What Was Our VIsion: Opening Reception July 17

What Was Our Vision: Sixteen Scenes from Wandering in the Desert

July 10 - August 16, 2009

Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art
Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Philadelphia, PA

Artist's Reception: Friday, July 17, 2009
Free and Open to the Public
Sabbath Eve Service with discussion of the exhibition: 6-7 pm
Reception: 7-8 pm

This exhibition will present the entire series of mixed-media works on paper,
as well as a new wall-drawn installation created in the gallery just for this exhibition.

Gallery hours:
Monday-Thursday: 10 am - 4 pm
Friday: 10 am - 2 pm
Sunday: 10 am - Noon
Hours are subject to change, please call 215-627-6747 to confirm

Organized by Matthew F. Singer, Curator, Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art

Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art
Congregation Rodeph Shalom
615 North Broad St ( at Mt Vernon St)
Philadelphia, PA 19123
Entrance and Parking on Mt Vernon St

Sacred Origins - Opening Reception May 31st

Sacred Origins - An Interfaith Art Project for West Philadelphia
Opening Reception: Sunday May 31st 2009, 5-7 pm
With an artist's talk at 6 pm

at The Philadelphia Cathedral
38th and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia

As the culmination of my year-long 2008-09 studio residency at The Philadelphia Cathedral, I will present a permanently installed artwork for the Cathedral. For Sacred Origins, I conducted a series of drawing workshops for people of all faith backgrounds in West Philadelphia.

These workshops were held at The Philadelphia Cathedral, Kol Tzedek- the West Philadelphia Synagogue, and the A-Space, a community organizing space. Participants were invited to make a small drawing symbolic of some aspect of their faith practice or background, with an emphasis on origins – the origins of their faith practice in their own life, or imagery from origin stories from their religion.

I collected over 40 drawings from community members of all faith backgrounds, and created a large-scale ( 5 feet x 5 feet) mixed-media artwork on paper mounted on panel. The artwork incorporates the collected drawings with my own personal imagery and religious images based on myvisual research process. The resulting artwork is dynamic, colorful, and quilt-like, reflecting the diverse and interconnected faith practices of the West Philadelphia community.

The piece will be permanently installed in the Cathedral as part of its permanent art collection, and will be unveiled as part of the annual Philadelphia Cathedral Festival on Sunday May 31^st, 2009.

The artwork may be viewed all day on May 31^st from 11 am to 7 pm, with a special reception from 5-7 pm. I will give a brief artist’s talk on the project at 6 pm. The opening reception event is free and open to the public, and will include refreshments.

This artwork and the Cathedral’s other permanent art installations may also be viewed during the Cathedral’s open hours: Monday-Friday 10am - 2 pm, after Sunday Services, and by appointment.
The Philadelphia Cathedral is located at the corner of 38^th and Chestnut streets in University City in Philadelphia.

March art updates!

Anniversary Art Show at Studio 34
4522 Baltimore Ave, Philadelphia

This Friday, March 27, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m!

We begin our One Year Anniversary weekend with a very special visual art show featuring three friends of Studio 34. At the intersections of art and science, spirit and cognition, each Artist's work investigates the mysterious inner workings of human nature. Zoe Cohen's drawings of our cellular biology ask, "Where does the external become the internal?". Neuroscientist Greg Dunn's Asian-inspired paintings on hanging scrolls and gold leaf explore the beauty of the brain at the microscopic scale of neurons. Saliha Moore's sacred geometry lies somewhere between the organic and the mathematical. Come enjoy refreshments and pick the brains of these perceptive artists!

Artist Speakers at Penn
Tuesday April 14th, 7-9 pm
UPenn's Harrison House, 3910 Irving St, Philadelphia
I will be discussing my studio work, as well as my public participatory projects, including The Listening Station ( above).



Sacred Origins: An Interfaith Art Project for West Philadelphia
Opening Reception, Sunday May 31st, 5-7 pm
With an artist's talk at 6pm
The Philadelphia Cathedral
This is the Opening Reception for the large-scale mixed-media work that I am currently creating,
which incorporates drawings and imagery generated by people of all faith backgrounds from West Philadelphia.

What Was Our Vision: 16 Scenes from Wandering in the Desert
The Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art at Congregation Rodeph Shalom
615 North Broad Street, Philadelphia
Opening Reception, Friday July 17th.
I will be showing the series of 16 small works created in 2008,
which are based on ancient near-eastern art and pre-judaic belief systems.

February and March, into April...

Calling all people of faith in West Philly:
come out and make a drawing this Saturday!

Sacred Origins is my public project/installation piece for the Philadelphia Cathedral.
I am collecting drawings from people of all faith backgrounds ( including you!)
and incorporating them into a large-scale mixed-media work that will be permanently installed
in the main Cathedral space, with an opening celebration in May 2009.
Materials, instructions, and encouragement are provided, no drawing experience is required,
and you can spend just a few minutes making a drawing!

