Marjorie Van Cura (MFA '02) interviewed by Peter Gynd Medley of Northside Open Studios

In the Studio: With Majorie Van Cura
By Peter Gynd Medley
posted May 7, 2011
www.northsideopenstudios.org/news/

This week I visited with Greenpoint artist Marjorie Van Cura.
Van Cura’s work is born of experience; her father a computer programmer at a genetic research lab, Van Cura’s work is informed by her personal experiences and reflections on genetic hybridization. Dealing directly with building personally relevant icons through appropriated imagery, her work bypasses the narrative, focusing instead on the subconscious processing of ideas.

Marjorie’s paintings begin with a Google image search. She searches for photos illustrative of both her experiences and the subconscious of an experience. The images are then digitally collaged together forming a hybridized human/animal/mechanical icon.

Reflective of genetic exploration, these icons undergo a series of changes through their generational reproduction. Referring to this as the “generation of a generation”, Marjorie hand traces these forms repeatedly to her final surface, the icon changing or evolving slightly with every successive transfer. This process produces paintings which upon first glance appear as perfectly balanced and symmetrical compositions of repeating forms. Upon closer inspection though, Van Cura’s paintings slowly reveal the subtle variations of the process.

Referencing Op Art and Surrealism, the works are pattern and color based, meant to be disorientating, but not completely overwhelming. The imagery of the icons reflective of the hybridization of contemporary culture and as Van Cura puts it, “a way to process the world and events without being overly political.”

To view more of Marjorie's work, visit www.marjorievancura.com.

Northside Open Studios: June 16th - 19th
* Note: Marjorie Van Cura will be in studio on Sunday only, June 19th from 12:00 - 6:00pm.

Majorie's Studio Location
255 Calyer Street
(@ corner of Newel)
Second Floor
Greenpoint Brooklyn

Penn Design 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Opening May 12th, 6pm

Penn Design Fine Arts is proud to present the 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition at the at the Ice Box exhibition space in Crane Arts, Philadelphia. The exhibition will bring together works by the 22 artists who will graduate from the program this May. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Exhibiting Artists: Paige Adair, Amy Archambault, Sandy Boyer, Zoe Chronis, Sarah Cohen, Robert Dimin, Rachel Eschenbach, Stephen Grebinski, Justine Hill, Beth Hull, Soo Kang, Bradley LaMere, Elina Malkin, Michael Marfione, Kent Miller, Jayson Scott Musson, Heidi Nam, Martha Rich, John Schlesinger, Tamara Suber, Jessica Vaughn, and Jessica Yang.

The PennDesign MFA class of 2011 has been challenged to independently pursue artistic research in visual art. With the graduation of this class, we celebrate the Fine Arts program's new unification of individual disciplines. For example, the work of a photographer is no less conscious of the universe of painting, and a video artist might have equal interest in sculpture. These graduating students have had exposure to international traveling studios, sponsored residencies, and visiting faculty. The combination of these experiences have broadened the students' perspectives and shaped their responsibilities as artists.

To learn more about the exhibition, visit http://pennexhibitions.com/index.php?/home/mfa_shows/2011/

Opening Reception: Thursday, May 12th, 6:00 - 9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Thursday, May 12th - Sunday, May 29th

Crane Arts Building: Ice Box Project Space
1400 North American Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Sunday 12:00 - 6:00pm

Brent Wahl (Lecturer, MFA '06) in Solo Exhibition at Vox Populi, Opening May 6th, 6pm

Brent Wahl (Lecturer, MFA '06) will have work featured in his fourth solo exhibition at Vox Populi, entitled "Group Show". Fabricating three-dimensional "situations" that move through contextual and visual shifts is an ongoing interest in Brent Wahl’s work, as are reoccurring themes that investigate cultural phenomena, abstraction, architecture and illusion. For Wahl, abstraction has often been the "glue" that binds together the disparate visual forms in his varied work.

In "Group Show", Wahl refocuses his interest in abstraction in full force. Drawing on his fascination with the optical and spatial shifts that happen between three-dimensional structures imaged in two-dimensions (via photography), he embraces a playful and experimental stance with this work. Collaborating with himself, he compiles a “group show" of imagery that is at once thematically linked and visually diverse.

To view more of Wahl's work, visit, http://brentwahl.com/home.html

Opening Reception: Friday, May 6th, 6:00 - 11:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Friday, May 6th - Sunday, May 29th

Vox Populi
319 North 11th Street
Philadelphia, PA
http://www.voxpopuligallery.org/

Caroline Santa (MFA '07) in Solo Exhibition at Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Opening May 6th, 6pm

Caroline Santa (MFA '07) will have recent work featured in a solo exhibition, titled "Coda", at Tiger Strikes Asteroid. Mining old drawings, discarded scraps of paper, and other found items, Santa's newest mixed media works are improvisatory, intuitive, and guided by serendipity. "Coda" is the inaugural exhibition in Tiger Strikes Asteroid's new space on the 2nd floor.

Santa's previously unresolved drawings are remembered, reexamined, and reshaped to become a fresh inventory of color, marks, and surfaces. Enforced by other found items, this collection of materials is recognized for an undeveloped portential and an appreciation of its own characteristics. Her thoughtfulness in observations and the inspiration she finds in overlooked fragments and secondary forms reveals a compelling process. The negative spaces of Santa's drawings become the subject, cut out and reinforced by the application of arbitrary shapes in gouaches, ink washes, spray paint and graphite. Santa holds a BFA from the University of Delaware and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. Recently her work has been shown at Projects Gallery, UnSmoke Space, and Gross McCleaf Gallery. In 2007, she was the recipient of the Charles Addams Prize, and was an Artist-in-Residence in Pereira, Colombia. Her work has been exhibited at The Delaware Center of Contemporary Art, FLUXspace, The Jenny Jaskey Gallery, The University of the Arts, the galleries of The University of Pennsylvania, and The Lucy Tejada Cultural Center in Pereira, Colombia. Santa lives and works in Philadelphia.

To view more works by Santa, visit http://carolinesanta.com/news.html

Opening Reception: Friday, May 6th 6:00pm-10:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Friday May 6th - Sunday May 29th

Tiger Strikes Asteroid
319A North 11th Street
2nd Floor (Our New Location!)
Philadelphia PA 19107

Joe Ovelman (MFA '10) in Solo Exhibition at Conner Contemporary Art, Opening May 14th, 6pm

Conner Contemporary Art is pleased to present concurrent solo exhibitions by Jeremy Kost, Joe Ovelman and Geoffrey Aldridge. Joe Ovelman (MFA '10) explores sexuality and the subversion of social norms with a series of new sculptures in his second solo exhibition with the gallery, "Coming Home". Works made of wood and mixed media resemble apparatuses used in past decades to provide anonymity during sexual encounters. Removing these forms from their original contexts and adjusting the relation of their features to human anatomy, Ovelman emphasizes the universality of these objects.

To view more of Ovelman's work, visit http://joeovelman.com/home.


Opening Reception: Saturday, May 14th, 6:00 - 8:00pm.
Exhibition Dates: May 14th – July 2nd, 2011


Conner Contemporary Art
1358 Florida Avenue,
NE –Washington, DC 20002
(in the Historic Atlas/H Street Area)
http://www.connercontemporary.com/
202.588.8750
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 - 5:00pm

Marc Blumthal (MFA '10) in Group Exhibition at the Woodbury Hollywood Gallery (WUHO), CA, Opening Thursday April 14th, 7pm

Marc Blumthal (MFA '10) will have work featured in a group exhibition titled, "2D3D-2: Drawing in the Post-Digital Age" at the Woodbury University School of Architecture Hollywood Gallery (WUHO) in Los Angeles, California. Drawing is a major and parallel mode of expression for many of today’s progressive architects. The gallery thus proposes "2D3D", a comprehensive annual exhibition of architectural drawings. Please join the Blumthal and additional artists for this special event.

