40th St AIR Artist Invitational ---- Opens Friday, January 13th, 6pm!!

40th Street AIR presents...

FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS --- A West Philly Artist Invitational!

The 40st AIR program has invited eleven artists to exhibit at our January invitational. The show opens January 13th, 6-9pm, and will be up until January 27th. Come see dynamic and diverse artwork, meet talented West Philly artists and the 2011-2012 40st AIR's residents!

Featured Artists include:
Althea Baird
Brian Bazemore
Zoe Cohen
Rob D'Amico
Corina Dross
Jasmine Hamilton
Celestine Wilson Hughes
Ab Ominable
KellyAnne Mifflin
Thomasin Parnes
Accra Zuberi

The 40th ST AIR gallery is located at 4007 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.



*"Wildfire Study" by Zoe Cohen
"52 Borges" by Corina Dross

Marie Alarcón: Artist-in-Residence

Marie Alarcón is a video artist based in West Philadelphia. She has a background in documentary film and frequently collaborates on community documentary projects. Her video art is inspired by liminality, hybridity and memory, which is informed by postcolonial theory and gender studies. Alarcón uses video to create intense dreamscapes, and fantastical visions as a way of leading the viewer towards insights on culture and identity. She is a 2009, Leeway Foundation, Art and Change Grant recipient and is currently exploring post-digital technology and radical autonomy in the context of public art.

Sarah Lowry: Artist-in-Residence

Sarah Lowry is a director, performer, dancer, pilates teacher, and community organizer in Philadelphia and beyond. She has been a founding and full-time member of The Missoula Oblongata since 2005. Recent company productions include Clamlump, The 50 Greatest Ladies and Gentlemen, The Daughter of the Father of Time Motion Study. Here in Philadelphia the company has also become known for their annual ‘Secret Shakespeare’ productions in which artists from all over the country join local Philly performers in one giant show. This year’s Antony & Cleopatra began at the Girard Street subway and led a100-person audience on a parade through the five acts performed by 5 difference different companies, with drinks and desserts served along the way (June 2011). In addition to her work with The Missoula Oblongata, she has worked in a variety of capacities with artists here in Philadelphia; Pig Iron Theater Company, Puppet Uprising, and Ramshackle Enterprises, to name a few.
Currently, Sarah is working on a dance/clown/puppet performance piece with Beth Nixon of Ramshackle Enterprises that began with an interest in The Mill Creek, a river that flows underneath the concrete of West Philadelphia, where Beth and Sarah live. This piece is scheduled to premier January 2012. When not performing, Sarah organizes with anti- fracking organization Protecting Our Waters as well with the Philadelphia Collaborative for Reproductive Justice and Support.

Sarah divides her time between her work here in Philly touring with the Missoula Oblongata and biking over mountain passes in Montana.

Martina Plag: Artist-in-Residence

Martina Plag creates puppetry for adult audiences to address contemporary issues and advocate social change and awareness. She is German and practiced architecture for ten years before pursuing her love of puppetry. Her masks, puppets, automata and experimental short films have been in juried exhibitions and have awarded her seven residencies. In 2008, she established her puppetry atelier: studium-praxis, which under her artistic direction has presented four original productions; two of which were invited to the Joyce SoHO New Dance Alliance Performance Festival and the Festival of Jewish Theatre and Ideas at Theater Three in NYC. Ms. Plag has designed puppets, sets and prototypes for Mum Puppettheatre, Enchantment Theatre Company, The University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Gas & Electric Arts, New City Stage Company, WHITE BOX THEATRE: Philadelphia; Slingback Productions, NYC, the Children's Theatre Company, Minneapolis, MN, Rowan University, Glassborough, NJ , People’s Light & Theater Co, Malvern, PA, and the International Opera Theater in Città della Pieve, Italy.