Remaining public drawing sessions for the project:

Saturday February 21 3:30-5:30 pm at the A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Ave
Sunday March 1 1-3 pm at the Philadelphia Cathedral, 38th and Chestnut

Ephemerality at the Schuylkill Center
On view through April 12th
This is an experimental gallery exhibition that I have curated
as Art Program Manager at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Roxborough, Philadelphia.
I selected six artists and one artist team to create temporary artworks
with natural materials on the grounds of the Schuylkill Center,
with the guidelines that the artworks created must last no more than 24 hours.
The installations, sculptures, interventions, or events created were documented
by the artists using photography, video, sound, and text.
These documentations of the outdoor ephemeral artwork comprise the gallery exhibition.
Read the article in the Philadelphia City Paper!
Artists:
Nancy Agati
Torkwase Dyson
Jenn Figg & Tatania Ginsberg
Sarah Phillips
Matt Pych
Theresa Rose & 24 Friends
Claudia Sbrissa

Upcoming in April- Save the Date!
I'll be showing some drawings from my Umbilical and Eyes Like Black Cherries series
in a 3- person show of biological/spiritual drawings at Studio 34
Opening reception:
Friday March 29th, 7-9 pm

Late Winter / Early Spring goings on...

Ephemerality at the Schuylkill Center
Opening Reception:
Saturday January 17th, 2009
5-7 pm, with an artists' talk at 6 pm
This is an experimental gallery exhibition that I am curating
as Art Program Manager at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Roxborough, Philadelphia.
I selected six artists and one artist team to create temporary artworks
with natural materials on the grounds of the Schuylkill Center,
with the guidelines that the artworks created must last no more than 24 hours.
The installations, sculptures, interventions, or events created were documented
by the artists using photography, video, sound, and text.
These documentations of the outdoor ephemeral artwork will comprise the gallery exhibition.
Artists:
Nancy Agati
Torkwase Dyson
Jenn Figg & Tatania Ginsberg
Sarah Phillips
Matt Pych
Theresa Rose
Claudia Sbrissa

Drawing Games
at the University City Arts League
Tuesdays, 7-9 pm
January 27 - March 10, 2009
Register by 12/22: Members $100; Non-Members $115
After 12/22: Members $110; Non-Members $130
In this 7-week course for adults, we'll loosen up with gestural and intuitive techniques,
draw with the "wrong" hand, and play with line in solo drawings and cooperative and group drawing games.
The course is open to new and experienced artists- anyone interested in having fun with drawing!

Grand Small Works at the FUEL Collection has been extended through January 24th, 2009
Four of the drawings from my What Was Our Vision series are on view.
249 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA

NEXUSradio
1650 AM
Sunday January 25th, 1-5 pm
This artist cooperative gallery has become a radio station for two months.
I'll be curating the afternoon of the 25th, with music, interviews, and infomercials on urban homesteading!

Sacred Origins is the title of my upcoming public project/installation piece for the Philadelphia Cathedral.
I'll be collecting drawings from people of all faith backgrounds ( including you!)
and incorporating them into a large-scale mixed-media work that will be permanently installed
in the main Cathedral space, with an opening celebration in May 2009.
Public drawing day for the project:
Sunday February 8, 2-4 pm
at the Philadelphia Cathedral, at the corner of 38th and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia.

Studio 34 in the Spring
Is presenting a three-person show of visual art with biological and pattern-based themes.
I'll be showing drawings from the Umbilical and Eyes Like Black Cherries series, and others.
Opening Reception:
Friday March 27 in conjunction with Studio 34's one-year anniversary!

Drawing Together at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
is an on-going program that I teach at the Philadelphia Museum of Art,
that offers materials and encouragement for people of all ages to draw in the museum.
The program meets in a different gallery each week- check at one of the entrances to find us!
Always Noon-2:30. Dates for Winter/Spring 2009:
January 4, 11, 18 - February 15 & 22 - March 8 & 22 - April 26

Have a bright Solstice and a Happy New Year!

Website and November Updated!

All 16 images of my recent What Was Our Vision series are now on my website!
You can also purchase the work directly from me on the site.


UPCOMING EVENTS:

Drawing Together at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
FREE! for everyone: adults, young people, families...
Sundays: November 9, 16, and 23, and December 7
12-2:30 pm
This is an opportunity for everyone to draw in the galleries of the Art Museum!
Facilitated by Yours Truly. Sunday museum admission is pay-what-you-wish...
Inquire at the West Entrance for the gallery location of the program- it changes each time.

Drawing Games at the University City Arts League
Four Wednesdays, 7-9 pm.
November 19, December 3, 10, and 17.
$50 for members, $65 non-members
In this four-week course for adults, we'll loosen up with gestural and intuitive techniques,
draw with the "wrong" hand, and play with line in solo drawings and cooperative and group drawing games.
The course is open to new and experienced artists- anyone interested in having fun with drawing!

