotter.
Finally, there’s the sad loss of Dikembe Mutombo, former Philadelphia 76er. We all loved him in our household. We just totally loved Dikembe Mutombo. And he was only there for one season, I believe, and then the 76ers traded him. So he made a huge impact in a very short amount of time, and he was only 58 years old and died of brain cancer. Wow. So sad.
Ryan: That’s tough.
Roberta: Yeah, very tough. Let’s go back to Holland Cotter. He is a writer for the New York Times, has been there for a while, has a Pulitzer Prize for his criticism. So he’s no slouch when it comes to being an art critic, and he is very worthy of this Rabkin Prize. The Rabkin Foundation is an organization out of Maine that supports and awards residencies for arts writers. And this is also unusual. I don’t know that there’s any other foundation per se, that is devoted to art criticism, art writing, and fostering it.
And Rabkin, they do very generous work. Every year they give small grants to a writer or writers around the country. But Holland Cotter has a history, if you’ve read him over the years of being very attuned to minority arts, those that have been overlooked by the main art world for such a long time. He’s been their champion. And really a good eye, wonderful writing. So it’s a great thing that he did and there should be others that follow in his footsteps.
Rob Blackson, I should say, is working on a project that I am involved in, called 100 People Listening. Which I think I told you about a long time ago, it’s in its fourth year now.
We meet with a partner that we’re paired up with sort of through some algorithm that they came up with to pair people that were interested in participating in a 10 year long project that involved a connection to one other person for one hour one day of the year. Then after that one hour meeting, it’s up to you to go forward with the connection however you want.
So I thought it was a great sounding idea for a project, and quirky. And they gave us journals. Beautiful blank book journals we’re supposed to journal like crazy every year. And at the end, the journals will all be entered into the Philadelphia free library collection. That’s one of Rob Blackson’ initiatives, which I think is quirky as all get out, which is a sort of hallmark of his curating and organizing, and really good and community-based and humanistic at its core. Another one that he did that I really loved was the Symphony for a Broken Orchestra.
Do you know that one, Ryan? It’s when he was the curator or director of Temple Contemporary. And he saw that the Philadelphia School District had literally, I think thousands of broken musical instruments. And he took it under his purview to do something about it. And so he got all these instruments, gathered them from all the schools. They were, you know, lying around in closets and in really bad shape – trumpets with their valves off and all kinds of things that were wrong with the string instruments. He connected them with people including school children who would be involved in this project.
So what’s the symphony he commissioned? David, I am blanking on the name now. I didn’t do my due diligence. Yes, thank you, Ryan, David Lang, the man who co-founded Bang On A Can, which is a musical project out of New York City. He commissioned David Lang to write a symphony for these broken instruments, and so they all came together.
They practiced once or twice, and the music was written and they worked from the sheet music and this thing took place. The orchestra had a gathering once or twice only, at the Armory on 23rd Street, if you’ve ever been to that. It’s an old military assembly hall and big acoustics, like a church, huge space.
And they played this music and it was astounding. I got to hear it. It was squeaky and squawky. But it all came together. It crescendoed and de-crescendoed and had impact. It was quirky community. rehabilitative and just very humanist. I loved that project. I could go on and on about Rob and his projects.
He’s a really good hearted person. Maybe that’s enough. But no, let me tell you about Funeral for a Home. Do you know about that one?
Ryan: No.
Roberta: It was in Mantua, and he worked with the Dalala brothers. There was a house that was going to be demolished and it was going to displace people in a community where there had already been a lot of demolition and displacement. And instead of just letting this demolition go forward, they held a gathering. On the day that the earth movers and the backhoes were going to come in and actually demolish the house, and there was poetry and there was food and beverages and singing, and they had like a funeral for this building that once was a home.
Again, it came and went very quickly. It was very quirky. It was over, it was spectacular when it happened. The singing, the coming together of people, the feeling for community, and then it’s gone and it’s, you know, in the ether there somewhere, but it was a very memorable project when it happened. So yeah, good projects. And right now he’s working with the city for the Healing Verse project that’s taking place in Germantown. I’m sure you’ve heard about this. Through Creative Philadelphia, they got a big Bloomberg grant, a million dollar grant, and are working with Trapeta Mayson, the former Poet Laureate of Philadelphia. And Yolanda Wisher, they’re having sessions — poetry writing and poetry speaking and all kinds of things. I don’t know if they’re going to start up the poetry hotline. There used to be a healing verse hotline that you could dial in and listen to a poem a day kind of thing, which I thought was pretty inspirational.