Beth Nixon: Artist-in-Residence

Beth Nixon is the human behind many Ramshackle Enterprises. She creates puppets, masks, piñatas, parades, pageants, clown acts, suitcase theaters, magical lands and other spectaculah, on her own, and in collaboration with other humans of all ages and abilities. She comes from Rhode Island, lives in West Philadelphia, and travels frequently to places where exciting building, performing, investigating or facilitating opportunities arise. Mostly she uses cardboard, science, and the imagination. Her performances and puppet installations occur in galleries, garages, street corners, and living rooms up and down the East Coast. She has been an artist-in-residence at dozens of schools, senior centers, addiction recovery and mental health programs. Beth believes in the power of bike helmets, cornstarch, tide pools, emancipatory pedagogy, utopian performatives, and snacks. She has an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. She was awarded a 2010 Leeway Transformation Award for her art and social change work and a 2008 Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts. For more info on Beth’s endeavors please see www.ramshackleenterprises.net

Michael Konrad: Artist-in-Residence

Above: 2011-2012 40th Street artist Michael Konrad is sheltered by his sleeping bag sculpture made from recycled plastic. For more photos and details about the project, visit www.konradprojects.net/2010/sleeping-bag.

Michael Konrad's sculptures contemplate the different functions of materials in a post-industrial world. Through his exploration of the built environment, Michael’s work is informed by careful observation of common objects and architecture of the city. His work explores the alternate functions of objects and structures in varying states of construction and decay. Through Konrad's sculptures we can imagine an environment where objects once considered disposable become valuable resources in a world that favors re-use over waste.

Michael Konrad received a Master’s degree in Studio Art from New York University in 2005. He has exhibited in various cities across the United States and is a recent recipient of the 2010-2011 Fleisher Wind Challenge Award. More information is available at the artist’s website: http://www.konradprojects.net

Rolf Potts: ArtsEdge Writer-in-Residence

40th Street welcomes Rolf Potts, ArtsEdge's 2011-2012 writer-in-residence. In the above photo, Rolf demonstrates his skills on the Spanish pipes in Havana.

Rolf Potts is the author of two books, "Vagabonding," and "Marco Polo Didn't Go There." He has reported from more than sixty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate.com, Outside, the New York Times Magazine, The Believer, National Public Radio, and the Travel Channel. A veteran travel columnist for the likes of Salon.com and World Hum, his adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind.

Visit www.rolfpotts.com for photos and details of his travels.

Philadelphia Open Studio Tour at 40stAIR

Open gallery and studio event at 40th Street artist-in-residence program. Stop by and see diverse and vibrant art, 4007 and 4013 Chestnut Street, October 1st and 2nd from noon to 6pm.

Join us for the exhibition of the Venus Project

Dear friends and colleagues,

As part of my year at the 40th AIR residency, I had the fortune to work in 'The Venus Project,' together with artist Maria Anazasi, with a wonderful community of women from the MATER program.

For ten weeks we worked hard to complete individualized felt versions of the famous votive prehistoric sculpture The Venus of Wilendorf. The results are beautiful and inspiring, and the sculptures will be on display at the 40th AIR gallery (4007 Chestnut street, 19104) starting August 8th through August 24th. The gallery will be open between those days by appointment at anab.hernandez@gmail.com or 40th.air.app@gmail.com.

Please, join us on Monday, August 8th, 6-8pm, for the opening reception of this exhibition, where you'll have a chance to meet the artists. Reception will include a live samba drumming performance.

I hope you can make it!

Ana

Resident Erik Ruin's Staring at the Cracks opens Thursday July 7!

 Staring at the Cracks

by  

40th Street Artist-in-Residence Erik Ruin

(with Brett Story & Dan Blacksberg)

July 7-24 

Local artist combines prints, projections and sound  

to tell stories of solitary confinement in temporary storefront gallery

CONTACT- Erik Ruin- erikruin@gmail.com 267.262.0208

Staring at the Cracks

Installation by Erik Ruin (with Brett Story and Dan Blacksberg)  

Opening Reception:
Thursday July 7 at 7pm  

Closing Reception:
Saturday July 23 at 3pm  

at: 4212 Chestnut St., 1st floor, Philadelphia 

Temporarily inhabiting an unoccupied suite of offices near Penn's campus, artist Erik Ruin is constructing a unique environment to share the emotions and experiences of formerly incarcerated people.  Visitors are greeted in the entrance hall by a wall-paper-like pattern of silkscreened scenes depicting the isolation and repetition of daily life in the hole. Other rooms are populated by shadow-puppet and video projections by Ruin and award-winning Toronto filmmaker Brett Story.  Speakers littered throughout the space play snippets of audio interviews with men and women describing their experiences in solitary confinement, interwoven with a unique and haunting bed of sound composed by innovative klezmer and jazz trombonist Dan Blacksberg.