Studio Series at Studio 34
Saturday November 22
8 pm, $5 donation
4522 Baltimore Ave, West Philadelphia, PA
As part of the evening's line-up, I will be giving a slide talk on Art and Research,
which will present my recent work along with images from science and archaeology
that I have used as reference materials.

coming in December...
I will be exhibiting work from the What Was Our Vision series in a huge group exhibition:
Grand Small Works at the FUEL Collection
249 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA
December 2008

Closing and Opening!

NEW: Closing Reception
Saturday September 27th
4-6pm
this will be an informal closing reception to offer another chance
for you to see my work while it is installed in the Cathedral.
feel free to bring a treat or bottle to share for the reception!

What Was Our Vision:
Sixteen Scenes from Wandering in the Desert
an exhibition of new works on paper

September 1 - 28, 2008

The Philadelphia Cathedral
3723 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA

The Cathedral is also open to the public Monday-Friday, 10am - 2 pm
Other viewing times available by appointment- please email me.


---------------

October 4th and 5th, Noon to 6 pm

Come visit me in a more informal setting in my studio where you will be able to view the work
from What Was Our Vision ( although not in as spectacular a setting) as well as other recent and older work.

My studio is in the Cathedral House on Chestnut at 38th street in University City.

Also, See four artists' work in one stop on your Philadelphia Open Studio Tour at the Cathedral!
I am coordinating a group show of three POST printmakers that will be on view in the Cathedral Gallery on October 4th and 5th:
Anne Canfield, Elaine Erne, and Elysa Voshell
with a reception on Sunday the 5th from Noon-2 pm.

www.philaopenstudios.com

What Was Our Vision- Opening September 4th!

What Was Our Vision:
Sixteen Scenes from Wandering in the Desert
an exhibition of new works on paper

September 1 - 29, 2008

The Philadelphia Cathedral
3723 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA

Opening Reception
Thursday September 4th 6-8 pm

The Cathedral is also open to the public Monday-Friday, 10am - 2 pm
Other viewing times available by appointment- please email me.

I will be presenting a series of new works on paper, in my first exhibition as the Philadelphia Cathedral Artist-in-Residence for 2008-09. The sixteen small works on paper will be exhibited in the main chapel of the Philadelphia Cathedral, interspersed with the historical and contemporary stained glass windows of the Cathedral.

I am the Cathedral's first Jewish Artist-in-Residence, and What Was Our Vision is a series of mixed-media works on paper that I have developed based on visual research into the belief systems of the Ancient Near East. My work is motivated by my interest in origin, identity, and place. My search for meaningful connections to the history of Judaism led me to explore the iconography and earth-based belief systems of the Ancient Near Eastern cultures that Judaism developed from. In What Was Our Vision, I synthesize invented imagery along with found iconography relating to earth, trees, water, sky, gods, and goddesses. With these images, I imagine what visions my ancient ancestors may have had as they traveled desert landscapes as nomads and cultural go-betweens.

The setting for this exhibition is an important component to the meaning of the work. By exhibiting this series of images in the Cathedral space, I hope to draw attention to the historical and spiritual connection of all faith practices, as well as to offer a vision for religious imagery that speaks to a spiritual connection between earth and body.

July and August news...

Late Notice Update, an August Class, Save the Date, and Call for Artists...

On Tuesday July 22, I will be giving an informal talk on my public, participatory projects
The Listening Station and Show Someone How You Feel About Something
at:
Basekamp at 723 Chestnut St, 2nd floor
in Center City Philadelphia.
The talk will be from about 6 - 8 pm, and will include lots of discussion and Q & A.
It's an informal potluck dinner too, so bring something to share!

August Class:
I am offering a 4-week studio course at the University City Arts League in August.
open for registration now!
This is the first course I am offering at the Arts League in five years.
The course is a drawing from nature workshop called "Cells to Stems"
and will cover general drawing techniques while we draw from still lives,
dissected plant material, and cellular images from the web and microscope.
The course will be best appreciated by those with some (even just a little) previous drawing experience.
It's Mondays, July 28 - August 18, 6-9 pm, and is a bargain at $70/$55 for members.
please call 215-382-7811 or email info@ucartslague.org

Save the Date:
Looking ahead, I am preparing for a solo exhibition at the Philadelphia Cathedral,
where I am the artist-in-residence for 2008-09.
The exhibition will present a new series of twelve small works on paper (example below)
in the main Cathedral space, and there will be an opening reception on
Thursday, September 4th, from 6-8 pm.
More details to come- Save the date!

