I had a wonderful weekend in Philadelphia! I saw a lot of fiber art in many different galleries in and around Philadelphia, and I met or renewed friendships with many fiber artists. Well worth driving 722 miles round trip (from outside of Boston, MA to Philadelphia, PA).
First stop was the Opening of Art Quilts Elements 2008 at the Wayne Art Center in Wayne, PA. My Orange Construction Fence # 46 (above) is hanging in the show with wonderful works by other artists, from April 4 – May 10, 2008. There was no size restriction for this show, so there were pieces that were small, and there were pieces that were incredibly large. Great contrast in sizes, and a wonderful show!
On Saturday I joined about 20 other artists on a bus tour to many of the galleries in Philadelphia that had fiber art exhibits. The first stop was The Sixth International Fiber Biennial at the Snyderman-Works Gallery. This show is open until April 23, 2008.
Next we visited the Crane Arts Building, where I got art studio envy, since my studio is a small extra bedroom in my home. One show we saw there was "Collaboration: Linking Metal and Clay, Ruth Borgenicht and Leslie Pontz", which is on exhibit until April 27, 2008. Really nice show of knitted (or was it crocheted?) metal wire, with clay that looked like metal chains.
In the same building was NEXUSpresents fiber, which closed Saturday afternoon, after we left. This show featured the work of eight recent graduates in Fiber from Philadelphia University, University of the Arts, Moore College of Art and Tyler School of Art. I liked seeing the work of young artists. I'm hoping that I can purchase a piece by Rebecca Landes (Moore College of Art), whose work is described on the Nexus website as “Cloth and other everyday domestic objects accompany us during our most personal moments. If they could reveal the intimate details they know of our lives, perhaps it would make us blush.” I was also very inspired by Leslie Atik's work (MFA Tyler School of Art) as described on the website, "The metaphors shared by language and textiles is the origin of her work. Leslie consider the poetic and universal qualities of grammar and explore them through the materiality of chalk, paint, ink, paper, and thread."
Also at the Crane Arts Building is a show, "Libbie Soffer - Traces", which is on exhibit until April 27, 2007. Very creative, and nice!
Our next stop was the "Contemporary Korean Fibers Exhibition" at The University of the Arts (where I went to art school). Loved the show, and loved (briefly) visiting my alma mater! The show closed that afternoon, so we were fortunate to be able to see it.
Our last stop was the Gross McCleaf Gallery where were got to see the beautiful work of Emily Richardson and Judith James. These shows close on April 15, 2007.
I really enjoyed driving around Philadelphia where there many murals or sculptures scattered around the city. It's quite impressive how much support the Arts get in Philadelphia, and I wish more cities (like Boston, hint hint) could be as supportive.
Saturday evening was spent eating dinner and socializing with many old and new artist friends. Sunday I drove home with some of my local art friends, and then took a two hour nap which was great way to end a wonderful weekend.