At the opening reception Thursday July 7^th, from 7-9 PM, Blacksberg will perform a live improvisational accompaniment to this soundscape, wandering throughout the space and performing with and against the audio samples.

Additionally on this night, Hakim Ali and William Goldsby, both of Philadelphia prison-activist group Reconstruction and both interviewees for this project, will speak about their experiences and the work they have been doing since their release.

On Saturday July 23^rd,  West Philadelphia fixture Ruin will be bidding Philly farewell with an all-day studio sale, live music, and closing reception. 3-11pm

Other viewings by appointment- contact 40th.AIR.app@gmail.com or 40thair.program@gmail.com

to schedule.

LOCATION- 4212 Chestnut Street (below Scribe Video Center), West Philly  

BIOs Erik Ruin is a Philly-based printmaker, shadow-puppeteer, occasional editor of various publications (including the anthology Realizing the Impossible: Art Against Authority with Josh MacPhee, AK Press, 2007) and a founding member of the Justseeds Artists' Cooperative. He is currently a 40th Street Artist-in-Residence.   Brett Story is a Montreal based filmmaker with roots in radio, print, experimental super8 film, live performance projections and documentary. Dan Blacksberg is a trombonist who is working to expand the range of the trombone in jazz and improvised music. He is also one of the premiere trombonists in the world of Klezmer.

Chris Lawrence at AirSpace

www.chrislawrenceprojects.com

AirSpace
4007 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Exhibition:
June 17- July 16, 2011
Artist’s ReceptionSaturday June 25, 6-9PM
Gallery Hours:Sat-Sun 12-5pm + by appointment

Read coverage in the Philadelphia Weekly: http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/arts-and-culture/art/Chris-Lawrence-Installation-Airspace-West-Philadelphia.html

40th Street AirSpace is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of current artist-in-residence Chris Lawrence. Working in a variety of disciplines and materials, Lawrence’s work often references an intersection of DIY construction, improvised shelters, industrial stations and theatrical sets in various stages of frustrated or unavailable functionality. Overlapping fantasies, incongruent timelines and absurd propositions feed nonlinear narrative currents operating throughout his work. During the month of June, Chris will create a new installation work in AirSpace’s gallery at 4007 Chestnut Street. The gallery will be open by appointment prior to the June 25th artist’s reception, for guests to visit the work as it progresses. The gallery will then be open Saturday - Sunday 12-5pm and by appointment through July 16.
BiographyBorn in rural upstate New York in 1976, Chris Lawrence currently lives in Philadelphia, where he received an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. He has shown his work in New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Melbourne, Australia, with forthcoming exhibitions scheduled in Portland, OR and Minneapolis, MN. Chris is a current artist resident at AirSpace in Philadelphia, PA and has recently completed a visiting artist residency with the Delphi Art Futures Program at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

AIR resident Andria Morales opens LAST RIDE: The Exhibit Friday May 13, 5-9pm

LAST RIDE: The Exhibit opens this Friday May 13, 5-9 pm at the 40th Street Artist-in-Residence Gallery, 4007 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia

On Sunday March 27, Beth Beverly of Diamond Tooth Taxidermy hosted a "viewing" for the artist formerly known as Andria Bibiloni at the Rotunda in West Philadelphia.  Now, video documentation from the event as well as the sound-blasting tricycle that Ms. Bibiloni was placed on will be exhibited for one month at the 40th St. Artists-in-Residence gallery at 4007 Chestnut St.  We cordially invite you to attend the opening reception this Friday May 13 from 5-9 pm.  The gallery will hold open hours on Fridays in May from 4:30-7 pm and by appointment.

Many thanks to those of you who attended the March 27 viewing.  Friday's opening will be a great opportunity for Andria Morales to thank you personally, and for you to catch a glimpse of yourself in the video.  And for those of you who could not attend, this exhibition is your chance to find out what you missed!