Call for Artists:
I am the new Art Program Manager at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education,
under Program Director Mary Salvante.
My first curatorial project at SCEE is an experimental gallery exhibition for 2009 entitled Ephemerality.
This is an opportunity for Visual Artists from all disciplines to experiment with short-lived outdoor installation work using mainly natural materials at a gorgeous 350-acre nature preserve in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Proposals are due August 29th.
Please see the full prospectus for more information, and email me with any questions.

new interview on Funnel Pages blog

A nice long audio interview of me with Dustin Metz is currently on the Funnel Pages blog.
Funnel Pages is a great new Philadelphia local arts listing and commentary site.
In the interview, I discuss my public projects and thoughts on art and society.

News from late May

My public drawing project Show Someone How You Feel About Something
is the subject of this week's Philadelphia City Paper's lead arts article!

The project concludes this weekend with the Final Viewing and Postage Party.
at the A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Ave, Saturday May 31, 5-9pm
Stop by anytime to make a drawing and view the 150 drawings displayed on the walls!
If you come later in the evening, you can help put the drawings in their envelopes and stamp them.
A procession to the mailbox at 48th and Baltimore at 8:45 pm will send all the drawings on their way...

The reception for the group show Panoply is next Wednesday, June 4, from 5-8 pm

at the offices of the Philadelphia Foundation, 1234 Market St, Philadelphia.
This is a wonderfully eclectic group show of artists from West Philly's 40th St Artist-in-Residence program.
I am exhibiting four large framed ink drawings from the Umbilical series, all of which are for sale.

Finally, I will be giving a slide presentation on my work at the Philadelphia Cathedral
in West Philadelphia, to kick-off my year-long Artist Residency there.
This residency provides me with a very large studio, and opportunities to exhibit my work
in the Cathedral, as well as the chance to create a permanent installation piece
for the space by the end of my year there. I'll be moving into the new studio on Monday June 2,
and am looking forward to beginning a new body of work, and having visitors!

The lecture will be directly after their services, Sunday June 8th at about 11:30 am.
The Cathedral is a wonderful space, if you've never visited, it's definitely worth it!
Located at 3723 Chestnut St, West Philadelphia.

show someone in west philly!

Show Someone How You Feel About Something

is coming to West Philly for the whole month of May!

Come to the A-Space or Clark Park. Make a drawing to send to someone and address an envelope for the recipient. Your drawing and envelope will be displayed in the A-Space until the end of the month, when there will be a Final Viewing and Postage Party to put all the drawings in the mail.

throughout the month of May , 2008:

Mondays 6-8 pm, Saturdays** 12-2 pm, Sundays 12-2 pm

Final Viewing and Postage Party:
Saturday May 31, 5-9 pm

The A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Ave, West Philadelphia, PA

**weather permitting, Saturdays are at Clark Park, 43^rd and Baltimore Ave, West Philadelphia, PA

summer continuing education courses

I will be offering two four-week workshops at the University of the Arts this summer:

my 5 min 54 seconds of fame

a new video on my studio and public work!

part of David Kessler's Studioscopic series, profiling Philadelphia artists for uwishunu.com

New.

New etsy shop

New website

New web presence




Upcoming event:
Friday, April 4: Everything Must Go at the Flux Factory!
I will be inviting you to Show Someone How You Feel About Something.

I am showing four framed drawings from the Umbilical series in Panoply, a group exhibition at The Philadelphia Foundation.

right now

you can currently see some of my recent work in two semi-public places:

a large drawing on linen
from the "Eyes like Black Cherries" series, at:
The University of the Arts Staff Exhibition
Hamilton Hall, at Broad and Pine.
now until mid-March
Reception: Wednesday February 20, 4:30-6:30 pm









four of the "umbilical" series drawings at:
The Philadelphia Foundation Board Room
1234 Market St, 18th Floor.
now to June 9, 2008
possible reception tba...

future plans...

In April, I will be participating in Everything Must Go at the Flux Factory in Queens, NYC. This amazing collective art space is closing up due to the immanent demolition of the building it inhabits... I'll be conducting Show Someone How You Feel About Something with the current residents of the space, as well as with visitors to the opening reception on the evening of Friday April 4th, 2008. Participants will be invited to make a drawing and paste onto the wall of the ill-fated building... photo documentation will preserve the drawings for posterity.

And, back in Philly:
For the month of May 2008, I'll be doing the Show Someone project at the A-Space in West Philly- literally around the corner from my house.
Exact times to be determined, but I'll be out on the street encouraging people to make drawings to be mailed, a few times a week during May. The drawings and addressed envelopes will be on display in the A-Space throughout the month, and the project will culminate in a Postage Party when all the drawings will be put into their envelopes and stamped.
Hooray!

Artist-Centered Critique

Unfortunately, this Continuing Education course at the University of the Arts didn't attract enough participants, but I'm keeping it here because I love the idea so much! Please contact me if you are interested in being part of an artist's group like this in the future.