"Architectural drawings have a variety of uses: to instruct, inform, indulge, confuse, confirm, congratulate and console. The most worthwhile are those that undertake these essential architectural tasks on behalf of the producer rather than the consumer. When this is the case, which is rare, then such drawings do indeed become an integral part of the architecture they portray rather than a cypher for thoughts translated elsewhere, and by other means."
-Cedric Price

To see more of Blumthal's work, visit http://www.marcblumthal.com/

Opening Reception: Thursday, April 14th, 7:00 - 10:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Thursday, April 14th - Sunday, May 1st

Woodbury University School of Architecture
Hollywood Gallery (WUHO)
6518 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, California 90029
http://wuho.org/

Fine Arts Lecture Series: Mika Rottenberg, Thursday, April 21st, 5:30pm

The Penn Design Fine Arts Lecture Series is pleased to present a lecture by video installation artist, Mika Rottenberg. Rottenberg's latest work, "Squeeze" (2010), presents an uncommon and unsettling vision of art and commerce that is mirrored in the uncommon and potentially disorienting museum experience she creates for viewers. To reach the video, one must travel a mazelike installation. This physical passage offers a through-the-rabbit-hole journey into an alternate art space in which impossible and uncanny events transpire, serving as an architectural symbol of the absurdist approach with which Rottenberg produces serious commentary on current social conditions.

To create her short films, Rottenberg typically pursues an idea through drawings that give free rein to her imagination. Next she begins the careful casting process to find real people (instead of trained actors) who will interact with her mazelike, sculptural installation. She collaborates with a team of carpenters, engineers, and other assistants to build the environment or film set. Even before the construction is complete, she works with her characters in the space—almost as objects or motion studies—filming them and tailoring each compartment to fit their behaviours and unique corporeal features. Rottenberg makes feminist art decades after feminism was legibly defined. She makes seriously political art that is preposterously funny. She documents reality, but spins it into narrative fiction. With "Squeeze" (2010), Rottenberg hones these signature tactics, creating a video installation that is both humorous and unsettling.

Mika Rottenberg was born in Buenos Aires in 1976, and holds a BFA from the School of Visual Arts (2000) and an MFA from Columbia University (2004). She lives and works in New York. Solo exhibitions include San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; La Maison Rouge, Paris; KW Institute of Contemporary Art, Berlin; and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York. Her work has been exhibited in the 2008 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art; the Tate Modern, London; Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao and New York); The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Uncertain States of America: American Art in the Third Millenium (multiple venues, 2005-2006). In March 2011 she will have a monographic exhibition at de Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam.

To learn more of Rottenberg's work, visit http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/arts/design/26galleries-MIKAROTTENBE_RVW.html

Event Date and Time: Thursday, April 21st, 5:30pm

Morgan Building
205 South 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
*Once you enter the building the lecture will be in the room immediately to your right.

Nathlie Provosty (MFA '07) in Group Exhibition at Fowler's Gallery, Brooklyn, Opening April 23rd, 6pm

Fowler Arts Collective is pleased to present "Fist City", an exhibition of abstract paintings by EJ Hauser, Logan Grider, Matt Phillips, and Nathlie Provosty (MFA '07).

A fist is the hand’s best attempt to organize itself. More often than not, our attempts to create order and meaning only remind us of how lawless and mysterious life actually is. What does the inside of your closed hand even look like? "Fist City" is not just a place; ...it is a community and a credo. Hands reaching out to grasp, touch, and configure the entropic. When words become too elusive and you have to take matters directly into your hands, you have entered "Fist City". Titled after the infamous Loretta Lynn song of the same name, "Fist City" embodies the bold, take-notice attitude of Lynn’s lyrics. The artists in "Fist City" are engaged in a rigorous investigation of abstraction and all the different forms it can take. The exhibition is a collaboration between the artists: self-directed and independently organized with the support of Fowler Arts Collective. In addition to paintings, the artists have produced a limited edition broadsheet that will accompany the exhibition.The artists live and work primarily in New York City and Philadelphia. Fowler is a new gallery and studio collective located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn founded by Cecelia Post (MFA '09).

To learn more about Fowler and this exhibition, visit http://www.fowlerartsbrooklyn.org/.

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 23rd, 6:00 - 9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: April 23rd to May 7th, 2011

Fowler Arts Collective Gallery
67 West Street, 2nd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11222
Gallery Hours: Saturday and Sunday 12:00 - 6:00pm or by appointment

Francesca Pfister (MFA '07) and Stefania Luciani Binnick (MFA '87) in Exhibition at the Consulate General:Italy, Philadelphia, Opening April 28th, 6pm

Francesca Pfister (MFA '07) and Stefania Luciani Binnick (MFA '87) will have work featured in a Group Exhibition titled, "The Unity of Italy and USA: A Bridge of 150 Year". Curated by Shara Wasserman, the exhibition will hosts two openings at the Crane Arts Building: Gray Area and the Consulate General of Italy, Independent Mall. Wasserman is the Exhibitions Director at Temple University Rome. A video projection and concert will be featured the day prior to Pfister and Binnick's opening.

* Opening Reception: Thursday, April 28th, 6:00 - 9:00pm

* Consulate General of Italy: Philadelphia
150 South Independence Mall W
Philadelphia, PA



Concert and Video Projection: Wednesday, April 27th 6:00 - 9:00pm

Crane Arts: Gray Area
1400 North American Street
Philadelphia, PA

Penn Alumni at Tiger Strikes Asteroid Promoting Gallery for Funding Support

Tiger Strikes Asteroid has been home to 25 exhibitions since it began in 2009. These include solo shows of its member artists and group and solo exhibits from local and national non-members as well. Our goal is to connect the Philadelphia art community with the National and International community by exhibiting a diverse array of exhibits and other programs.
In the coming months the gallery is also pleased to announce that it will move to a beautiful new space on the 2nd floor of the building it is currently in (319A North 11th Street). This will further plant the gallery in the vibrant community it has been apart of since it began and will increase opportunities for dialogue and conversation with other exhibition spaces and artist groups. In the coming months we will feature member exhibitions from Caroline Santa and Alex Paik, two person exhibitions from Amy Beecher and Susan Bricker, solo exhibitions from Tracy Thomason and Gerard Brown and an exhibit curated by Wallace Whitney, a New York based painter and part owner of the Lower East Side gallery, Canada.

With these coming exhibits comes increased costs. Tiger Strikes Asteroid is asking for funds to help with operating expenses, move related costs and other bills that may arise as we develop our gallery and programming.

Money donated to Tiger Strikes Asteroid will go to:
-The construction and renovations of our new gallery space.
-Shipping costs so we can bring artists from afar to our gallery.
-Equipment so we can expand the scope of our exhibits and programming.
-Costs associated with the development of a visiting speaker series.

Here is the link. Please donate today!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2082312048/tiger-strikes-asteroid-moves-and-expands

To learn more about Tiger Strikes Asteroid, visit http://www.tigerstrikesasteroid.com/

Kim Brickley (MFA '09) and Sarah Zimmer (MFA '08) create light installation for new project by the Mural Arts Program, Philadelphia

Kim Brickley (MFA '09) and Sarah Zimmer (MFA '08) contribute to a new project by the Mural Arts Program, in conjunction with the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association. The project plans to bring a more permanent light installation to the city. The Spring Garden Gateway Project is an interactive light installation created by Brickley and Zimmer, which hopes to cover the I-95 underpass at Second and Spring Garden Streets with Lightwild Pixel LED lights and motion sensors to “transform the space into an interactive environment that pulses with light and movement.”

