PAA announces new fall exhibition!

State of the Union: Contemporary Craft in Dialogue

September 17th, 2009 to January 3rd, 2010

Throughout the first and second floor galleries the Philadelphia Art Alliance (PAA) will present the group exhibition State of the Union: Contemporary Craft in Dialogue. Featuring the work of 12 artists in variety of media, the exhibit was organized by Melissa Caldwell, Director of Exhibitions at the PAA. An opening reception will be held on September 17 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

About the Exhibition:
Within contemporary art, there has been a well-noted renewal of interest in process and materials in the current practices of artists, designers, and architects. Consequently scholars and professionals have begun to consider the definition of craft outside the tightly defined perimeters that have been determined by history to be an anti-theoretical process of crafting meticulous objects in a given medium. Given this conservative historical marginalization, craft has the potential of questioning the boundaries of its own conventions even more so than other fields in contemporary art.

Many artists working in craft-based media are those who challenge these historical standards, providing a self-reflexivity to their practice, and considering the term as an active subject to be questioned in innovative ways. Scholars have argued that the roots of this climate may be found in the 1970s when higher level art educators began to teach skills to their students from a wide range of materials and techniques. The results of this attitude are widely evident in the disappearance of medium specific crafts courses in higher educational institutions.

The goal of this exhibition will be to engage in this dialogue by providing alternative vantage points in which to consider the state of craft. State of the Union is not meant to be a comprehensive survey of each of what encompasses craft production today but a focus on the post-disciplinary practices being used by emerging artists who are interested in questioning the fundamental assumptions of its traditional perimeters.

Given the historically validated hierarchy between crafts and the fine arts that has been explored exhaustively by countless theorists, a new generation of artists within the craft discipline is using their work to consider ways in which craft can maintain its identity outside its relationship to the fine arts. Considered through the use of material and skill, self-reflexivity of the very position of craft and its reception by the viewer becomes the subject of the work itself. Some artists included in the exhibition explore craft processes and materials, borrowing from one or more techniques and media, thus questioning the traditional categories of craft as textiles, clay, glass, wood, and metal. Others reconsider the traditional function or use value of craft, referencing its history as an object to be used or worn thus subverting its original purposefulness. Yet others question its ties to the decorative and the roots of craft aesthetic in Western history.

Participating Artists:  Yo Fukui, Haley Renée Bates, Austin Heitzman, Adelaide Paul, Amy Beecher, Jeanne Quinn, Jen Blazina, Rachel Abrams, Jill K. Baker Gower, Richard Bloes, Julie York, Gord Peteran

More information on the Philadelphia Art Alliance and this exhibition can be found by going to our website:  www.philartalliance.org

Review of Odean Pope performance in Phila Inquirer!

Our good pal A.D. Amorosi was kind enough to write this sweet review piece on Friday night’s Sold Out Odean Pope/Sunny Murray performance in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer.  Click the link here to check it out or just read below:

Odean Pope at the Art Alliance

By A.D. Amorosi

For The Inquirer

Saxophone colossus Odean Pope is not aging gracefully

That’s a compliment.

The Philadelphia tenor axman, 70, is renowned for devout Coltrane-like muscularity and tonal sensitivity; versatility as a leader, whether it’s the nine reeds of his churchy Saxophone Choir or the cinematic funk of Catalyst; and potency in sessions with rhythmatists Max Roach and Art Blakey.

Pope showed during Friday’s Ars Nova Workshop show at the Philadelphia Art Alliance that he continues to breathe fire, improvising while holding dear each melody as if in a lover’s embrace.

Pope caressed every tuneful phrase, from the gentle arpeggio and subtone-blown warmth of his solo on the self-penned ballad “Tall Grass” to his hasty, tasty blips of Coltrane and Monk. He let each melodic phrase run away for a playful moment, entreating it with a deep skronk or a soft high squeak, before pulling each back for another warm kiss. Pope showed affection for Clifford Brown by emulating, then reinventing, the bop trumpeter’s complex riffs.

Half the credit for that passion and inventiveness went to Pope’s duet partner, Sunny Murray, 72. The free drummer and composer worked with giants (Albert Ayler, Don Cherry) and has turned percussion into a punctuation-heavy conversation rather than mere keeping time. Friday night was no different. But Murray, an engaging leader with albums under his name since 1965, didn’t just make weird rhythm or monologues out of odd propulsion, though he could be heard mumbling and chanting during Pope’s quietest subtone solos. Murray pursued a fascinating chatter with Pope, engaging the saxophonist in dialogue even when he seemed to be drumming to himself. Where Pope was cool and scholarly, Murray was a portrait of chance with cymbal rides loud, rim shots tap-dancey, and brush strokes splashy. At one point, Murray’s sticks on his snare’s skins sounded as if he were sanding silk.

Sauntering scattered moments like Murray’s “An Even Break (Never Give a Sucker)” turned into something like a free-jazz My Dinner With Andre, with its principles winding through existential dilemmas, random circumstance, and matters of the heart.

PEI Planning Grant Awarded to PAA!!