Artist-Centered Critique using the Critical Response Process

In this course, participants help one another achieve their artistic goals by requesting—and providing—useful and sensitive feedback on creative work. (While this process can be used for all varieties of creative work, the instructor’s area of expertise is the visual arts.) This collaborative back-and-forth is guided by a method called Liz Lerner’s Critical Response Process, which provides a safe, considerate environment in which creative people can ask for specific input and receive the constructive opinions they need to move their work forward. After a workshop outlining this communication process, participants will take turns being presenters of their own works and responders to requests for opinions regarding the work of fellow participants.

metropolitan bakery show: extended

You have more time to see my ink drawings at Metropolitan Bakery...
The show will be up through Sunday November 11.
All work is custom-framed and for sale.
Enjoy!

Connective Tissue
Recent Ink Drawings

Metropolitan Bakery and Cafe

4013 Walnut St
West Philadelphia

October 6 - November 11 , 2007

Cafe open 7:30 am - 8 pm daily

images from open studios

Open Studios was lovely last weekend... thanks to all those who stopped by!
Here are some images ( taken before everyone showed up):

metropolitan bakery and open studios!

the show at metropolitan bakery opened saturday with a nice little reception.
all 6 drawings are custom framed and ready to find new homes after the show ends!

































my friend, artist Zarouhie Abdalian, said of the show, "I love seeing large works on paper, and your drawings really took over the space - your presentation was excellent. I also enjoyed seeing your work installed in a cafe setting - it definitely made me see the sections of tissues differently - seeing the work in the cafe with pastries all around as I sipped my coffee made me think of my intestines, which was unappetizing, but I enjoyed how it made me reference my body."

This exhibition is in conjunction with Philadelphia Open Studio Tours...
mark your calendar for my Open Studio,
i will be there for one day only, although my studio will also be available for viewing on saturday the 27th...



Sunday,October 28
Noon- 6 pm
1370 South 46th Street
West Philadelphia

also, make sure you check out other west philly open studios while you're in the neighborhood!
use our awesome google map.

images of recent shows!

finally! i give you... images! ( more coming very soon)

from "artifact-metafact" at Repetti Gallery, Queens.
A group of three drawings from the series Eyes Like Black Cherries/ Eygelech vi di Shvartse Karshelech, drawn with Black Cherry Juice, based on a yiddish expression to describe a beautiful Jewish woman:













from "milky images" at arttransponder, berlin.
an installation of breastmilk (donated by lauren krug) on paper:

updated list of updates...

***

August 24- September 29, 2007
Milky Images/Hexenmilch
Arttransponder, Berlin, Germany
Curated by Lisa Glauer
Opening Reception: Friday August 24, 7-9 pm

I will be presenting an installation of drawings, made with breastmilk donated by Lauren Krug. This work presents the product of the female body as both sacred and mundane, and as a reminder of the physical and metaphysical connection of our bodies to those of our mothers.


***

September 8 - 30, 2007
Artifact/Metafact
Repetti Gallery, Long Island City, New York
Curated by Carla Aspenberg and Tamas Veszi
Opening Reception: Saturday September 8, 7-9 pm

I will be presenting a group of drawings based on the yiddish expression to describe a beautiful woman: " eyes like black cherries". These drawings, based on the patterns in my own iris, are made using black cherry juice, and explore the symbology of the eye in seeing the self and other.

***

Sundays In September, and First Friday:
Show Someone How You Feel About Something
Landmark Contemporary Projects, Powel House, Philadelphia
244 south 3rd St, Philadelphia

The next occurance of this public drawing project will take place at the Powel House in Old City:
Sundays in September, 2-4 pm.
( exception: Sunday September 16, Noon-2 pm)
and
First Friday- September 7, 6-8 pm.

***
Philadelphia Open Studio Tours
October 27 and 28, Noon-6 pm
1370 South 47th St, Philadelphia

My studio will be open to the public, with recent work on display and available for purchase.
check out the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours Video! I'm in it!

And, a wonderful map specifically for West Philadelphia Open Studio Tours. check us out!

***
Recent Work on Paper
Metropolitan Bakery and Cafe
4013 Walnut St, Philadelphia

During the month of October, as part of Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, I will be displaying recent work on paper at the cafe.
Exact dates to follow.

so many things.

To start with, I have been invited to exhibit my work in Berlin! I will be one of four artists in the show "Milky Images" at Arttransponder, curated by Lisa Glauer, who is also writing her PhD on breastmilk in art.
The show will open Friday August 24 at 7pm, if you're in Berlin...
I will be showing breastmilk drawings that reference natural and physiological connections, as well as creating a performance relating to my attempt to make glue from human breastmilk. I'll be in Berlin for about a week, and I'm so looking forward to it, having never been to Germany before.

( straining sea water in Maine)

The group show "Artifact-Metafact" at Repetti Gallery in Long Island City, Queens, NYC, now has an opening reception date:
Saturday September 8, 7-9 pm.

On Friday, July 20, I was part of an artists' panel for the Philadelphia Museum of Art's VAST program for educators, along with Syd Carpenter and Sarah McEneaney. What an honor!