People, bikes and cars would all activate motion sensors, which (depending on the speed and position of said commuters) would activate pixels varying in color and brightness. The display would be ever-changing and depend entirely on the commotion of the city around it. Michael Sebright is the architectural consultant on the job, Adam Rokhsar of Harvestworks is the interactive programmer and Billy Hodges of Illuminations is the lighting consultant on the project.

To learn more about this project, visit http://nakedphilly.com/northern-liberties/the-spring-garden-gateway-project-an-interactive-light-installation-under-95/

Linnea Paskow (MFA '02) in Exhibition at the President's Gallery, Pratt Institute, Opening April 14th, 4pm

Linnea Paskow (MFA '02) in will have her collages featured in an exhibition at the President's Gallery, Pratt Institute. Paskow is a visual artist who works with collage as her primary medium. She is an Assistant Professor Pratt Institute's upstate location at Munson-Williams-Proctor in Utica. She is also a Visiting Assistant Professor in the foundation department at Pratt Institute. She has an M.F.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Haverford College. Locations of recent group exhibitions include: The New York Design Center and The Painting Center, in New York City; the Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia; and the Anna Bondonio Gallery in Alba, Italy. In 2007, she had a solo show at Kunstoffice in Berlin, and her work was included in 07_Art Projects with Michael Steinberg Fine Art in London. A solo installation of her work will be shown in the project room of Michael Steinberg Fine Art in the fall of 2008.

For more information, please visit http://www.linneapaskow.com.


Opening Reception: Thursday, April 14th, 4:00 - 5:30pm
Exhibition Dates: April 14th - February 2011

President’s Office Gallery
Pratt Institute
Main Building, First Floor
200 Willoughby Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205
Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday, 10:00am-4:00pm

Jane Irish (MFA Program Coordinator) receives the Alfred and Trafford Klots International Program for Artists Residency

Jane Irish (MFA Program Coordinator) recently received the Alfred and Trafford Klots International Program for Artists Residency in
Léhon, France. The residency invites Irish to a five week program beginning May 15th, 2011. In addition it provides artists with notable resources includinng Painting French rooms, WWII landscapes and beautiful churches. In 1989, Isabel Klots founded the Artist Residency Program in Rochefort-en-Terre in memory of her father-in-law, Alfred Klots, and her husband, Trafford Klots, both artists, and of their hospitality to other artists. In 1995, Maryland Institute College of Art began to administer the program. The "Friends of Rochefort" was established in 1998 to support the program as its focus and reputation expanded. Through the generosity of the Friends and of Isabel Klots, MICA has established an endowment fund for the Residency Program. Through 2010, the Residency Program was housed on the grounds of the Château that Alfred Klots created in the early 20th century from medieval structures remaining on the site of an ancient castle destroyed during the French Revolution. Now, because the Château requires extensive renovation and is no longer habitable, MICA has moved the Residency Program to Léhon, another extraordinary medieval village in Brittany. Irish, a painter, received her MFA from Queens College, CUNY, and has exhibited in New York and Philadelphia since 1983. Irish’s ceramic work can be seen in the Institute of Contemporary Art’s exhibition, Dirt on Delight: Impulses Which Form Clay (Jan 16 - Mar 29, 2009), which travels to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN. In 2002-03, Irish created a large-scale installation for the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts - her first solo museum exhibition, History Lesson. She is currently represented by Locks Gallery, Philadelphia.

In addition to receiving the Alfred and Trafford Klots International Program for Artists Residency, Irish has been named the Bill Co-Organizer of the Bill Walton exhibition opening at ICA in September 2011.

Nathlie Provosty (MFA '07) in Group Exhibition at Jolie Laide, Opening April 8th, 6pm

Nathlie Provosty (MFA '07) will have work featured in a group exhibition titled "Becoming Something Found" at Jolie Laide, Philadelphia. "Becoming Something Found" explores how chance and uncertainty guide the processes of making art. The exhibition included artists from different generations who “collaborate with chance” (Rebecca Solnitt). The artists are connected through practices that involve unplanned gestures and indirect courses. Their processes are similar yet disparate, overlapping in approaches to materials and abstraction and varying in particularities of methods and imagery. For all of the artists, making art entails an ability to get lost and to remain open to what one may find. Additional artists featured include Jessica Dickinson, Emily Do, Rachel Foullon, Shelia Hicks, Alison Knowles, Fabienne Lasserre, Siobhan Liddell, Ree Morton, Jo Smail, and Molly Smith.

To see more of Provosty's work, visit http://www.nathlieprovosty.com/


Opening Reception: Friday, April 8th, 6:00 - 8:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Friday, April 1st - Saturday, May 28th

Jolie Laide Gallery
224 N. Juniper St.
Philadelphia, Pa 19107
http://www.jolielaide.com

Chloe Isadora Reison and Mary Valverde (MFA '12 candidates) in Exhibition at the Morgan Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Opening April 8th, 6pm

In "Deliberate Enigmas", Chloe Isadora Reison and Mary Valverde (MFA '12 candidates) present their individual sculptural works, as well as a collaborative performance piece, to take place the night of the opening. Both Reison and Valverde are interested in material culture, consumption and excess. They execute their respective work quite differently from one another, though each artist approaches their practice with a similar and curious sense of exploration, and a dedication to formalism. Their goal in showing together is to perpetuate the influence and inspiration the two artists have taken from one another, as well as to see what dialogue may arise in the joining of their work. Reison and Valverde see this as the start of a conversation that they hope to continue throughout their careers.


Opening Reception: Friday April 8th, 6:00 - 8:00pm
Performance Time: 7:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Friday, April 8th - Friday, April 15th

Morgan Gallery
Department of Fine Arts
University of Pennsylvania
205 S 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Jessica Vaughn (MFA '11 candidate) in Exhibition at DuBois College House, University of Pennsylvania, Opening April 5th, 7pm

In "Redress", Jessica Vaughn (MFA '11 candidate) presents photographs and works on panel made during her graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She explores printmaking and photography in unconventional ways by altering the surface of her works through processes of drawing, painting and erasure. Vaughn’s work starts with a recognizable image, found photographs from magazines, newspaper sources or ones that she has taken. She combines different processes together to create connectivity and analysis in images where it is generally assumed none exists. Such is the case in her recent work where she uses 16 th century Dutch woodcuts and African American hairpieces, or installation set-ups of cardboard banker boxes, iconic red plaid plastic bags and faux star galaxy backdrops. Her sense of abstraction has developed from translating information that is often recognized and seen as monolithic into something new.

