More at: www.danwitz.com
A glimpse into the Art and Designs of Sean Martorana that have been applied to his fashion and apparel line.
Only a select 100+ tshirts were chosen for this film and is here to be viewed in 39 seconds.
Available designs here: STUDiO_Apparel
“I am always inspired between the collaboration between the artist and the viewer. The interaction between fashion and the person wearing it is an amazing thing to me. That’s why I dabble in jewelry and apparel. I enjoy the look of a hand drawn design especially when it’s teamed up with apparel. Most of my designs in my STUDiO_Apparel store are hand drawn elements from sketchbooks & paintings. I do also include a variety of digitally produced designs as well. This is a “look book” video I produced just to show a small portion of a larger t-shirt portfolio that I have created.” – Sean Martorana
Purchase available shirts here: STUDiO_Apparel
In preparation for their installation at the 2011 Philly Fringe Festival in September, printmaker and mixed media artist Linda Dubin Garfield and photographer writer Susan DiPronio are conducting workshops with residents at Project HOME and Covenant House as well as teens from Endow-A-Home who are making mixed media portraits of what home means to them which will be part of the Interactive Mixed Media Memoir Exhibit entitled A Place to Be at The Book Trader, 7 N. 2nd Street in Old City Philadelphia from September 2 to 17, as part of the Fringe Festival. Pre- Fringe workshops are scheduled for June, July and August at the three non-profit homeless organizations.
A Place to Be consists of portraits examining what home means made by Garfield and DiPronio which are for sale as well as those of participants from pre-Fringe workshops at Covenant House, Project HOME and Endow-A-Home as well as a pre-Fringe birthday party for Garfield which raised money for the non-profits for the homeless. Artwork from participants from the Fringe Festival who chose to leave their portraits will be added to this ever-growing installation.
The Book Trader is open everyday from 10 AM to 10 PM. Interactive mixed media workshops will be held September 7, 11 and 14 from 2 to 4 PM. People are invited to come make their own portrait of what they think of as home and to write and tell their own story of home. All art supplies are provided at no cost.
Garfield and DiPronio have collaborated before when they worked together on a project after the 2006 Fringe Festival. Their individual projects, in different media, were of similar themes, so they joined together and created a stronger production. They were awarded a Leeway Grant for Social Change in 2007 for Invisible/Invincible Women which was presented at First Friday Main Line May 2007 in Ardmore, PA as well as at the Wooden Shoe in Philadelphia, PA in Fall 2008.
For more information, visit www.lindadubingarfield.com
Proceeds benefit Covenant House, Endow-A-Home and Project HOME.
Lewis Colburn @ CONSTRUCT, Icebox Gallery, Crane Arts Center
Amie Potsic believes that you don’t have to be an artist, if you don’t want. “Be an accountant, just be good at what you do.” But, if you want to be curated into a fabulous art show like CONSTRUCT at the Icebox Gallery in the Crane Arts Center, receive publicity and media attention, meet collectors and gallery owners, then you better be really, really good at what you do. As the Director of Career Development at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists, she creates the opportunity for the Fellows, a group of artists not represented by galleries, to exhibit their work in museum quality art shows like the current exhibition, CONSTRUCT, a critically acclaimed installation that exceeds expectations, a quality Amie Potsic looks for in artists.
Since the Icebox Gallery offers virtually unlimited opportunity to create site-specific work with it’s high walls, part of Amie Potic’s job is to secure the venue, working with the directors and financial team to make something special happen that individual artists could not make happen on their own. Without a set esthetic, she challenged the artists to create new work, site specific installations or show existing work in the gallery; Arden Bendler Browning’s large paintings just barely fit in the gallery at Moore College Art and Design, but in the Icebox her paintings have room to breathe, the viewer can step back and take it all in at once, really see where’s she’s going. For Potsic the challenge is not just putting on a great, cohesive presentation, but creating a conversation with the artwork.
Even after all the planning, mock-ups and editing, Amie discovers connections between individual pieces, such as the dialog between Lewis Colburn’s installation, Doorway and Seat, and the adjacent painting by Daniel Kornrumpf depicting people standing in line, that develops into a narrative expressed throughout the expansive exhibition. Potsic said when she saw them together, after all the challenges and fun putting together the show, for her it was one of those perfect moments when things come together. As a curator, Amie Potsic’s goal is to create perfect moments on a consistent basis.
For Potsic, craft is key. Bohyon Yoon’s elaborate multi-faceted sculpture was delivered in it’s own hand-made crates, Lewis Coburn’s 14’tower, he typed out Tolstoy’s War and Peace perched on top, is impeccably created out of lowly 2 x 4’s, Alison Stigora’s breathtaking sculpture, Whirlwind, shows the pure intention and hand of the artist. Even if the art is made with simple materials, Amie calls them lo-fi, as long as it is taken seriously and purposeful, if it insists on itself, is clean and beautiful creating a tension dealing with issues and ideas, then it is elevated to another level. When curating a space, Amie wants to get it just right, “Work it out, until it sings.”
The beauty of the CFEVA Fellowship is opportunities for emerging artists to show in superior galleries, corporate offices, public spaces and individualized settings. Amie Potsic says the art scene has changed, there are not as many of the archetypal galleries where an artist is promoted with openings and dinners with collectors. “There is kind of a glass ceiling in the art world.” Now, what is expected is that artists go beyond, “Lot’s of people think the work just has to be good. It has to be fantastic.” Artists that are dependable, easy going, responsive to calls and e-mails and can express themselves about their own work coherently is the new normal. Self-promotion is important but Potsic believes in doing what you do best. If you need graphic design work done, find a designer that will work with you even if you have to trade. So that when the opportunity arises you will be confident your sales materials like cards and artist books appear professional. In Amie’s experience, there’s nothing worse than an artist apologizing or explaining what they meant to do.