I will be with a brigade of art-activists in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia encouraging passers-by to make a drawing to "show someone how you feel about something" and then mail it to a public official. Come by to help facilitate, or to make a drawing!
Noon-1pm on the following dates in July: 19, 23, 24, 30, 31.

And, my drawing " Encounter 1"
will be featured in the 2008 InLiquid wall calendar.

Join me in the studio this summer!

Ernst Haeckel: Ascidiae, 1904.

I will be teaching an evening Continuing Education course at University of the Arts, over five Thursdays from July 12 to August 9.

The course description is below, and you can register and read the syllabus and supply list at:

http://www.uarts.edu/continue/edu/index.cfm#courses
(click on "Fine Arts" and then "From Cells to Stems")


From Cells to Stems: A Workshop in Drawing from Nature

CE 1645C
1.5 CE credit $275
CE 1645N Non-credit $245
5 Thursdays July 12-Aug 9
6:30-9:30pm
Act 48 Hours: 15
Observe the fascinating world of nature this summer with new eyes, a range of explorations and a variety of drawing media. In this course, you'll be able to intimately observe biological details that often go unnoticed—or are unnoticeable—in the everyday world; the effect of this close-focus concentration can be calming and meditative. You'll create finely detailed drawings based on sources ranging from cellular tissues viewed through a digital microscope to botanical still lifes created with local flora. Working with repetition, scale, pattern and texture, students of all levels will create breathtaking abstract and realistic images in pencil, pen and ink, and watercolor.

Lawsuit Settlement!

I am pleased to announce the settlement of "Cohen et al v. City of New York et al ".

This is the lawsuit that was filed on behalf of the 18 artists from the Brooklyn College Masters of Fine Arts class of 2006, whose Thesis Exhibition, "Plan B" at the Brooklyn War Memorial was censored by the Brooklyn Borough Parks Commisioner Julius Spiegel in May 2006, and whose artwork was subsequently removed and damaged by Brooklyn College.

For the full back story and links to previous press, please see our blog: www.PlanCensored.blogspot.com

The settlement includes a payment of a total of more than $56,000 by the city, which includes $750 per artist, and fees paid to our lawyers.

Most importantly, Julius Spiegel released this statement:

------------
Statement of Defendant Julius Spiegel, Brooklyn Borough Commissioner of New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, in Connection with the Settlement of Cohen, et al V. Coty of the New York, et al.

While I had no role in the removal and subsequent damage of the Plaintiffs' artwork by others, I acknowledge my responsibility for ordering the closing of the Plaintiffs' art exhibit at the Brooklyn War Memorial, and for thereby setting in motion actions that led to the damage of Plaintiffs' artwork, which a reviewing court might find constituted a violation of the student-exhibitors' First Amendment rights. Whatever the outcome in court might have been, I apologize to the Brooklyn College art students who spent long hours and considerable effort in creating their artwork and in mounting their exhibition at the Brooklyn Memorial site.
------------

We have a few new items in the press:

www.nysun.com - we are at the top of the front page right now.
http://www.nysun.com/article/56021 is the permanent link.

and, arts briefly in the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/arts/07arts.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin

other press notices:
http://chronicle.com/news/article/2452/new-york-city-pays-up-and-apologizes-for-censoring-students-art-show
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06072007/news/regionalnews/xxx_art_victory_regionalnews_stefanie_cohen.htm

Some of the artists will be donating a portion of the settlement money to benefit the production and distribution of the documentary that is being made about the Plan B exhibition and its censorship. For information on the film-makers, see: www.eidia.com.

blogging links to blogs...

I'll be participating in this year's Art for the Cash Poor on Sunday June 10th...
and am profiled on the philly arts and culture blog uwishunu...
check it out!

on the horizon...

things are slowly blooming in the background...








I've been selected for the second round in the selection process for the Fleisher Art Memorial 2008 Challenge Exhibitions...

Soon I'll have a page up as a new member of the InLiquid network...

I'm bringing the Listening Stations as a visiting artist to a course at UPenn this week...

I am featured in the just-released Seed edition of Art World Digest Magazine...

and plans are afoot for a Philadelphia art/action network (email me if you're interested!),
and a new public, participatory project for the summer...

stay tuned for updates!

The Listening Station at the International House!

The Listening Station was at The International House, from January 11 to February 2, 2007

A reception with the artist ( me) was held on January 11, 2007 from 5-7 pm

I was present to facilitate and discuss the project on Thursday evenings from 5-7 pm throughout the installation ( January 11, January 18, Januray 25, and February 1)


The Listening Station was permanently installed on the upper level of the International House lobby, available for use by all who visit the building. The lobby is open to the public, so stop by and give it a try! You are welcome to visit with someone you would like to take turns listening with, or come and participate with me or someone who you have not met before.