To view more of Vaughn's work, visit http://jessvaughn.com/home.html

Opening Reception: Tuesday April 5th , 7:00 - 9:00pm

DuBois College House
University of Pennsylvania
39th and Walnut
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Matt Neff (MFA '05 & Undergraduate Faculty) has print featured on cover of the Philagrafika Graphic Unconscious Exhibition Catalog

Matt Neff's (MFA '05) print with Óscar Muñoz was recently chosen to featured on the cover of the Philagrafika Graphic Unconscious Exhibition Catalog. The Graphic Unconscious catalog is a reference for the expanded field of printmaking featuring work by forty artists and collectives, working in a variety of media from traditional print to multi-disciplinary practices, featured in The Graphic Unconscious exhibition of the Philagrafika 2010 festival. Featured artists within the catalog and Philagrafika include Lisa Anne Auerbach, Eric Avery, Christiane Baumgartner, Erick Beltrán, Bitterkomix, Mark Bradford, Cannonball Press, Enrique Chagoya, Sue Coe, Julius Deutschbauer, Dexter Sinister, Dispatch, Drive By Press, Eloísa Cartonera, Art Hazelwood, Pablo Helguera, Orit Hofshi, Thomas Kilpper, Gunilla Klingberg, Virgil Marti, Paul Morrison, Óscar Muñoz, Pepón Osorio, Carl Pope, Qui Zhijie, Duke Riley, Betsabeé Romero, Francesc Ruiz, Jenny Schmid, Self Help Graphics & Art, Regina Silveira, Kiki Smith, Space 1026, Superflex, Swoon, Tabaimo, Temporary Services, Barthélémy Toguo, Tromarama, and YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES.

Tra Bouscaren (MFA '12 candidate) will present selected work at Stony Brook University's Philosophy and the Arts Conference, April 1st, 11am

Tra Bouscaren (MFA '12 candidate) has been selected to present his work "Progressive Palingenesis" at the Stony Brook University, Philosophy and the Arts Conference. The conference hosts an excellent lineup of philosophers, artists, art historians, and scholars from other fields coming from across North America to present their ideas and artworks. The Keynote Speaker for the event, Dr. Kaja Silverman (University of Pennsylvania, Art History) will address the conference on Friday. Information on the conference, as well as the schedule of events for Friday, April 1st and Saturday April, 2nd can be viewed at the link below. For more information regarding this event, visit http://www.philosophyartconference.org/2011-conference.html

Event Date and Time: Friday April 1st, 11:00am - Saturday April 2nd, 7:45pm

Stony Brook University, Manhattan
387 Park Avenue South, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10016
(Please enter at the 101. E. 27th Street entrance, below the Stony Brook flag)

Fine Arts Lecture Series: Michelle Grabner, Thursday March 31st, 6pm

The Penn Design Fine Arts Lecture series presents Michelle Grabner and her lecture at the ICA. Michelle Grabner is an artist and writer. She is also is a corresponding editor for X-tra and ArtUS. Her writing has been published in Artforum, Modern Painters, Frieze, Contemporary, X-tra, Art Press, Teme Celeste among others.

Professor and Painting and Drawing Department Chair at The School of the Art Institute, she has also taught at The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cranbrook Academy of Art, and the Yale Norfolk Program. Recent visiting artist engagements include California Institute of the Arts; Albert College of Art and Design, Calgary; American University; Bennington College; California College of Art; and the San Francisco Art Institute.

Grabner is also the founder and director of The Suburban, an artist-run project space in Oak Park, Illinois, which over the past ten years has hosted projects by numerous major and emerging artists. A ten-year anniversary catalogue titled Can I Come Over to Your House: The First Ten Years of The Suburban, with essays by Michelle Grabner Michael Newman is being published later this year. She and her husband Brad Killam also run The Poor Farm, a kunsthalle in Waupaca County WI.

She has exhibited her work at Musée d´art Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg; Stadtgalerie, Keil; Kunsthalle, Bern; Daimler Contemporary, Berlin; Midway, Minneapolis; Rocket, London; INOVA, Milwaukee; Southfirst, Brooklyn; Gallery 16, San Francisco; Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI; Feigen, Inc. New York; Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago; The Milwaukee Art Museum; Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen; McKenzie; Bricks and Kicks, Vienna; Turbinehallerne, Copenhagen; Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, Kansas.

To learn more about Grabner's work, visit http://www.michellegrabner.com/

Event Date and Time: Thursday, March 31st, 6:00pm

The Institute of Contemporary Art
Tuttleman Auditorium
118 South 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
http://www.icaphila.org/events/

Kelsey Halliday Johnson (MFA '12 candidate) and Robert Dimin (MFA '11 candidate) in Exhibition at Project Space 240 Church, Opening April 1st, 6pm

Kelsey Halliday Johnson (MFA '12 candidate) and Robert Dimin (MFA '11 candidate) will be in a group exhibition titled, "After the Curtain" at Project Space 240 Church, Philadelphia. The exhibition features the latest work by Leigh Barrow, Reed Barrow
Mia Berg, Justin Melnick, Stephen K. Schuster, Dimin, Johnson & others.

Opening Reception: Friday, April 1st, 6:00 - 9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Friday, April 1st - Saturday, April 30th



Project Space 240 Church
240 Church Street (Between Market & Arch and 2nd & 3rd)
Philadelphia, PA 19104
http://projectspace240church.com/home.html

Jayson Musson (MFA '11 candidate) interviewed in "Art in America"

Jayson Musson (MFA '11 candidate) was recently interviewed by Brian Boucher in "Art in America". Musson's alter-ego, Hennessey Youngman is the latest phenomenon to sweep the Internet. Musson / Youngman, the creator of "Art Thoughtz", who is black, styles himself in one of his videos as "the pimp of one-liners". He offers screamingly funny and sometimes sharply critical observations on the art world in the form of instructional videos. Topics range from the perils of copying Bruce Nauman ("You into torture? Shit, I'm into torture. Shit, you know what? Too bad. Bruce Nauman, he owns torture!"), to understanding relational esthetics, to how to be a successful artist. Over the last year, 10 videos have been posted, all in the same genre, some purportedly responding to requests and comments from viewers.

To view more of Musson's "Art in America" interview, visit http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-opinion/conversations/2011-03-24/hennessey-youngman-youtube/

Visit http://www.youtube.com/user/HennesyYoungman to catch the latest Hennessey footage.

Fine Arts Lecture Series: Stan Douglas, Thursday March 24th, 5:30pm

Stan Douglas is an artist whose work explores social histories played out through a complex cinematic and televisual language. His interest in the social implementation of western ideas of progress, particularly utopian philosophies, is located in their often divisive political and economic effects. His interrogation of the structural possibilities of film and video, in concert with intricately developed narratives, has resulted in a number of groundbreaking contemporary art works. These have been
included in exhibitions around the globe, most recently in Documenta 11, 25th Bienal de Sao Paulo, and the 51st Venice Biennale.

(Reid Shier, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Contemporary Art Gallery, Stan Douglas: Every Building on 100 West Hastings, 2002)

To learn more about Stan Douglas' work, http://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/17/

Event Date and Time: Thursday, March 24th, 5:30pm

Meyerson Hall, Room B1*
210 S 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
http://www.icaphila.org/events/

* Please note the change of location, this lecture will be held in Meyerson Hall Room B1.
Afterwards please remember to stop by The ICA’s opening reception for Shelia Hicks: 50 Years lasting from
* 6:00 - 8:00pm.

University of Pennsylvania Undergraduate Fine Arts Senior Thesis Exhibition, Opening March 23rd, 5pm

Please join the University of Pennsylvania Undergraduate Fine Arts Class of 2011 for their Undergraduate Senior Thesis Exhibition. Artists featured in the exhibition include Li-Hsing Chen, Siede Coleman, Sarah Dekker, Rebecca Donald, Fay Fussell, Rachel Ivanhoe, Jeremy Maas, Stacey Toseland, and Greg Wall. The Class of 2011 has spent the past year preparing for this show which reflects a culmination of their work. The exhibition hosts a variety of media including painting, animation, sculpture, installation and text / digital media. It also presents a diverse array of content.