Those are some interesting projects that we’re going to miss his energy as he goes down to Maryland. He’ll bring all kinds of good energy with him to that new job. He’ll be a curator, director of the Kohl Gallery at Washington College. So congratulations, Rob Blackson. We’ve loved having you here, and we wish you God’s speed and all kinds of blessings on you and your family in the future down there and don’t fail to come back. Come back all the time. All right, so that was enough gushing for a minute.
Ryan: Yeah, that’s quite a switch of gears. Where is the gallery? The Kohl Gallery?
Roberta: Oh, it’s at Washington College in Maryland. I had not heard of this college, but it says on its website that it was started at the time of George Washington and he gave them permission to use his name. It’s a small liberal arts college, I believe. Okay. And you know where it is? You have to go down I 95 and all the way around Baltimore and to the other side of the Chesapeake Bay, and it’s over there. It is opposite Baltimore, but I don’t think there’s a bridge that crosses over between Baltimore and where the college is, so you circle all the way around Baltimore and then go up. I can’t remember the name of the town it’s in.
Ryan: (looking at a map) Yeah, it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere.
Roberta: That’s a big change from a big city.
Ryan: So might be nice to just switch gears a little bit.
Roberta: Yeah, for sure.
Roberta: So Ryan, are you ready? Do you have your list for today.
Ryan: So my three things are Gravers Lane has a Seriously Fun Juried Group Jewelry Show exhibit. It is their second reception. It’s October 4th. That’s Gravers Lane up in Chestnut Hill.
Another one that I thought was really interesting is Morris Arboretum, again, northwest as well. I guess I’m kind of aiming northwest. My third one won’t be, but my second one is Morris Arboretum. It’s a lovely space, lots of colors changing right now, so it’s a great time to be up there. And they are doing a botanical tarot card workshop, which sounded really fun. So that’s October 6th from 2-4pm at Morris Arboretum. That’s a beautiful place and hopefully the trains are running. That’s a lot of fun for the kids.
Roberta: The little miniature trains.
Ryan: They have a little train. They have a lot of interconnected tracks that run in an outdoor space that they run regularly and they change seasonally as well — Halloween and other ones as they come through.
And then my theater picks. One show that’s been popping up a lot is La Egoista. That’s a very popular show. And one night I wanted to point out was October 18th is the Black Theater Night, My Voice, My Art, My Money. There are discounted tickets for that. And then there’s talk back and a comedy event after the show as well. And the tickets are just $15 with their code, BTNPTC. So that’s the Black Theater Night, Philadelphia Theater Company. BTNPTC for those tickets. And this show is an age 15+ plus show they recommend. So keep that in mind if you’re interested in that.
Those are my three picks. The Serious Fun Jewelry Show at Gravers Lane, the Botanical Tarot card workshop at Morris Arboretum and the Black Theater Night for La Egoista at Philadelphia Theater Company. Plus obviously Artblog has our opening this Friday, so come out and see us at Moore College.
Roberta: Woo-hoo. Yes. The Art Market! Works by 22 artists plus tabling by Partners and Son and Ulises. Boxes of amazing books and posters. And there’s a Charles Burns poster you’re going to want. If you don’t know Charles Burns, run over to Partners and Sons right now because they have lots of his books.
He just launched a new book, I forget the name of it. (“Final Cut.“) And so he’s a very respected, well-known comic artist. And Ulises is also a bookstore that’s tabling. They have lots of merch. Also, they have a book, they have totes, the ever popular black tote from Ulysses. A beautiful thing. T-shirts also.
And Artblog will have some merch. We have a nice topical T-shirt that says “Vote. Do it Mortals.” It’s the Grim Reaper telling you to vote, with all kinds of cute kitty cats all up and down his robe. It’s a very, very delightful poster image and went really well on a white T-shirt, and the image is by Chris Hammes.
So we’ll have T-shirts. We’ll also have totes. Some blank books that have a Beth Heinly image cover on them. Also very attractive and we hope you’ll come. The opening is going to be a lot of fun. 5-7pm. There’ll be beverages and snacks and lots of artists to talk about and talk with. This is a sale, so everything is on sale.
We hope you’ll bring that thought along with you, that the art could be yours, it could hang on your walls or be on a shelf in your house. There are a couple of really cute little assemblages that would look beautiful on a shelf in anybody’s house, and they’re quite affordable. So the holidays are coming up.