Click the links below to read press about LAST RIDE:
http://www.examiner.com/temple-owls-in-philadelphia/last-ride-signals-new-start-for-temple-performance-artist-review
http://www.avclub.com/philadelphia/events/last-ride,232791/
http://www.citypaper.net/arts/2011-03-24-last-ride.html


--
www.escobar-morales.com
www.andriabibiloni.com

Call for Applicants!

Applications are now available for Residency 2011-2012!

The program is intended for emerging artists who live in neighborhoods west of the Schuylkill River. All applications are due by May 2, 2011, and residents will be selected by an advisory board comprised of artists, former AIR residents, educators, and community organizations. A more detailed description of the application process can be found HERE.
Feel free to email 40th.air.app@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

Neighborhood Bike Works and 40st AIR Prepare to Make a Big Splash at the Annual Kinetic Sculpture Derby!

With the support of a partnership grant from SCI West, AIR Space artists Jim Garvey, Andria Morales, and Ana Hernandez have been working with youth from Neighborhood Bike Works on a giant mobile sculpture for this year's Kensington Kinetic Bike Derby.


Beginning with small workshops on design, kinetic sculpture, found object art, and simple motors, the artists have been meeting weekly with youth since January to develop a unified concept and hone new skills.

After much brainstorming and sketching, the youth voted to construct a giant prehistoric shark known as the megaladon. In March they got right to work on crafting custom ocean inspired helmets for the big ride.

The weather is warming and the crew is ready to build! Stay tuned for updates on the project, as the May 21 derby deadline is just 4 weeks away!

Read more about the project and check out a beautiful two page photo spread in the latest edition of Grid Magazine.

Pictures from Jim Garvey's Circles and Circuits Installation

Pictures from Jim Garvey's Solo Exhibition,

Circles and Circuits

Air Space, March 2011

more installation photos here:

distraughtart.com

40th Street Artist-in-Residence Erik Ruin's solo show opens FRIDAY APRIL 8!

new solo exhibit by West Philly printmaker/shadow-puppeteer Erik Ruin

Projection & Print Installation explores hopes & anxieties for the future.

CONTACT- Erik Ruin- 267.262.0208. erikruin@gmail.com
 

FOR THE SAKE OF FUTURE DAYS

A Solo Installation by Erik Ruin

April 8-29, 2011

40^th St. AIR Gallery

4007 Chestnut, Philadelphia PA

OPENING RECEPTION-  Friday April 8^th, 6-9 PM

w/ live music by Charles Cohen and Jeff Cain (Ghostwriters) and dronescapes by John the Baptist (Kellzo from SGNLS)

For the Sake of Future Days is a densely layered floor-to-ceiling installation incorporating shadow projections, built structures, and various hand-painted, -printed & -cut elements. The central image/ theme is that of a world in the midst of extreme tumult & transformation. The installation functions  like speculative fiction showing a world just shy of the terminal end-point of today’s trends toward environmental devastation, economic collapse, income disparity and social fragmentation/alienation.  At the same time, it weaves in more hopeful strands/possibilities- people banding together in the face of adversity, the reclamation of public space & resources, the simple acts of generosity and ingenuity that point towards a brighter future.

 Future Days is a unique, fully integrated & immersive environment. Ramshackle structures made of salvaged wood, cardboard & windows contain intricate shadow-scenes depicting  interiors and inhabitants. Wall paintings incorporate the city-structures into a surrounding landscape- ravaged by war and pollution, yet in the process of being reclaimed, rebuilt and rehabilitated. The whole is dramatically lit, and decorated/complicated with printed/collaged elements and cut, folded and draped paper and fabric.

This installation draws upon and integrates the various strands of my practice as a printmaker, shadow-puppeteer, illustrator, muralist, zine-maker, editor,  etc. as well as past installation work, both solo and collaboratively as a member of the international Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative. Photo sets of this work are available online here-

Out Of the Shell of the Old (Justseeds at Space 1026, Philadelphia) http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualresistance/sets/72157606053422306/

Which Side Are You On? (Justseeds at Union Art Gallery, UW-M, Milwaukee)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualresistance/sets/72157615873790728/

Liberation (solo installation, Dirt Palace, Providence)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dirtpalace/tags/erik/

ERIK RUIN is a Michigan-raised, Philly-based printmaker, shadow-puppeteer, and occasional editor/publisher of various publications, most recently the anthology Realizing the Impossible: Art Against Authority (w/ Josh MacPhee, AK Press,2007). 


