I have a few things coming up in May – one of them’s a solo series exhibition at the Abington Art Center.  More on that, and some other venues, soon.

On another note, I set up a feed aggregator for the Philly sites I have in my bookmark bars – if you’re interested in learning a bit more about the Philly art scene, you can go here:

http://phillyarts.collected.info/

Or as a feed itself:

feed://collected.info/rss/phillyarts

Best wishes for 2012!

The drawings I make now started out as working drawings for sculptures.  I basically got so interested in mark making that object making became a secondary practice, and then fell off the stage entirely.

I’m fine with that; because I have absolutely no formal 2D training to speak of, there are plenty of challenges left to keep me interested in what I’m doing now.  Color, movement, rhythm, scale, all continue to present challenges for me, and I often feel like I’m learning things which should have been quite obvious.

But there are times when I miss making sculpture.  The long slog of building something from the ground up, the mess and imperfections of fabrication.

Been thinking about this lately.  Not about going back to sculpture – though that’s not out of the running – more about the importance of mess and failure.

Here are some shots from my old studios back on Ainslie Street and Metropolitan Ave, respectively, during the builds for Heaven (2001) and The Shape of the Universe (2004).  Heaven was shown at Rome Arts and in Paradise/Paradox (review by Tom Moody); The Shape of the Universe was in Plane/Elevation at Art in General in 2004.  It was the last major sculpture I made (yet!).

In the first few photos you can see the grid structure that’s embedded in the later versions of the piece – the bones.

Still have some work to do – at the moment adding either “roach buildings” or “tadpoles” (seen in the last two photos) – not really sure how to classify them.

Click to enlarge.

Once a year there’s quite a bit more overlap between our private studio practice and MACAS.  That’s pretty much during Philadelphia Open Studio Tours.

We’ve done POST four years now, and this is our second Open Studio since we launched MACAS.

This year, because we were working with CFEVA on a joint project which opened during the same weekend, the blurring of boundaries were pretty extensive.  We did triple duty – open studios, gallery admin, a speaking piece with a CFEVA Curated Trolley Tour, and Sam running around telling people to sign the guestbook.

Thank you to the 200+ folks who came through our doors during POST 2011.  It’s an exhausting whirlwind that always rewards.

The first image is Andrea’s studio.  Her website is www.andreawohl.com.

New Trails (opening 9/2)

First, I have a few larger pieces in this exhibition –  A large, wide-ranging affair in Chestnut Hill and the Wissickon Valley that includes indoor popup gallery space and artworks situated in outdoor space along the Wissahickon.  Look for my work in the indoor space.  Jimmy Viola from WHYY wrote a great advance piece on the show, here: A New Trail for Germantown Avenue.

http://newtrailsphila.org/

August 15 – October 11th

Artists Reception at the Main Gallery / 8517 Germantown Avenue / Friday September 2nd 6-9 PM

New Trails aims to intelligently and provocatively activate empty storefront venues and outdoor spaces in the Philadelphia community of Chestnut Hill through a series of arts exhibition events.

New Trails presents dynamic young and established artists from the region who are actively utilizing recycled materials, environmentally aware concepts and/or sustainable practices as part of their creative process and output, as well as provide opportunities for artists to investigate and create site-specific, site-conscious projects in the shared regional outdoor space of the historic Wissahickon Valley.

The Affordable Art Fair New York (9/21-9/25)

RHV Fine Art from Brooklyn NY is showcasing four artists for AFFNY this fall:

Noah Loesberg

Mike Childs

Colin Keefe

Liz Jaff

RHV is going have some of my newest work, which I’m pretty excited about.  AAFNY runs from September 21 – 25.  RHV Fine Art is in Booth C-1.

Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (10/1 – 10/2)

New Trails

New Trails aims to intelligently and provocatively activate empty storefront venues and outdoor spaces in the Philadelphia community of Chestnut Hill through a series of arts exhibition events. New Trails will incorporate dynamic young & established artists from the region who are actively utilizing recycled materials, environmentally aware concepts and/or sustainable practices as part of their creative process and output, as well as provide opportunities for artists to investigate and create site-specific, site-conscious projects in the shared regional outdoor space of the historic Wissahickon Valley. We aim to provide additional topical programming including panel discussions, artist walks and presentations, public creative displays and free youth education sessions focused on art and the environment.

The goal of this project is to extend the boundaries and the conversation regarding sustaining community development and outdoor urban resources through utilizing creative work as an exciting catalyst for appreciation, reflection and dialogue. New Trails aspires to create immediate excitement and activity, while fostering a connection between the direction and potentials of the relationship community and commercial development shares with the natural world surrounding it. With New Trails we aim to stimulate growth and investment in the cultural, commercial and natural corridors of these communities.

In conjunction with New Trails a comprehensive full-color exhibition catalog/field-guide will be produced. The catalog will feature original responses to the project and works from Katrina Kuntz (Independent Curator/Critic), Margaret Winslow (Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, Delaware Art Museum) and Bryan Rice (Programmer, Adaptation).

Participating Artists

Brookes Britcher (Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA)
www.brookesbritcher.wordpress.com

Emily Bunker (Philadelphia, PA)
www.emilyjohannabunker.com

Alexander Conner (Philadelphia, PA)
www.footprintproof.blogspot.com

Dumpster Divers (Philadelphia, PA)
www.dumpsterdivers.org

Fritz Horstman (Baltimore, MD)
www.fritzhorstman.com

Ted Houghtaling (Pittsburgh, PA)
www.tedhoughtaling.blogspot.com

Ellie Irons (New York, NY)
www.ellieirons.com

Colin Keefe (Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, PA)
www.colinkeefe.net

Michael Koehler (New York, NY/Germantown, Philadelphia, PA)
www.michaelmkoehler.com

Caroline Lathan-Steifel (West Chester, PA)
www.carolinelathanstiefel.net

Jason Lee (Morgantown, WV)
www.jleesculpture.com

Max Liboiron (New York, NY)
www.maxliboiron.com

Ron Longsdorf (Spartanburg, SC)
www.ronlongsdorf.com

Daniel Mahlman (Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, PA)
www.danmahlman.com

Joanna Platt (Philadelphia, PA)
www.joannaplatt.com

Stephen Ruszkowski (Wilmington, DE)
www.local-artists.org/users/stephen-ruszkowski

Mike Ryan (Philadelphia, PA)

Hiro Sakaguchi (Philadelphia, PA)
www.hirosakaguchi.com

Phillip Scarpone (Wilmington, DE)
www.phillipscarpone.com

Michael Sebright (Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA)
www.stimulantdesign.us

William Schlough (Pittsburgh, PA)
www.willschlough.com

Merian Soto (Philadelphia, PA)
www.meriansoto.com

Harrison Tyler (Baltimore, MD)
www.harrisontyler.com

Lindsay Yeager (Newark, DE)

Jim Zeske (West Chester, PA)
www.jimzeske.blogspot.com

New Trails is curated by Brookes Britcher and Bryan Rice.

New Trails is a sponsored project of the City of Philadelphia Department of CommerceReStore Corridors Through Art initiative.

Stimuli • Stimulus

All in all, 2010 was a pretty good year for me – the best in terms of output since we moved to Philly.  Part of that was finally being settled, no major home/studio construction projects, the kid getting older, and a more reasonable gallery schedule for MACAS.

I’m looking forward to seeing what 2011 holds.