You may have people you want to think about and shop art for. It’s not a bad thing. Or books? Lots and lots of books. And we’ll have some programming coming up with that. In conjunction with the market, the market is going to stay open until December 7th, and it’s open six days a week from 11 in the morning until 5 at night.
That includes Saturdays. So Monday through Saturday and on October 26th Beth Heinly and Oli Knowles are going to have a program where they’ll be showing slides about their comics and talking about them. If you’ve been following those comics on Artblog, this will be a real eye-opener.
It’ll be nice for you to meet the makers, hear them talk about their stuff, and maybe buy some of their comic books if they bring them along. I hope they do. On November 2nd, we’re going to have a zine workshop by Michelle Harris. Bring your own personal items that you would want to key off of in a zine that you will make, and Michelle will step you through the thinking process and the making process.
And that’ll be a lot of fun. All ages, and it’s free. All these programs are free, by the way. No charge. After the zine workshop on Nov. 2, stay around because it’ll be the Artblog’s 21st birthday party from 4pm – 6pm. There will be cake and beverages and you know, we will be celebrating that Artblog has been here for 21 years, which is quite a feat.
Ryan: Yeah, we’re really looking forward to it. It should be a great show. Lots of, lots of wonderful art. I think it’ll be really a great show.
Roberta: Yes, it will be. And, shout out to all those 22 artists. We are very, very proud to have you in our market. Thank you so much for participating. In most cases, the artists put in — we allowed them to put in five pieces. Some did, some put in fewer than that, but there’s a lot to choose from. There’s, I don’t know, there must be a hundred pieces of art in the show, something like that.
Ryan: We’re really looking forward to it. I think this’ll be a great show. We hope to see you out there as well.
Roberta: Right. Oh, we should also shout out the curators. The MKT has been organized by Artblog, so we did some curating, but we also invited Tim McFarlane, Terri Saulin and Jacob (Chris) Hammes to co-curate with us. So thank you guys. You did a great job!
So here we are. Not a whole lot else to talk about Ryan, but I do want to say the other night I went to get a bottle of wine. Because we had somebody over for dinner. The bottle came in this brown paper bag that says “Register to vote.” With a QR code in the middle that says “vote pa.gov. Request a mail ballot.”
Ryan: Right.
Roberta: So you know, go PA Wine and liquors for promoting voting! I’ve never seen that before. I think it’s a limited edition, so I may save it.
Ryan: Frame it. Have someone sign up for you?
Roberta: Haha, Yes.
Recapping, I do my “100 people listening” hour on Saturday. I meet with an hour with my listening partner. He’s in West Philadelphia. We meet on his porch. He’s got a great porch, like a great West Philly rowhouse porch. If you’ve ever been to West Philly and seen those porches, you know how great they are.
We sit on the porch and talk for an hour and catch up. He’s a biologist and was a tenure track professor at Cabrini University, and lo and behold, he was supposed to come up for tenure. He got his tenure package all together. He had his committee together and Cabrini’s undercut the whole thing by closing. They announced they were closing in a year, so that left him without a job not knowing if he could get another job. You know, academic jobs are few and far between. He loves teaching. He landed on his feet at the University of Delaware and I want to hear more about that because it all happened within the last year. He was really sweating out the tenure year stuff at Cabrini. We talk about his growing up in India. We talk about my growing up in Wisconsin. He’s been to Madison one time. And he flew in and he said, “I flew over the isthmus!” Madison is an isthmus. There are three lakes or rivers or whatever that come together, and then there’s this little bit of land in between, and then it sprawls outside of that. Of course. He was so excited to fly over the isthmus. But it’s lovely to have a connection with someone. I have a picture of him. Part of this project is that they took photos of each one of the people that are in the project and then exchange them. So he’s got my photo and I’ve got his photo and his photo sits next to the photo of my family and a drawing of my daughter and the piece of art my son did about Gritty. So I’ve got this little family landscape going over on my radiator cover. And he’s there.
Ryan: That’s very cool.
Roberta: Yeah, it is. I’m happy to be part of this project.
Ryan: Yeah, that sounds really great.
Roberta: Well, I think we covered a lot of ground, so I hope you will stay with us people as we ramble around through all these different particular topics. I’m just going to sign off and say it’s Roberta and we’ll see you next time. Thank you for listening,
Ryan: and this is Ryan, and this has been the Midweek News on Artblog Radio. Thanks for listening.
Roberta: Bye-Bye.
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