Today’s news is filled with local interest: Artist Mikel Elam was asked to reimagine the Liberty Bell and what it symbolizes. He fashioned a sculptural mask called “A muzzle to silence you,” from materials that suggest the history of enslaved Africans.
Read MoreThis opportunity-filled short list that we curated for you buoys us. When the temperature drops and daylight hours are few, these opportunities point forward with generosity and light.
Read MoreFour Philadelphia artists appear in a new book ‘We Are the Story: A Visual Response to Racism’ by Carolyn L. Mazloomi. The book documents the 100 quilts included in group and solo exhibitions curated by the author, currently on view in Minneapolis, MN.
Read MoreIn this 25 minute conversation, Roberta speaks with Keyonna Butler, Costume Designer and Founder of Black Hippie Art, an organization designed to amplify, connect, and create opportunities for BIPOC artists.
Read MoreReviewing some recent Zoom talks, several of them excellent, Morgan and Roberta also comment on the new David Wojnarowicz documentary film and the podcast story of a food critic who loses her sense of smell!
Read MoreArtblog solicited testimonials about the proposed cuts to the city budget that would axe the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE) and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF).
Read MoreDear Readers, after a hiatus of four months and with some needed feedback, we are reviving the News Post, revised here to quickly telescope a curated group of announcements, stories, newsy news and photos to you.
Read MoreMichael is moved by the exhibit of works at the AAMP. The works touch on social injustice issues — the aftermath of slavery, police shootings of Black victims, Afro-Futurist utopias created to escape and take revenge. The imagery is stirring if also grisly in some cases, he says.
Read MoreArtblog was at the opening of Philadelphia Assembled at the Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art last weekend. We talked with lead artist Jeanne Van Heeswijk about her vast 4-year project brewing in the community and now assembled in the Perelman Building, with art, conversations, programs and workshops. Jeanne told us she will be in attendance each day the show is open (to Dec. 10) to greet people, talk with them and serve coffee. Go, and be sure to talk with this amazing artist and her collaborators. The show encapsulates conversations — including uncomfortable conversations — that have taken place so far. They are now looking for you to come in and talk. Thanks to Artblog’s new Community Intern, Carly Bellini, for this great 3-minute video overview. We hope you enjoy.
Read MoreBetty Leacraft has been making art with fibers since she was young and learned how to sew from her maternal grandmother. Respectful of those early teachings and thirsty for learning about her ancestors, Betty has studied the fibers practices of her African ancestors and traveled to Ghana. She and her work have traveled to South Africa, as part of the Women of Color Quilters Network, to participate in an international exhibition there. Outside of the art school traditions and acting as what she calls a “cultural custodian,” the artist teaches workshops in fiber art in her West Philadelphia neighborhood and many other places in Philadelphia and has been recognized five times by the Leeway Foundation. Betty participated in the Mural Arts Program’s 2015 Neighborhood Time Exchange program and is part of the PMA’s Philadelphia Assembled project that will debut this Spring.
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Support for Artblog has been provided by The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.