See the Listening Station blog for more details, and documentation.

Artifact-Metafact

most recent projects-in-the-works:

a group show organized by Carla Aspenberg and Tamas Veszi, "Artifact-Metafact"
I'll be creating a new group of ink-bubble drawings for this exhibition, as relating to the symbolism of the female body, and the process of understanding my relation to my mother's breast cancer.

See the ongoing blog project by the artists.

The show will be exhibited in September 2007 at
Repetti in Queens, NY not far from PS1

stay tuned for exact dates and opening info....

Open Art Room

Open Art Room is a series of drop-in workshops that I am leading at this fall ( and beyond?)
at the West Philly radical community room, the A-Space.

So far, attendance tends to include young parents and their young children, and adults of all ages from the neighborhood. It's been about five to seven people at each gathering.

My ideas for this project are very well summed up in this press clipping:

The Philadelphia City Paper

=========================================

Open Art Room!

1st and 3rd Wednesday Nights at the A-Space
October 4- December 20, 2006 ( for now)
Remaining Dates: Nov 15, Dec 6 & 20
4722 Baltimore Ave
7-9 pm

Open Art Room is a series of open art workshops, for people of all ages
led by West Philly artist and art educator Zoë Cohen.

All are welcome!
encouragement and guidance for those who feel new to art,
support and constructive feedback for those who usually make art on their own.
The first half hour of each session will be a class format in which Zoë will present a skill or lead a group art game.
The rest of the session will be open art time- you can continue trying out new skills, get instruction and feedback on art that you make, play around with group art games, and connect with other people about art and creativity.

Please bring your own materials, and consider bringing found or recycled supplies to share with others.
suggestions:
SCISSORS!, pencils, pens, erasers, markers, crayons, charcoal, old computer paper, recycled one-side-printed paper, color paper, newspaper, cardboard, paper plates, a ruler, hole-puncher, masking tape, clear tape, elmer's glue, glue sticks, white-out, ink or watercolors and brushes, small tubes of water-based paints, old books, scraps of: magazines,wrapping paper, tissue paper, ribbon, yarn…

Sliding Scale: $5- $12
Drop in: no registration needed
lots of parking for bikes and cars, steps from the 34 trolley
Children under 12, please bring an adult

updates: LAVA Installations and The Navel Project

It's happening!

Harmony Thompson, Jay Sand, and I are so please to announce....
The inauguration of the on-going LAVA Installation project.

The Lancaster Avenue Autonomous Zone is a center for radical media and organizing at 4134 Lancaster Ave in West Philadelphia. The LAVA collective's mission is to create an empowering and welcoming physical space where diverse communities converge to build connections and break down barriers, blending media-making, artistic expression and hardy nuts-and-bolts organizing in order to advance movements for justice.

The LAVA Installation project is an attempt to fill the entire three-story row house that is LAVA with permanent art installations by Philadelphia artists who are interested in using art to move social change forward.

Jay Sand invited Harmony and I to organize this on-going project, and organize we did!
In addition to inviting, curating, scheduling, and publicizing, Harmony and I have both created installations in the space.

The images below are from my installation- The LAVA Navel Project. Each form is a plaster cast of the navel of a person who is involved in the LAVA space in some way. The installation is on the stairs from the second to the third floors of the building.





















press!
The Philadelphia City Paper
The Philadelphia Weekly


The first round of installations opened with a well-attended reception on Saturday November 4, 2006:










the crowd











bathroom by bilwa












tile mural by harmony and beth
posters by eian










molly sand wheat-pastes with zoe in the " show someone how you feel about something" bathroom










harmony means business. donate, dammit!


participating artists include:

Beth Uzwiak & Harmony Thompson
Bilwa
Des Jackson
Dominic Lepore
Eian Weissman
Elysa Voshell
HAAK Collective
JJ Tiziou
Jodi Netzer
Michael Schwartz
Mary Tasillo
Sarah Phillips
Zoe Cohen

We are now seeking proposals for the next round of installations, due to open in May 2007. Interested artists can stop by the space during open library hours, Wednesdays 4-8pm and Sundays Noon-6pm. Please contact me for more information.

updates: Philadelphia Open Studio Tours

Saturday, October 7 and Sunday October 8, 2006
Noon - 6 pm
4013 Chestnut St, West Philadelphia

On exhibit were drawings and sculptural installation in my studio, listening station documentation in the gallery, and the actual listening stations were available for use on the porch ( documentation coming soon on the Listening Station blog)

I had a wonderful weekend, with more than sixty visitors over the two days, including New York artists Paul Lamarre and Melissa Wolf, who are creating a documentary about the censored Brooklyn College MFA Thesis show of 2006.