To learn more about the Thesis Exhibition, visit http://www.design.upenn.edu/fineartsthesis2011/index.html

Opening Reception: Wednesday, March 23rd 5:00 - 7:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Wednesday, March 23rd - Thursday, April 21st

Charles Addams Fine Arts Gallery
University of Pennsylvania
200 South 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00 - 5:00pm, Saturdays upon request

MFA '11 & '12 Graduates Candidates in Group Exhibition at the Morgan Gallery, Opening March 22nd, 5:30pm

Several MFA '11 & '12 graduate candidates will be featured in a group exhibition titled, "Trembling: A Collaborative Ongoing Installation" in the Morgan Gallery, University of Pennsylvania. This ongoing collaborative installation takes place on behalf of graduate faculty Matt Freedman's Drawing Seminar. The seminar pauses in midstream for an evening of viewing and celebration. In the spirit of experimentation, the seminar and exhibiting artists invite you to explore this work amidst it's progress. The exhibition will be up and continuing to evolve until March 27th. Artists featured include Tra Bouscaren , Sarah Goffstein, Kelsey Halliday Johnson, Elina Malkin, Saori Moriizumi, Yoorim Park, Erik Reinholdz, Meredith Sellers, Woohyun Shim, Brett Wiemann and Mikey Winsor

Opening Reception: Tuesday, March 22nd 5:30 - 8:30pm
Exhibition Dates: March 22nd - March 27th (Visit the MFA Graduate Office for Appointment)

The Morgan Gallery
University of Pennsylvania
205 S. 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA, 19104

Alexis Granwell (MFA '07) in Exhibition with Rick Lewis at MACAS, Opening March 5th, 6pm

Mount Airy Contemporary Artists Space (MACAS) is pleased to present artwork by Philadelphia artist Alexis Granwell (MFA '07) and Brooklyn artist Rick Lewis. Utilizing a variety of techniques and media, including painting, print and wall-mounted assemblage, the artists demonstrate their connection to place. Their work is as much about the performance of making as it is about the paradoxical tension between their use of fragile materials and the strength of their designs. Granwell is inspired by the cycle of decay and renewal in the urban landscape. Using detritus from the city she assembles constructions that suggest new possibilities. Her prints incorporate the lines and patterns of topographical maps leading us to a visualization of a psychological geography. MACAS is a small artist-run exhibition space in the northwest of Philadelphia. The gallery’s program is focused on connecting artists and artist communities through exhibitions that pair artists from different regions.

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 5th, 6:00 - 9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Saturday, March 5th - Saturday, April 2nd

MACAS
25 West Mt. Airy Avenue
Philadelphia PA, 19119
267.270.2787
info@mountairycontemporary.com
http://www.mountairycontemporary.com/
Gallery Hours: Saturdays 1:00 - 4:00pm

Tetsugo Hyakutake (MFA '09) in Exhibition at Gallery 339, Opening March 8th

Gallery 339 is pleased to present "Ephemeral Existence", an exhibition by Tetsugo Hyakutake (MFA '09). In "Ephemeral Existence", Hyakutake explores the contradictions inherent in the Japanese landscape and how those contradictions offer clues to understanding Japan today. Hyakutake’s work focuses primarily on industry and the infrastructure of modern society (bridges, railroads, highways), through which he seeks to decipher recent Japanese history and culture. Hyakutake’s conflicted relationship with these sites comes across in his ambiguous images. The grandeur of the structures suggests his admiration for the role that industrialization played in making the Japan of today: a manufacturing superpower, the second largest economy in the world, a country rebuilt from the ashes of the Second World War. Yet the images are not robust celebrations of national pride. There is an uncertainty to these structures. They have an ephemeral quality, as if they might disperse in the night air—beautiful dreams rather than steel and concrete. Hyakutake’s industrial photographs are also more than cold documents; they are suffused with a surprising sense of humanity, evoking the lives and toil that stand behind these monuments. The industrial miracle of the post war era clearly returned Japan from defeat to a remarkable economic victory, but Hyakutake ponders whether the price was too high and the victory too fleeting.

Opening Reception: Friday, April 8th, 6:00 - 8:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Tuesday, March 8th - Saturday, May 7th

Gallery 339
NE corner of 21st & Pine Streets
Five Star Parking Garage is located between 20th and 21st Streets on Lombard Street
http://gallery339.com/html/

Edward Carey (MFA '09) in Group Exhibition with Philadelphia Sculptors at Urban Outfitters Headquarters, Opening, March15th, 5pm

Edward Carey (MFA '09) will be featured in a group exhibition with Philadelphia Sculptors at Urban Outfitters Headquarters. Philadelphia Sculptors is fortunate to be able to share in its new development with their upcoming exhibition, "The Journey", in one of URBN's renovated buildings that also houses a restaurant and coffee bar, both open to the public. Twelve artists will exhibit sculptures and installations in this historically renovated brick and glass building on the URBN campus. Featured artists include Tom Bendtsen, Edward Carey, Carol Cole, James Fuhrman, Melissa Haims, Daniel Hoffman, Kim Knauer, Tecu'Mish Munha'Ke, Joanna Platt, Colleen Rudolf, Libbie Soffer, and Carol Wisker will exhibit their works in the gallery space leading to the public restaurant. Using a wide range of materials and techniques, artists portray life's journeys as they offer glimpses of flying and walking, transient experiences and deep memories, beginnings and endings. Join them at the opening reception for art, for ambience, and of course, for refreshments. Please RSVP by March 14 to urbncommunity@urbn.com

Opening Reception: Tuesday, March 15th, 5:00 - 8:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Tuesday, March 15th - Friday, April 15th

Philadelphia Sculptors at Urban Outfitters Headquarters
Sculpture and Installations at Gallery at B543
5000 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19112
http://www.philasculptors.org/events.htm

Justine Hill, Bradley LaMere and Jessica Vaughn (MFA '11 candidates) in Group Exhibition at Project Space 240 Church, Opening March 4th, 5pm

Justine Hill, Bradley LaMere and Jessica Vaughn (MFA '11 candidates) will be featured in a group exhibition titled, "Fire and Smoke" at Project Space 240 Church, Philadelphia. The exhibition will feature the latest works in painting, drawing, sculpture and performance by Hill, LaMere and Vaughn. The performance is scheduled for 7pm.

Opening Reception: Friday, March 4th, 5:00 - 9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Friday, March 4th - Sunday, March 27th




Project Space 240 Church
Located between Market & Arch Street and 2nd & 3rd Street
Philadelphia, PA
http://projectspace240church.com/home.html

Tadashi Moriyama (MFA '06) featured at multiple venues for Art Fair NYC, Opening the 1st week of March

Tadashi Moriyama (MFA '06) will be featured at two venues for Art Fair NYC. His first exhibition will be held at ARTPROJX CINEMA at the SVA Theatre, New York. The exhibition is in association with The Armory Show & Volta NY. Tadashi will also have work featured at SCOPE ART SHOW.