Amie Potsic feels a strong responsibility to say all the things about an artist that they won’t say for themselves, introduce them to people, help them develop portfolios and RFPs and gain confidence. CONSTRUCT is the culmination of Amie’s fine editorial eye, she’s a great photographer in her own right, hard work and the compelling content of the art she has chosen for the show. But the current group of CFEVA Fellowship artists exceeded her expectations, too, allowing Amie Potsic to curate a warehouse-sized gallery with many, many special moments.
So, if you don’t want to be an artist? Then, don’t. Do whatever you want. But, if you want to be a professional artist, talk to Amie Potsic, she has good advice. “If you believe in yourself and your product, then sales is easy.”
Artists exhibiting in CONSTRUCT are: Noah Addis, Arden Bendler Browning, Lewis Colburn, Don Edler, Laureen Griffin, Jordan Griska, Ana B. Hernandez, Mami Kato, Allison Kaufman, Daniel Kornrumpf, Maggie Mills, Tim Portlock, Alison Stigora, Jennifer Williams, Kimberly Witham, and Bohyun Yoon.
DoN Brewer, SideArts Contributing Writer
Photo by DoN Brewer.
Calling all artists….Bring your best to Race St Pier First Friday August 5th 2011!
More at: www.mars-1.com
More at: www.mars-1.com
More at: www.mars-1.com
FLUXspace Museum of Contemporary Culture @ Dept. of Alt. Affairs, Philadelphia City Hall Art Gallery
The Department of Alternative Affairs @ Philadelphia City Hall Art Gallery is open for business; three artist collectives from the Kensington arts district, FLUXspace, Little Berlin and extra extra, have set up office in the Philadelphia City Hall Art Gallery, collectively promoting their individual art spaces with their own agendas, installations and goals. Like a Dadaist trade show, each group has set up an installation in the spacious gallery: FLUXspace is showing the Microfilm Collection for the Museum of Contemporary Culture, Little Berlin has desks with computers, display racks and young ladies with name tags acting as sales reps and extra extra has an evolving performance piece that will change over time.
FLUXspace Museum of Contemporary Culture @ Philadelphia City Hall Art Gallery
FLUXspace Museum of Contemporary Culture - the Microfilm Collection
The Microfilm Collection from the Museum of Contemporary Culture @ FLUXspace looks like it has been sitting in the gallery forever, the cabinets full of information stored in a fragile medium, exquisitely crafted and preserved, yet without intervention, will end up on the trash heap of history. The lure of the digital age and the endless flow of information makes microfilm seem quaint and naive, the labels are typed on card stock probably by a young woman in a typing pool. You can pull a spool for a newspaper from 1922 or 1984, sit at the reader and glimpse back in time; Tu Huynh, Arts Administrator at City of Philadelphia commented on how the out of date technology reveals a loss of cultural values re-contextualizing new meanings into the concept of the microfilm reader and the history it represents.
FLUXspace, the Microfilm Collection @ Department of Alternative Affairs
The microfilm reader has it’s own sculptural presence in the gallery like a ready-made art object but with the special power of allowing a view back in time. FLUXspace 3000 N. Hope St. | Philadelphia, PA 19133, obtained the reader and collection of microfilm from a local college with newspapers from 1851 to 2008, now on view in the seat of regional power and government as an experience design.
The Department of Alternative Affairs @ Philadelphia City Hall Art Gallery
The business office staple, the dry wipe white board lays out the business plan for the groups and their over-arching strategy to establish their territory, the Kensington arts district, as a viable arts destination with unusual and affordable spaces for artists to work, make and share, representing how important work ethic and business practices are in making things happen. The neighborhood has several art galleries but the collectivist nature of the art groups in The Department of Alternative Affairs represents a shift towards establishing a secure future for themselves and the community they serve. Outreach and social networking is essential, the collaboration between the Art in City Hall Exhibition Committee and the diverse arts groups signals a challenging interchange of art, commerce, government and community. Little Berlin‘s Masha Badinter explained how the gallery has evolved from one of the first art galleries in Kensington, first at Front and Montgomery Streets under the El train, to their current space at Viking Mill (Boston St. at Coral St.) 2430 Coral St. Philadelphia, PA 19125 and has developed into a true community of member artists, each offered the opportunity to curate shows and events such as their upcoming “Materialism of Encounter” exhibit for July. Kristen Nevel-Taylor is working with the owners of the Viking Mill to develop the abandoned acre of land adjacent to the building into a garden managed by Emerald Street Urban Farm, an outdoor event space for movie nights or performance as well as site specific art installations.
extra extra @ The Department of Alternative Affairs, Philadelphia City Hall Art Gallery
extra extra at 1524 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125, is an artist-run space dedicated to the exposure of artists challenging the limits of the visual and performing arts. Derek Frech, co-curator explained how the Kensington district offers them the ability to bring artists from other regions to Philadelphia with their multi-use space; Zachary Davis from Portland, Oregon is showing “LOWBEAMS” in July.
The diverse ideas and the unique collaboration between the Kensington arts groups and the Philadelphia Art in City Hall exhibition committee for The Department of Alternative Affairs is emblematic of the intrinsic value of artists and the contribution they make to the vitality and viability of communities like Kensington .
DoN Brewer, SideArts Contributing Writer
Photographs by DoN Brewer
Yes, we have free stickers (3.5×3.5), buttons (1″), and clings (3×5)! You can have some, too. Email your name, address, and what you would like to philly@sidearts.com and we will send some to you.
