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As the first of the March, 2018, Noreasters hit Philadelphia, Roberta and another hundred or more souls crammed the PAFA auditorium to hear artist Amy Sherald talk about her life, her art and, of course, painting the portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama, which debuted at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington earlier in the year.
Read MoreYou’ve probably seen Kelli Morgan around town, presenting her research, working with students, moderating conversations with artists, and generally staying busy as PAFA’s first Winston & Carolyn Lowe Curatorial Fellow for Diversity in the Fine Arts. Now she’s heading off on a new adventure as Associate Curator of American Art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. Artblog’s Imani Roach spoke with the Detroit native on the eve of her departure about her unconventional path to museum work and her fresh vision for curating the American canon. Listen to hear her advice for aspiring young curators and much more. Imani interviewed Kelli at Moore College of Art and Design’s TGMR radio station on January 3rd, 2018; the podcast is 39 minutes long.
Read MoreElizabeth Osborne has been a major presence in the Philadelphia art scene since the 1960s, when she began teaching at PAFA. She’s been showing her work at Locks Gallery since the 1970s, and A.M. Weaver says the latest show of her paintings there shows the artist at her best.
Read MoreRoberta chats with Paul Chan about his installation, “Pillowsophia,” at PAFA’s Morris Gallery. The haunting piece is a hollow hooded figure made of black nylon placed high against a wall. In continuous motion from wind blown into its cavity by a powerful and noisy industrial fan, the piece is engineered and stitched in such a way that it dances what seems like an ecstatic death dance. A response to the times, which are filled with violence against black men, the piece is powerful and emotionally moving.
Read MoreLots of happenings for you today in the news post, including a major event at PAFA from the Philadelphia arts and culture community. April is National Poetry Month, so celebrate with Yolanda Wisher at the Outbound Poetry Festival and the Sanctuary Poetry series at the Asian Arts Initiative. Also, performances by Wilmer Wilson IV, a talk by Artblog favorite Willie Cole, a new documentary about the seminal 1972 DNC, and RIP Pop art pioneer James Rosenquist.
Read MoreI lost track of time as Cassils (who prefers the pronoun “they”) attacked the clay in a frenzy of finely choreographed violence. A single photographer circled the performer, the brilliant strobe lights of camera flashes sporadically illuminating Cassils, a small but impressively muscular figure.
Read MoreBefore arriving at PAFA, Jodi Throckmorton was Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Wichita State University. Prior to that, she lived in the new media mecca of Silicon Valley, where she was Associate Curator at the San Jose Museum of Art for eight years. Now at PAFA, Throckmorton is bringing her considerable energy and wide-ranging interest in contemporary art to integrating edgy contemporary art with PAFA’s traditional strong suits of figuration and realism.
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