ARTPROJX CINEMA at the SVA THEATRE, NEW YORK
in association with THE ARMORY SHOW & VOLTA NY
Exhibition Dates: March 1st - March 6th, 10:00am - Late
The SVA Theatre
333 West 23rd Street between 8th & 9th Avenues
New York, NY
http://www.thearmoryshow.com/
(Represented by Johannson Projects Oakland, CA)

SCOPE ART SHOW
Opening Reception: Wednesday, March 2nd, 3:00 - 9:00pm
SCOPE ART SHOW
320 West St (West Side Highway)
Across from Pier 40
New York, NY 10014
http://www.scope-art.com
(Represented by Bonellia Arte Contemporanea Mantova, ITALY)

General Admission Fair Hours:
Thursday | March 3 | noon - 8pm
Friday | March 4 | noon - 8pm
Saturday | March 5 | noon - 8pm
Sunday | March 6 | noon - 7pm

Fine Arts Lecture Series: Josiah McElheny, Thursday February 24th, 6pm

Josiah McElheny is an artist working and living in New York. McElheny creates finely crafted, handmade glass objects that he combines with photographs, text, and museological displays to evoke notions of meaning and memory. Whether recreating miraculous glass objects pictured in Renaissance paintings or modernized versions of nonextant glassware from documentary photographs, or extrapolating stories about the daily lives of ancient peoples through the remnants of their glass household possessions, McElheny’s work takes as its subject the object, idea, and social nexus of glass. McElheny’s work often takes the form of ‘historical fiction’—which he offers to the viewer to believe or not. Part of McElheny’s fascination with storytelling is that glassmaking is part of an oral tradition handed down generation to generation, artisan to artisan. Looking at a reflective object becomes a metaphor for the act of reflecting on an idea. Sculptural models of Modernist ideals, these totally reflective environments are both elegant seductions as well as parables of the vices of utopian aspirations.

McElheny's has exhibited his work at national and international venues including the Museum of Modern Art, Orchard, and Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York, Donald Young Gallery in Chicago, Institut im Glaspavillon in Berlin, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, White Cube in London, and the Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid. He has written for Artforum and Cabinet among other publications and is a contributing editor to BOMB. Recently published monographs and artist books include Josiah McElheny: A Prism (Rizzoli, 2010), The Light Club (University of Chicago Press, 2010), A Space for an Island Universe (Turner Publications, 2009), and Island Universe (White Cube, 2008).

To learn more about Josiah McElheny's work, visit http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mcelheny/

Event Date and Time: Thursday, February 24th, 6:00pm

The Institute of Contemporary Art
Tuttleman Auditorium
118 South 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
http://www.icaphila.org/events/

Jenny Perlin (Undergraduate Lecturer & Graduate Critic) in Group Exhibition at Guggenheim, NY, February 11th - May 1st

Jenny Perlin (Undergraduate Lecturer & Graduate Critic) is currently featured in a group exhibition titled "Found in Translation" at the Guggenheim, NY. Her film "Transcript" (16mm, color, sound, 11:25, 2006) is part of the exhibition. "Found in Translation", curated by Nat Trotman, brings together recent works by eleven artists (Paul Chan, Patty Chang, Keren Cytter, Omer Fast, Brendan Fernandes, Sharon Hayes, Steve McQueen, Carlos Motta, Lisa Oppenheim, Jenny Perlin and Sharif Waked) who look to translation as both a model and a metaphor to critically comment on the past and to produce richly imagined possibilities for the present. For these artists, converting a text from one language to another exposes a discursive field in which the terms of identity—class, race, religion, sexuality—are negotiated, and meaning is generated. An apparently straightforward linguistic task therefore becomes a microcosm for the interaction between cultures, laden with power relations but also open to new aesthetic possibilities. Delving equally into history and fantasy, the works on view here investigate diverse political and social contexts; at their hearts, language continues to provide the crucial link between the cultures and temporalities they explore.

Perlin’s practice in 16mm film, video, and drawing works with and against the documentary tradition, incorporating innovative stylistic techniques to emphasize issues of truth, misunderstanding, and personal history. Each aspect of Perlin’s practice looks closely at the ways in which social machinations are reflected in the smallest elements of daily life. Whether it is copying a receipt from Wal-Mart, a headline from Reuters, unpacking 1950s FBI archives, or filming documentary-style interviews at the corner store, her interest is in the ways in which the sweeping statements of history affect specific details of human experience. Perlin’s works have been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Kitchen, New York, The Drawing Center, New York, P.S.1, New York, The Whitney Museum of Art, New York, CCA Wattis, San Francisco, Ulrich Museum of Art, Kansas, Centre pour l’image contemporaine, Geneva, Aldrich Museum, Connecticut, De Appel, Amsterdam, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, Rotterdam Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, Images Film Festival, Toronto, among others.

For more information, visit http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/upcoming/3863

Exhibition Dates: Friday, February 11th - Sunday, May 1st

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 5th Avenue (at 89th Street)
New York, NY
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york

Nsenga Knight (MFA '10) in Performance at the Brandywine Workshop, Sunday, February 27th, 9:30am

Nsenga Knight (MFA '10) will be performing at the Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia in the work titled "Last Rite". In "Last Rite", a performance and print-based work, Knight reimagines historical events and presents a series of prints connecting Malcolm X’s transformative final ritual– his 1964 pilgrimage to Mecca, to his assassination and funeral rites in 1965. "Last Rite" re-sketches the final events and rituals in Malcom X's life, and commemorates the days in which they occurred. The "Last Rite" performance at the addresses the audience as witness, catalyst and participant - blurring the lines between spectator space and performance, while prompting questions about communal and ethical responsibility. This performance score is the first in the "Last Rite" project and commemorates the funeral of Malcolm X forty six years ago on this date and time. Knight earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate degree in Film Production at Howard University. She is currently an artist in Residence at The Brandywine Workshop. Last Rite is generously supported by a Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant.

Event Date and Time: Sunday, February 27th, 9:30am
Opening Reception: 10:30am - 12:00pm

Glass Lobby Gallery
Brandywine Workshop
728 South Broad Street (Avenue of the Arts)
215.546.3675
* Event is free and open to the public
* Free parking available on the street and MAB Paints' parking lot next door

Jayson Scott Musson (MFA '11 candidate) featured on "ArtBlog Radio"

Jayson Scott Musson (MFA '11 candidate) was recently interviewed by "ArtBlog Radio". Profanity and insults are just distractions in Jayson Scott Musson’s posters, screeds and rants. The real message is the human comedy of rules, categories, identities, stereotypes, pretensions and social classes. In the "ArtBlog Radio" interview, Musson talks about trying to solve his problems as an artist and as an equal opportunity irritant to the politically correct. Jayson Musson currently has a solo show of his work at Marginal Utility February 4th - March 27th, 2011.


To view this feature, visit http://theartblog.org/2011/02/the-real-jayson-scott-musson-speaks-on-artblog-radio/

Penn Design MFA Students in Group Exhibition at Project Space 240 Church, Opening Friday, February 4th, 5pm

Several Penn Design MFA students will be featured in a group exhibition titled, "Just Neighbors" at Project Space 240 Church, Philadelphia. "Just Neighbors" is multimedia show that features talent from Project Space's neighborhood. Artist featured include Sarah Anderson (MFA '12 candidate), Tra Bouscaren (MFA '12 candidate), Thomas Buildmore, Jim Coughlin, Stephen Grebinski (MFA '11 candidate), Patricia Hillman, Tyrus Lytton Rachel Pfeffer, Dana Rangled, Alexander Rosenberg, Anna Fox Ryan, Cheryl Smith, Aaron Thompson, Jonathan Weary, Michael Yoder & other artists who live and work in Old City, Philadelphia. Project Space 240 Church was established by Robert Dimin (MFA '11 candidate) who will also have work featured.