For more information on Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, see the POST website.

updates: The Pressed Image- Art in City Hall

The Pressed Image
Art in City Hall

July 10-October 6, 2006

City Hall, Philadelphia
north-east corner, 2nd floor

On display was the hanging embossed print from the installation
The Seven Fruits of Israel/Palestine

a bit of press I received for this exhibition:
The Jewish Exponent

updates: The Listening Station

The Listening Station is an on-going, public, participatory art project. I conceived of this piece and built the two current listening stations while in Brooklyn.

From July 2006 to January 2007 ( and beyond)I will be presenting the listening stations for your use in a series of public installations around Philadelphia in conjunction with my residency at the 40th st Artist in Residence program.

Please see the Listening Station blog for the complete archive of documentation of this project, and for updates on future installations.

updates: 40th St Artist in Residence

In June of 2006 I moved back to Philadelphia from Brooklyn, having completed my MFA at Brooklyn College ( with no small effort- see previous post).

From July 15, 2006 to January 15, 2007 I will be in studio residence at the 40th St AIR program in West Philadelphia.

This program provides studio space for West Philadelphia artists in exhange for community projects. As part of this residency, I am presenting several public installations of the Listening Station project.















Zoe in the studio at 40th St AIR - October 2006

updates: Plan B and Plan B Prevails

zoe and tamas at plan B prevails





How to summarize helping to organize an 18 person group MFA Thesis show in a Veterans Memorial Hall with movable partition walls and a tiny budget, having it open successfully, then locked up the next day by the Brooklyn Parks Department, the artwork illegally removed by one's own University, locked up for a week, being pressured into re-opening the show in a new space in DUMBO, working to get all 18 students to agree to go ahead with the re-opened show, trying to get the University to holding its end of the bargain in re-mounting the show, and then suing the City of New York, the Brooklyn Parks Department, and Brooklyn College for first-amendment violations and damages to the artwork?

oy.

for all the info, including all press releases, links to New York Times and other press, and photos, see:

Plan B Prevails- the website for the re-mounted show in DUMBO

Plan Censored- The Official Blog

updates: repeat after me

Repeat After Me ( January 7-28, 2006) was curated by Carla Aspenberg and Sarah Phillips, friends from the Brooklyn College MFA program. We had a packed reception at the Flux Factory, Queens. The image from the previous post is the installation piece that I created for the show. It consists of hundreds of unfired clay impressions of my navel, arranged on fabric in a pattern that interprets the cellular tissue of the uterine lining and placenta.

A press clipping for this exhibition:
Queens Chronicle

art in news and pockets

The opening reception for Repeat After Me at Flux Factory in Queens was a wonderful success... and we got a nice little article in the Queens Chronicle in which my piece is featured.

My piece, "Site of Origin", is made of thousands of small unfired clay impressions of my navel.



A colleague of my father's, Steve Arikian, and his family attended the opening, and a few days later I got this note from my dad,

"I was just talking to Steve who is visiting one of our divisions in Germany. He told me how fascinated he was by your installation which he and his family saw at the opening. He then told me that earlier today he put his hand in his coat pocket and found himself holding a clay impression of your belly button! He suspects that one of his kids put it there without his knowledge when they were at the show....surreptitious distribution of belly-button impressions thoughout the world."

to begin with no small matter...

A thought on Graduate Art School:

What if art schools' group critiques and end of semester reviews were all modeled on Liz Lerman's "Critical Response Process" ?
Artists guide the dialogue, framing it based on questions they have about the work.
An impartial person facilitates the discussion.
There are five discrete steps to the process:
Statements of Meaning by the Responders, Artist Asks Questions, Responders ask Neutral Questions, Permissioned Opinions, and Wrap-up.
respondents are required to respond to the work positively, based on multiple ways of experiencing the work. Any opinions offered by the responders are "permissioned", ie " I have an opinion about _ would you like to hear it?" The goal of the process is for the artist to obtain useful feedback on ongoing or finished work, and for the responders to deepen their insights into the work and their engagement with the artist.

I suppose I can consider myself lucky that my MFA department faculty doesn't engage in the all too frequent pissing contests I've heard described by colleagues from other programs. However, the end of semester reviews rarely seem to produce constructive feedback for the artists- they are more often used as a deadline for the students to produce a body of work to be judged acceptable ( or not) by the faculty. Students end up either trashed or praised, with little attention paid to the future of the work or the artist, to the meaning the artist is attempting to produce, to the possibility that learning and insight could occur as a result of 20 minds gathering in a room together to think about art.

This is why the reviews feel like a waste of time- not because we don't need stopping points at which to step back and assess the progress of our work, but because the paradigm used does not take advantage of the possibilities of the situation.

A consolation- the review format is such that if the artist feels empowered enough to take charge of the conversation, she can sometimes gain insight from the faculty. It generally must be pulled out of them, as they are likely to fall back on offering responses based in opinion and aesthetic taste.

And stay tuned for future: art reviews, thoughts on art education, images of recent work, etc...

(Images of student audience and faculty at Brooklyn College MFA reviews, May 2005)