Earlier this year, Karen Chernick wrote about the missing Royal Theater mural, a history mural on South Street commemorating the legacy of the Royal Theater, a once-thriving black theater where Billie Holiday, among many others, gave concerts. The mural, painted by Eric Okdeh depicted jazz greats who played at the Royal, and neighborhood greats, like Ron Washington, of Ron’s Ribs, a restaurant landmark at 1627 South St., across from the theater. In this podcast, Roberta and Imani Roach (Artblog Managing Editor) speak with Brandon Washington, son of Ron. Brandon talks about the neighborhood, his father’s important role as a community leader and of his own and his brother’s hope to revive Ron’s Ribs in the future in a Ron’s Ribs food truck.
Read MoreIn this podcast interview, Matt Kalasky talks with Amanda Buck and Alexa Smith, two of the editors of Apiary Magazine, a beautiful Philadelphia literary publication in print and online, started in 2009 and publishing a wide variety of community voices, in a variety of genres including poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Apiary also includes visual art.
Read MoreTake in two great shows with the good people of Artblog on Saturday, June 10 from 2–5 pm. Free and open to everyone!
Read MoreRon Klein is an artist, a sculptor who thinks big, travels the world to research and find materials, and whose works evoke the cosmos and thoughts about the place of humans in a bigger context. Ron’s got an installation at Abington Art Center now through June 23. Don’t miss it.
Read MorePeople got connected with art at our recent Look/Draw/Write workshops. We are very happy to share their responses written about the art of Michelle Angela Ortiz.
Read MoreArt & History, together at last, in this tour of the Callowhill neighborhood and its artist-run art spaces! Join us for an Art & History tour of the Callowhill Neighborhood with Hidden City’s Pete Woodall, this Friday, May 5, 2017, from 6:00–8:30pm.
Read MoreIn the gig economy many artists work multiple jobs. Grimaldi Baez works about seven, most of them in the community art realm, where he teaches and leads projects. For the Yabucoa, Puerto Rico-born, US-raised artist committed to idea of social justice, it makes for an exhausting but fulfilling life. Among other things in this wide-ranging interview, Grimaldi tell us how he relaxes.
Read MoreWorkshop participants shared their visions, memories, thoughts about Puerto Rico in poems written in response to Roxana Perez-Mendez’s complex and beautiful art. Perez-Mendez is Puerto Rican and her video installations at Taller Puertorriqueño embody the artist’s own fears and hopes for the island. The show closed March 25.
Read More
