If you’re still kicking yourself for missing MR. SOUL! at the 2018 BlackStar Film Festival, then we’ve got some good news for you. This Friday, January 25th, our friends at Scribe Video Center are hosting a Producer’s Forum screening of this joyous documentary about the life and work of Ellis Haizlip, who was not only a pioneering television host and black arts advocate, but also Scribe’s very first board chair. Director (and Ellis’s niece) Melissa Haizlip will be on hand for the screening, which will be preceded by Turnin’ the Tables, a documentary short by local youth filmmaker, J’Lynn Matthews. In this August 19, 2018 “From the Vault” post Imani Roach interviews MR. SOUL! cinematographer Hans Charles about his contributions to the film and his approach to filming black subjects. Read on and we’ll see you at Scribe on the 25th!
Read MoreSamuel Brown, a musician and writer, interviews the squad leader of the West Powelton Steppers and Drummers, who tells him that the drum team kept him alive and out of jail when he was young, and now he’s paying it forward, helping kids today focus on performing music and precision steps, rather than hanging on street corners and getting into trouble. Drum squads are a big part of Philadelphia’s recent history and culture, and Antoine Mapp tells you why they matter.
Read MoreSydney Cox gets a visit from one of her favorite up-and-coming fiber artists, Ariel Posh. Here they discuss the recent Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) grad’s “thread paintings” and the age old question of craft’s relationship to gender. Read on and see below for recent examples of Posh’s intricate and often irreverent works. P.S. we’d like to say there’s something amazing in the Baltimore water. Celebrated artist and “MacArthur genius” awardee, Joyce Scott, whose work uses craft techniques (weaving, beading) to discuss serious representation of women and people of color, is a MICA graduate!
Read MoreTo break bread with someone is to forge an intimate bond. Here Logan Cryer interviews local artist and 2018 Leeway grantee, Shreshth Khilani about their participatory performance “Immigrant Kitchen,” which runs through Monday, December 3rd. Part dinner, part coming-out party, this project uses Hindu mythology and South Asian foods to create communion around tradition while opening up the possibility of change. See below for ticket details!
Read MoreFor over a decade, Massachusetts-based artist, Gina Siepel has been using woodworking and other craft techniques to grapple with the myth of self-reliance and its relationship to both gender and nationalism. Here Levi Bentley speaks with Siepel about “Self-Made,” her current installation of objects, video and documents at Vox Populi, and pens a thoughtful response to the exhibition’s central themes. We can’t recommend this show enough, so read on and catch it before it closes on December 16, 2018.
Read MoreEvery day, Artblog celebrates the DIY spirit of Philadelphia’s independently run art galleries and collectives. Today we’re excited to share an interview about that same spirit in our city’s poetry scene. Contributor Levi Bentley interviews fellow poet and local curator of the reading series, “Frank O’Hara’s Last Lover,” Jason Mitchell. This near-monthly reading series, named for the celebrated mid-century New York poet and art critic, who died in a tragic accident at age 40 in 1966, is all about bringing poets into direct contact and conversation with each-other. Read on, poetry lovers, artists and art lovers! P.S. We believe that poetry and art are siblings. They use different tools, but they both speak in metaphors and create “safe” spaces to explore complex and often controversial life issues. We love them both.
Read MoreImani speaks with Philly-bred, Baltimore-based artist Rosa Leff about her chosen medium of cut paper and her affinity for the urban landscape.
Read MoreMatt Kalasky speaks with artist Jerry Kaba about his Arts Wrestling Federation Urban League (AWFUL Wrestling). What started as a joke between friends has become a genuine cultural phenomenon, taking Philadelphia’s DIY arts scene by nostalgic storm.
Read MoreImani speaks with emerging artist, curator and poet Malachi Lily about shape-shifting, leadership and making space for nuanced representations of blackness.
Read MoreNew Artblog Contributor Sarah Kim chats with ubiquitous performance and mixed media artist Katie Rauth about her current Leeway-supported project on radical fat politics. Settle in for a great conversation about humor, visibility and the subversive potential of material excess!
Read MoreCan bodies in motion help us to understand grief and loss? Local choreographer and 2012 PEW recipient, Meg Foley thinks so. Here new Artblog contributor Levi Bentley speaks with Foley about her upcoming Fringe performance, the undergird — an ensemble piece for four dancers which builds upon the research of her previous solo work, Action is Primary. Get into it!
Read MoreCongratulations to The Common Room on their one-year anniversary! Don’t know about them? Janyce Glasper is here to fill you in on this Fishtown gallery and workshop space that features work by women and non-binary artists. Read on for a sampling of what’s on view and be sure to stop by the store next time you’re in the neighborhood!
Read MoreFounded in 2017, YallaPunk is an intersectional, trans-affirming performance festival and conference which celebrates the creative achievements of Middle Eastern and North African people in Philly and beyond. Here Imani Roach chats with YallaPunk’s founder, DJ and journalist Rana Fayez, about what to expect from this year’s festival (August 31 – September 2).
Read MoreImani visits the Blackstar film festival to see “Mr. Soul!,” a new documentary about late-1960s television broadcaster, Ellis Haizlip and his pioneering Black arts variety show Soul!. Here she speaks with the film’s cinematographer Hans Charles about his approach to documentary filmmaking and his new role as a producer.
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