Opening Reception: Friday, February 4th, 5:00 - 8:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Friday, February 4th - Saturday, February 26th, 2010

For more information about Project Space 240 Church, visit http://projectspace240church.com/home.html

Project Space 240 Church
Located on Church Street, between 2nd and 3rd, a block up from Market Street
Gallery Hours: Sunday - Wednesday by appointment or chance / Thursday - Saturday 1:30 - 5:00pm

Jayson Musson (MFA '11 candidate) in Solo Exhibition at the Marginal Utility Gallery, Philadelphia, Opening February 4th, 6pm

Jayson Musson (MFA '11 candidate) will be featured in a solo exhibition at the Marginal Utility Gallery, Philadelphia. "Neoteny | The Hard Sell" is an exhibition of art stuffs by Musson. Whether or not you attend is of small consequence to the “artist” (the term is employed loosely here), because, as the artist puts it: “I stays paid anyway!” However, the veracity of this claim is highly questionable, as it is widely known that even though the artist is in his early 30’s, he still rents an apartment, not even an apartment by himself mind you, but rather he shares a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate (who is a much better artist than he). Also, the artist still rides a bicycle because he doesn’t have the least bit of self-control when it comes to the management of his personal finances so he is unable to save for even the most austere of auto vehicles. In fact, one time I was at his house, pardon me, I mean one time I was at his two-bedroom apartment he shares with a roommate, and the artist, a bit drunk, spent a surprising amount of time looking at lycra superhero costumes on ebay which he claimed he was going to use for a “sculpture”. Well, whatever sculpture you could make by purchasing a costume off of ebay is no sculpture I want to partake of. Not at all. Not. At. All. But perhaps you do. You strike me as someone who consumes art only in jpeg format (while I have laid beneath Olafur Eliasson’s sun at the Tate!), someone who doesn’t possess a single inkling as to what comprises a true work of art. If this is the case, and I know it is, then you would most likely find some kind of satisfaction in attending.

Oh, as per the artist’s request: please keep your children at home. Because children, unlike the divinely crafted snowflake, are not unique nor are they special, and children speak at a volume which is simply unacceptable within a gallery, and even though Marginal Utility is a non-profit gallery, the etiquette of a commercial, for-profit gallery must be adhered to lest our entire society fall apart at its most sacrosanct seams. (Nathanial Snerpus)

Opening Reception: Friday, February 4th, 6:00 - 11:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Friday, February 4th - Sunday, March 27th

Marginal Utility Gallery
319 North 11th Street, 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Gallery Hours: Friday 5:00-8:00pm / Saturday + Sunday 12:00-5:00pm
http://www.marginalutility.org/

Jayson Musson (MFA '11 candidate) in Group Exhibition presented by Bodega and Extra Extra Galleries, Opening February 5th, 6pm

Jayson Musson (MFA '11 candidate) will be featured in a group exhibition titled, "The Island Beautiful / Mortal Mirror". The exhibition is presented by Bodega and Extra Extra Galleries, Philadelphia and hosts the work of thirteen artists translated by Alex Da Corte in two mirrored spaces, one with color and the other without. It will also be accompanied by the release of a limited edition artist book. Featured artists include Anna Rosen, Alexander May, Rory Mulligan, Brendan Lynch, Jayson Musson, Nick Van Woert, Andy Maas, Kate Greene, Alexi Kukuljevic, Edward Carey, Christian Holstad, Strauss Borque-LaFrance and David Muenzer.

Throughout The Island Beautiful / Mortal Mirror Da Corte absorbs work from each artist into his own. In the way one may appear in another’s dream, the artists appear as extensions of themselves; the original structure and meaning co-opted by Da Corte and reinterpreted in a dissociated imagination. The history of each artist, the past meanings given to the work, the cultural significance they exude, the singular experience assumed, are all collapsed in favor of a connected weightless whole. The work of others and consumer waste are equally available as raw material. Da Corte uses the exhibition to expose our use of language and identity as problematic. Thought, meaning and interpretation are presented as unfixed and we are given a new logic shaped by multiplicity and parallel understandings. The Island Beautiful / Mortal Mirror invites you to enter an island of thought only made whole through one’s incomplete memory. One space, a vivid fever dream, the other a skeletal hand pointing to illusion.

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 5th, 6:00 - 10:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Friday, February 5th - Saturday, March 19th

Bodega Gallery
253 North Third Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Extra Extra
1524 Frankford Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19125

Jane Irish (Graduate Program Coordinator) in Solo Exhibition at Locks Gallery, Opening February 4th, 5:30pm

Jane Irish (Graduate Program Coordinator) will be featured in a solo exhibition titled, "The Home Front: Jane Irish's Art of War" at Locks Gallery, Philadelphia. Locks Gallery is pleased to present this exhibition of new paintings and ceramics by Irish. Irish’s work addresses the representation of the physical and emotional landscapes of Vietnam, both before and after the Vietnam War. The artist’s large scale paintings and decorative vases honor the anti-war legacy, without being consumed in bloody imagery. Irish juxtaposes the writing of a Vietnamese poet with images of American war protesters; poetry of a Vietnam War veteran with lavish rococo interiors that represent a suggested oligarchy. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog with an essay by Glenn Adamson, Head of Graduate Studies, Research Department, Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

Jane Irish received her MFA from Queens College, CUNY, and has exhibited in New York and Philadelphia since 1983. Her work has been featured recently in exhibitions at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Wilmington, DE. She is a 2009 recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation, Painters and Sculptors Grant. This will be Irish’s third exhibition at Locks Gallery.

Opening Reception: Friday, February 4th, 5:30 – 7:30pm
Exhibition Dates: Friday, February 4th – Saturday, March 12th

Locks Gallery
600 Washington Square South
Philadelphia, PA
Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–6pm

To see more of Irish's work, visit http://www.locksgallery.com/exhibits_works.php?eid=120

Cristina Tufiño (MFA '12 candidate) in Group Exhibition at the Green Gallery, Wisconsin, Opening January 21st, 6pm

Cristina Tufiño (MFA '12 candidate) will be featured in a group exhibition at the Green Gallery, Wisconsin titled, "A PERSON OF COLOR / a mostly orange exhibition". The exhibition has been curated by José Lerma of Andrea Rosen Gallery, NY. Tufiño will present her most recent work, a Roman Orange Fragment Figure Banner for the exhibition.

To see more of Tufiño's work, visit http://www.cristinatufino.net/

Opening Reception: Friday, January 21st, 6:00 - 9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: January 21st - February 27th, 2011

The Green Gallery East
1500 N Farwell Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53202
http://www.thegreengallery.biz/

Jessica Vaughn (MFA '11 candidate) in Group Exhibition at AirSpace Gallery, Philadelphia, Opening, January 14th, 5:30pm

Jessica Vaughn (MFA '11 candidate) will be featured in a group exhibition at AirSpace Gallery, Philadelphia. In addition to her exhibition, Vaughn was recently nominated by Penn Design for the Dedlhaus Foundation and Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Fellowship Awards. This past fall, Vaughn was also awarded an AIGA Scholarship (http://www.aiga.org/) for the 2010-2011 academic year.

To view more of Vaughn's work, visit http://jessvaughn.com/home.html

Opening Reception: Friday, January 14th, 5:30pm
Exhibition Dates: Friday, January 14th - Friday, February 11th

AirSpace Gallery
4013 Chestnut Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19104
http://www.inliquid.com/features/40street/gallery.php

Kelsey Halliday Johnson (MFA '12 candidate) awarded the Lugo Land Residency; will lecture at the University of Fine Arts Ravenna, January 10th

Kelsey Halliday Johnson (MFA '12 candidate) was recently awarded the Lugo Land Residency from the University of Pennsylvania's, Penn Design. Before arriving at Penn Design, Kelsey received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University in Art and Archaeology where she concentrated in fine art photography and European cultural studies. She is the first MFA recipient of the Lugo Land Residency in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania. Past residents have included such esteemed photographers as Tim Davis, Graciela Iturbide and Guido Guidi.