We are very pleased to announce our recent award of a planning grant through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative (PEI) for an upcoming exhibition involving the Miss Rockaway Armada (MRA).   Although this is only the first of many stages to bring this exhibition concept to life, we figured it best to let you all know about what we are up to.  Here is a description of the proposed exhibition:

“Let Me Tell You About The Dream I Had” by The Miss Rockaway Armada will present a newly commissioned installation throughout the galleries of the Philadelphia Art Alliance, along with musical and theatrical performances, and a mobile outdoor component for the exhibition. The indoor and outdoor elements will address the unique features of the historical building as a residence, as well as its relationship to Rittenhouse Square, and will explore the resurgence of interest in the handmade and the ways in which it expands current definitions of what is craft.

The Miss Rockaway Armada is a group of performers and artists from across the country, including members of other artist collectives such as the Toy Shop Collective, Visual Resistance, The Amateurs, The Floating Neutrinos, among many others. Formed in the summer months of 2006, the Armada converged in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to construct a flotilla of rafts that journeyed down the Mississippi River in 2006 and 2007. With the intent to create a new sustainable mode of travel as well as to present programs regarding arts and environmental issues, the project stopped in towns along the river to present musical performances and vaudeville variety-theater. The artists described the goal of this two-year project as “a live-by-example approach to creating change within American culture by soliciting dialogue around subversive and constructive ways of living.”

three musicians perform a vaudeville style show during the journey

Here is video of the floatilla:

“Let Me Tell You About the Dream I Had” will focus on three issues that appropriately meshes the mission of the PAA with the impetus behind the activities of the collective. First, the exhibition will be specific to Philadelphia and its history. Because the PAA is situated across from Rittenhouse Square, early discussions have considered investigating the rather adventurous and inventive personality of David Rittenhouse, the renowned 18th century astronomer, inventor, mathematician, surveyor, and scientific instrument craftsman. However, additional interests specific to the history of the City will also be taken into consideration. Second, the collective will consider the historical features of the PAA building as an aesthetic launching point for both the indoor and outdoor components of the exhibition, making the unique aspects of the building a focal point of the installation. Initial ideas for the outdoor component have included a bicycle-powered vaudeville theater that could travel and perform for other communities in Philadelphia. Third, the project by The Miss Rockaway Armada will be exemplary of the new grass-roots approach to craft that has re-surfaced within the last decade, which has deep roots within craft history. With a focus on community and political activism, this movement has ties to the earliest goals of the Arts and Crafts movement of the 19th century. William Morris hoped to create a brotherhood of designers and makers who would pursue the ideal of creating “utopian communities” by creating “art made by the people and for the people, a joy to the maker and the user.” This social reform aspect is the driving force behind such collectives as The Miss Rockaway Armada. Their goal through their projects is basic and calls for fundamental social change:

“We want to create: to invent a new sustainable way to travel, to demonstrate different ways of living and moving that are friendlier to the environment and to each other, to indulge in that essential urge to make something out nothing. We want to meet people: to learn from new folks along the way, to teach what we know, to share our art, our music and our performance, and to make new friends. Finally, for adventure: to reclaim and reinvent the old American urge to strike out and discover the vast, mysterious land we inhabit and see it for ourselves.”

We will be posting more details on this whimsical new exhibition as soon as we can so check back soon!  Next up in exhibitions news, the coming Fall 2009 exhibition.  Stay Tuned!!

June Membership News!

The Philadelphia Art Alliance is excited to add new benefits to membership featuring exciting opportunities and exclusive discounts within our building and at various partner businesses right here in town! Whether you are considering joining as a new member or you are one of our continued supporters we welcome you to take a glance at what PAA membership now offers you! New membership benefits include discounts at The Art Shop at Moore College of Art and Design, Utrecht Art Supply, and Cadence Restaurant at the the Kimmel Center.

And if we may suggest…

Utrecht Art Supply of Philadelphia is having a special event at the Broad Street store on Saturday June, 6th from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. This event will highlight affordable products that can be used to present your artwork! Products will be demonstrated and samples will be available while supplies last. This is an excellent information-packed networking event sure to help you make new contacts in the Philadelphia Arts Community. If you would like to attend, please RSVP by email to philly.outreach@gmail.com.

Thanks to SNAG and more news…

It’s been quite a weekend here thanks to the Society of North American Goldsmiths being in town for their annual conference.  We had over 400 people stop in this weekend to see the exhibits on display in our galleries! Thanks to all the folks who made the SNAG conference a reality; and particularly to Sharon Church, Rod McCormick, Doug Bucci, and our very own Melissa Caldwell for making our galleries look so beautiful, all your hard work really paid off!!

In other news; official companion catalogues for the Stanley Lechtzin exhibit are available starting today through our website; these limited edition exhibition catalogue’s have been flying off the shelves so order yours today and take home a piece of the exhibit.  Click here to order

Even if you missed all the fun this weekend, you can still come by and check out the two new exhibits on display until July 26th.  We have more action in store this week, culminating Friday with a FREE classical music recital from our local resident String Quartet Liebesfreud as part of their monthly Last Friday Series.  That’s all the news for now, we’ll be back with another post soon.

SNAG Conference Gallery Tour Tonight!

SNAG, the Society of North American Goldsmiths, are holding their annual conference at the convention center, which ends tomorrow evening. We’re happy to have our galleries open for extended hours tonight. The galleries feature exhibitions by SNAG lifetime achievement award winner Stanley Lechtzin, and rEvolution, 105 years of jewelry and metalsmithing at University of the Arts, curated by University the of Arts metals department co-chairs Sharon Church and Rod McCormick. 

For more information on the SNAG conference, visit http://www.snagmetalsmith.org