As a performer, he has toured extensively in the U.S. and in Europe, and has been featured at such events as the Puppetropolis Festival in Chicago, Black Sheep Puppet Festival in Pittsburgh and at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.  He has worked as shadow sequence director for Barebones Productions' annual community-based Halloween extravaganzas.  His theatrical work is focused on creating "epic theater" projects (such as the dystopian allegorical musical The Nothing Factory) incorporating dramatic performance, live music, projections, banners and more to create a total experience.  He also creates improvised overhead projector performances with experimental musicians such as Katt Hernandez  and Charles Cohen.


As a visual artist, he frequently works collaboratively with other artists or with activist campaigns, and has created imagery for organizations engaged in work ranging from urban farming to housing cooperatives to prisoner advocacy. In 2006, he banded together with twelve other radical artists to create the Justseeds Artists Cooperative, a  national network which distributes their work and  fosters creative alliances with social movements.  Justseeds has gone on to exhibit worldwide, and recently won the Gran Prix at the Slovenian Graphic Arts Biennial.


Ongoing projects include the Liberation Banner Project, an open-source, open-edition set of silkscreened banners on the theme of "liberation", supported by a 2006 grant from the Puffin Foundation and further developed during a July 2009 residency at AS220 in Providence, RI.

He is currently an Artist-In-Residence  at the 40th St. AIR Program in Philadelphia. Forthcoming exhibitions include a solo installation at the AIR Gallery, and Justseeds installations at the Slovenia and Pittsburgh Biennials.

40th Street Artist-in-Residence Erik Ruin's new show! See it March 25 and 26, 2011!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- A Waltz-Punk Theatrical Extravaganza in West Philly March 25^th & 26^th

From the creators of the Nothing Factory

CONTACT- Erik Ruin- 267.262.0208. erikruin@gmail.com

Horrible Dept. Svcs.

~ presents ~

capital i and the royal waltzing we

script by Reid Books & Colin Cascia

scenic design by Erik Ruin

Horrible Dept. Svcs. presents capital i and the royal waltzing we, a musical theatre piece featuring a strange room with no doors or windows, it's inhabitant who throws fits in the form of very quaint waltzes, an imaginary orchestra, a news anchor who tries to get involved, and an ominous butterfly.

From many of the same folks who brought you The Nothing Factory, this promises to be another darkly amazing extravaganza, combining live music, absurdist dance and expressionist scenery.

Location: The Rotunda • 4014 Walnut St.

When : Fri & Sat • March 25 & 26 • 8pm

Brought to you by Puppet Uprising.

Dir. by Sarah Lowry (of the Missoula Oblongata) & Erik Ruin (Justseeds, Flight, etc.).

Script by Reid Books and Colin Cascia,

Scenic design by Erik Ruin

Music by the Horrible Department.

Starring Tom Snell (Bedlam Theatre) and David Kassky.

With special guest performances by

Katt Hernandez & Erik Ruin (Katt’s briefly returned from Sweden! improvised duo for violin and overhead projector)-March 25^th

Fence Kitchen (Tim Harbeson’s unique circus of antique objects &  instruments)- March 26^th

For more information, contact Erik Ruin- 267.262.0208. erikruin@gmail.com or see www.puppetuprising.org

Links for further perusal-

http://www.myspace.com/thehorribledepartment

http://www.justseeds.org/erik.html

http://www.themissoulaoblongata.com/

http://www.myspace.com/katthernandez

http://www.myspace.com/fencekitchen

Call for Applicants for the 2011-2012 Residency!

Applications are now available for Residency 2011-2012!

