Twenty-one years of Artblog
By Libby and Roberta
1992-2002
Before Artblog, we were artists, making and showing our works in the Philadelphia art community for fifteen years. We were and are collaborative, we love to work with others. The community – indeed the city – felt like a small town back then. You knew people who knew people, and then you knew those people too. We were founding members of Philadelphia Sculptors and eagerly joined in the 1992 exhibit Art in the Armory, an artist-run, artist-organized non-juried show and celebration that took place at the Armory on the Drexel campus. For all our success, we experienced the let down, show after show, when we didn’t transform into international superstar artists. The high moments happened and then disappeared into the hungry maw of time.
2002
Ten years passed and in 2002, the city still felt like a small town and yet the community was changing – with an influx of young artists moving here for the cheap rents, and drawn in by the community vibe that encouraged working together. Artists were graduating from the local art colleges – and choosing to stay here. Networks of artists arose from friends and friends of friends who knew each other, and suddenly artists were collectivizing, creating galleries in raw spaces, sharing costs, and putting on shows as commercial galleries dwindled. Artists cobbled together freelance jobs to live. Artists bought each other’s works. They traded, they supported each other. It wasn’t Woodstock but there was generosity afoot and a can-do spirit.
We knew the importance of art writing to bolster a community, and we saw that the media was not covering this scrappy new scene, a scene that deserved historical preservation–in writing. We came up with a solution – Artblog, an art review publication for the community, encompassing the galleries and museums but primarily focused on the underground happenings, the pop ups, the collectives — that would come to include Space 1026, Little Berlin, Fjord, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Marginal Utility, Practice, Vox Populi and others.
It was exciting. These artist-run collectives were paying rent voluntarily to show art, not necessarily their own art, but art they believed in. They were curating without “credentials.” They were fearless. It was about having a conversation, having a collaboration, being together. There was a togetherness and a feeling of pride in what you were doing, and what your friends and colleagues were doing.
Artblog covered the scene. We too were a small collective. We saw our mission as reviewing shows, interviewing artists, doing gallery visits and generally creating dialog about–and an audience for–what was going on in Philadelphia. Because we were online, we immediately had a global audience. We were exporting Philadelphia to the world, and bringing some of that world back to Philadelphia.
Artblog continued to cover art and artists even through the Covid pandemic. We were fearless and dogged in our determination to do the most excellent job we could. Many writers joined us through the years and we are indebted to them all for helping us raise the bar and create dialog about art and culture in our city. After 21+ years, we are saying good-bye. Artblog has touched many, and we hope you were one. Our archive will remain online for you to enjoy and use to research the rich landscape of art and artists in Philadelphia.
The times are different now and our advice to you in 2025: Don’t wait for the city. Don’t wait for the government. Don’t wait for anything. Got an idea? Get a little seed money together, have a budget, put it in writing, assign jobs, and do it. Make change, make growth happen. Involve young people. They are the future.
Make Art, Stay Positive and Stay Connected!
– Libby and Roberta, co-founders of Artblog
P.S. Save the date – Come to Artblog’s Closing Celebration, Oct. 23, 2025, 6-9pm, Moore College of Art and Design. See you there!