The program is intended for emerging artists who live in neighborhoods west of the Schuylkill River. All applications are due by May 2, 2011, and residents will be selected by an advisory board comprised of artists, former AIR residents, educators, and community organizations. A more detailed description of the application process can be found HERE.
Feel free to email 40th.air.app@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

Resident Artist Andria Morales collaborates with Beth Beverly for LAST RIDE, opening this month

We welcome you to attend:
LAST RIDE
Performance and reception
Sunday March 27, 2011
3-5pm
The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., Philadelphia

LAST RIDE is a collaborative performance-based artwork by Andria Morales and Beth Beverly.  Inspired by Puerto Rican funeral celebrations and taxidermy traditions respectively, the artists have found a common interest in death.  Using the Rotunda’s church-like interior as a backdrop, the artist’s work will invite viewers to experience mourning as a celebration.

Andria Morales (formerly Andria Bibiloni) explores the divide between art representative of culture, and art produced from within a cultural community. By immersing herself in situations where cultural identity is consequential, she aims to provoke viewers into a confrontation and analysis of their own preconceptions. The resulting work is multidisciplinary, consisting of mixed media sculptures, self-portraits, performance based videos, and site-specific installations.  Andria Morales’s work has been exhibited at Labor K1 in Berlin, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Projects Gallery in Philadelphia, the Ice Box in Philadelphia, and the CUE Art Foundation in New York. In 2008 she was awarded a Joan Mitchell MFA Grant for her work in mixed media sculpture and installation. Andria is currently a resident in the 40th St. Artist in Residence Program, and teaches at Tyler School of Art.

Beth Beverly is a State- and Federally-licensed taxidermist who has a BFA from Tyler School of Art and graduated from the Pocono Institute of Taxidermy with high marks. Ms. Beverly is passionate about using every part of an animal and being thankful for the ultimate sacrifice each creature makes to land both in her studio and on her plate. She has won numerous awards for her taxidermy creations, including Best in Show at the fifth annual Carnivorous Nights taxidermy contest in New York.  Beth’s work has been exhibited at Bahdee Bahdu Gallery, James Oliver Gallery, Wilbur Vintage Boutique and has been featured in a plethora of fashion & art blogs.

Admission is FREE

Resident Jim Garvey's Circles and Circuits opens on Friday March 11, 2011

40th Street Artist-in-Residence 

Jim Garvey

opens his new show

Circles and Circuits  

Contact:

40thair.program@gmail.com

Jim Garvey

Circles and Circuits 

opening Friday, March 11th, 2011  5-9pm
also on display Fridays March 18 and 25, 3-7pm
AIR SPACE Gallery 4007 Chestnut St. Philadelphia

Jim Garvey, current resident artist at 40th Street Artist-In-Residence program, exhibits recent sculpture, installation, video and mixed media works.  Friday March 11th at AIR SPACE, 4007 Chestnut St. West Philadelphia, 5-9pm.
 
Fusing together many mediums and objects to reach an advanced visual-audible organization, Circles and Circuits questions, and teeters on the line of, work and play, the domestic and public, juxtaposing material concepts of leisure and maintenance, and pleasure or business. Following a linear pathway of process, with an accordion effect of ideas, the work connects the dots between painting, electronics, sculpture, sound, face, place,  objects, and more.

Jim Garvey graduated from Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in May 2007, working with masters from the faculty to focus on a body of work that incorporated multiple media.  He received several awards and grants, including the Lewis S. Ware Travel scholarship for the work "Transient" an installation weaving paintings, sculptures, and a sound arrangement.  Shortly after his return from European Travel Scholarship, Jim graduated from University of Pennsylvania. 

Recently working with a Center City flower shop, MODA botanica, painting a multimedia installation work for exhibition at the Philadelphia Flower Show 2010, the work, entitled "Box", won "Best in Show," and several other awards.  The wall paintings intertwined with floral arrangements displayed the possibilities of urban beatification.  While collaborating with the MODA botannica, Jim's work took a turn in the direction of beatification.  His current projects retain this purpose within mural work, and a series of outdoor garden sculptures arranged from found and recycled materials.     

Jim is currently working with Neighborhood Bike Works and fellow 40th Street Resident, Andria Biblioni-Morales on an after-school Kinetic Sculpture class for local West Philadelphia Youth.  The goal of the project is to design and build a kinetic bike sculpture to ride in this year's Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby. The project received the SCI-West grant for community partnerships and will exhibit and ride the sculpture this May.

AIR Resident Ana B. Hernandez's Solo Exhibit Opens Tonight!

Please join us at our gallery space, 4007 Chestnut Street, tonight, Friday, February 11th, 5:30-9pm, in the opening reception of "Sand and Salt," a solo exhibition of ideas in progress recollecting Ana's experience during the pilgrimage to Santiago she completed last May.

This show is the first one in the exhibition cycle of artists in residence at 40th Street AIR program for 2011.

To see examples of Ana's work, please visit http://www.anabhernandez.com

AIR Resident Ana B. Hernandez solo exhibit opens tonight!

Please join us at our gallery space, 4007 Chestnut Street, tonight, Friday, February 11th, 5:30-9pm, in the opening reception of "Sand and Salt," a solo exhibition of ideas in progress recollecting Ana's experience during the pilgrimage to Santiago she completed last May.

This show is the first one in the exhibition cycle of artists in residence at 40th Street AIR program for 2011.

 

To see examples of Ana's work, please visit http://www.anabhernandez.com

Thanks for coming out for the opening of FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS!

THANKS TO EVERYONE who came out to AIR Space last night for FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS - West Philly Invitational opening! It was a great success, and AIR was very excited to have so many great people to enjoy the exhibition and the wonderful performance by Justin Duerr and Mandy Katz.

Here is some footage from opening night. Please tell your friends and neighbors about your experience and come visit us again! FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS will be open on January 21st and 28th 3-7pm.

Check our blog and keep posted about our monthly exhibitions!

FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS - OPENING NIGHT PHOTOS

Friends and Neighbors - Opening on January 14th Friday 5:30pm

AIR Space presents FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS -A West Philly Invitational

For our January show, 40th ST AIR decided to invite our friend and neighbor artists from West Philly. Come to the opening and start the year fresh and warm with our friends and your friends. There will be a special performance on the opening night by Geb The Great Cackler (Justin Duerr and Mandy Katz).

Featured Artists:
Lanita Sims
Ronald A. Seals Jr.
Jessica Vaughn
Matt Betts
Vinson Houston
Jared Wood
Johanna Marshall
Amy Walsh
Morgan Fitzpatrick Andrews
Beth Nixon
Mandy Katz
Brad LaMere

*The show will open on January 14th and be available to the public every Friday (3-7pm) in January. It will be closing on the 28th.
**40TH ST AIR Space is located at 4007 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.
***RSVP on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=182664821757635&num_event_invites=0

New exhibit coming up!

Please visit our gallery (4007 Chestnut Street) on Friday January 14, 5:30-9pm, to see what our five resident artists (Jim Garvey, Ana Hernandez, Chris Lawrence, Andria Morales, and Erik Ruin) have been up to over the past several weeks. They've invited a diverse sampling of West Philadelphia artists whose work stretches across the proverbial canvas and beyond!
Come for the art • enjoy the refreshments • enjoy the art some more!

Exhibiting artists include: 

Morgan Fitzpatrick Andrews
Matt Betts
Vinson Houston
Brad LaMere
Johanna Marshall
Beth Nixon
Ronald A Seals Jr.
Lanita Sims
Jessica Vaughn
Jared Wood

Amy Walsh

Some info on the artists (more to come):

 Matt Betts is a mixed media and graffiti artist living in West Philly, working on paintings, sculptures and street /mural projects in the Area.  He recently worked with Steven Powel, aka Espo, on the Love Letters mural project along the Blue Line. 

Vinson Houston was born in Philadelphia, is a former 40th Street Artist-in-Residence Artist, and works in sculpture, installations, and performance.  Vinson's work has recently focused on found objects arrangements and paper installations.

Ronald A Seals Jr. is a graphic artist from West Philadelphia who studied at Temple University's Tyler School of Art.  His artwork uses amplified color and combines photographs from everyday life to create unique landscapes.

Lanita Sims is a painter who was born and raised in West Philadelphia, and is earning her BFA at Tyler School of Art.  Her paintings both explore and question the formation of an individual’s identity based on his or her influences. Her paintings for the show are here: Daddy's Way and 22