Johnson will be giving a lecture at the University of Fine Arts in Ravenna (Accademia di Belle Arti di Ravenna) that will include a discussion with Luca Nostri, curator of Lugo Land. In the lecture she plans to talk about her photographic experience studying at Princeton under Emmet Gowin and topics such as the MFA Program, Zen and the art of Pentax 6x7 Maintenance as well as Reevaluating images.

Lecture Date and Time: Monday, January 10th, 2:30 pm

Accademia di Belle Arti di Ravenna
via delle Industrie, 76
48122 Ravenna
tel. +39 – 0544.453125 o 455784
fax. +39 - 0544.451104

To view more work by Kelsey, visit http://www.kelseyhalliday.com/

More information may be viewed on Princeton's site, http://www.princeton.edu/arts/news/archive/lugo-land-residency/

Tia Simone-Gardner (MFA '09) in Group Exhibition at the Woodstock Center for Photography, Opening January 15th, 4pm

Tia Simone-Gardner (MFA '09) will be featured in a group exhibition at the Woodstock Center for Photography titled, "Made In Woodstock V". The exhibition features the work by CPW's artists-in-residence from 2007-2009. "Made In Woodstock V (MIW V)" is the fifth installment of the Center for Photography at Woodstock's series featuring work created by recent partipants of WOODSTOCK A-I-R, CPW's residency program for artists of color working in the photographic arts.

Established in 1999, WOODSTOCK A-I-R is a workspace residency program which provides participants with time, facilities, space, and the critical & technical support necessary to move forward. The program encourages the pursuit of creative risk-taking in the inspiring environment of Woodstock, where, working without distraction, photographic artists can focus intensely on their new work, continue works in progress, layout their goals for the future, and break new creative ground. Representing the broad range of photographic practices and interests that WOODSTOCK A-I-R helps realize, the 18 artists featured in MIW V engage in an inspired and deeply self-aware dialogue on history, politics, representational concerns, and more. As no two residencies are the same, the exhibition reveals the intensely diverse, dynamic interests of the artists as a group, and addresses each image-makers own particular story and voice. Artists featured include WILLIAM CORDOVA, LATOYA RUBY FRAZIER, TIA-SIMONE GARDNER, LAWRENCE GETUBIG, DANIEL HANDAL, WAYNE HODGE, JEANNETTE LOUIE, HEE JIN KANG, TARRAH KRAJNAK & WILKA ROIG, EMILY HANAKO MOMOHARA, RICARDO MORALES-HERNÁNDEZ, DAWIT L. PETROS, TIM PORTLOCK, JUSTINE REYES, KANAKO SASAKI, LUPITA MURILLO TINNEN, and DONNA J. WAN.

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 15th, 4:00 - 6:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Saturday, January 15th - Sunday, March 27th, 2011

The Center for Photography at Woodstock
59 Tinker Street
Woodstock, NY 12498
845.679.9957
http://www.cpw.org/index.html
Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Sunday, 12:00 - 5:00pm or by appointment

Demetrius Oliver (MFA '04) featured in the Village Voice's "Best Art of 2010", December 29th

Demetrius Oliver (MFA '04) has been featured in the Village Voice's "Best Art of 2010" review. The Village Voice's intrepid art critics have been at it all year, striding from gallery to gallery, museum to museum and several other locations. After 12 months of gazing and pondering, and a fair amount of debate, three Voice writers selected their top five exhibits of 2010. R.C. Baker chose Oliver's "Jupiter" (The Highline project). Baker notes that, "With the city's most magical public space as a backdrop, this young multimedia artist combined a billboard depicting such mysterious tableaux as empty violin cases wedged into open windows with stargazing sessions and musicians jamming on Coltrane's 'Jupiter'."

To view the "Best Art of 2010" review, visit http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-12-29/art/the-best-art-of-2010/

To see more of Oliver's work, visit http://demetriusoliver.blogspot.com/

Joseph Erb (MFA '02) featured in New York Times for work with Apple, December 23rd, 2010

Joseph Erb (MFA '02) has been noted by the recent New York Times article on December 23rd, "Cherokee, Apple Partner to Put Language on iPhones". Joseph Erb had worked in sculpture and animation during his years at Penn and has recently been working with Apple so that they would include Cherokee on iPhone, iPad and iPod. This project started at Penn in 2001 when Erb produced a thesis animation in Cherokee, subtitled; towards saving the language.

The article can be accessed on the New York Times official site, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/12/23/us/AP-US-iPhone-Cherokee-Language.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&emc=eta1

It is also available on NPR's official site, http://www.npr.org/tablet/#story/?storyId=132277962

Jackie Tileston (Graduate/Undergraduate Faculty) & David Humphrey (Graduate Critic) in Exhibition at Regina Rex, NY, Opening January 8th, 6pm

Jackie Tileston (Graduate/Undergraduate Faculty) and David Humphrey's (Graduate Critic) will be featured in a group exhibition titled "Texture.txt" at Regina Rex, Queens, NY. "Texture.txt" features paintings, drawings, installation, and sculptures from Tileston and Humphrey among additional artists including Sarah Butler, Josh Faught, Kristen Kee, Mary Reid Kelley, Lucy Kim, Leeza Meksin, Dona Nelson, Gilbert Rocha and Rebecca Shore. "Texture.txt" is curated by Yevgeniya Baras (Penn BA '02 and MS '03).

Texture is the arrangement, pattern, or feel of constituent parts: a rough surface comprised of granules, thread woven into fabric, musical notes swirling in densities of sounds. Text is letters shuffled into words shuffled into meaningful passages - visual communication representing speech, our guttural utterances in the form of perceptible marks on a surface. Speech is formed by syllables that are constructed in the body and emitted through the mouth, where hard and soft sounds with wavering intonation are filtered through the acoustic mechanism of the throat, and are shaped by the tongue and lips. Texture and text originate from the Indo-European word "teks" meaning to weave, to fabricate. It is a word for a craftsperson, one who builds, one who manipulates an accumulation of small units into something useful, something to trade, something symbolic.

Artists often play with these ideas. They jiggle symbols into alternately meaningful and confusing relationships, build patterns from distinct marks, and create objects that are meant to have special value. Artworks, like writing, are graphic and reference both words and images. And the evolution of writing is linked to pictures, as the earliest forms of written communication are depictions of animals in caves, pigmented rubbings and scratches on dark stone walls that say "I was here, I saw this, I have feelings about this thing I saw."

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 8th, 6:00 - 9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Saturday, January 8th – Sunday, February 6th

* Immediately following the opening at 10pm, there will be a performance by Mira Stroika at Tandem Bar, 236 Troutman Street New York, NY 11237.

Regina Rex
17-17 Troutman, #329
Queens, NY 11385
www.reginarex.org

To view more work of Tileston and Humphrey, visit http://www.jackietileston.info/ and http://davidhumphreynyc.com/art/

Julia Barbosa Landois (MFA '07) in Group Exhibition at Vox Populi, Opening January 7th, 7pm

Julia Barbosa Landois (MFA '07) will be featured in a Group Exhibition titled "Voxelvision 1.0", at Vox Populi, Philadelphia. Landois' featured piece, Indelible, is inspired by a notorious sex show in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. The video is part of a new body of work exploring the relationship between folklore and landscape, masculine rites of passage, and sexual politics on the Texas/Mexico border. "Voxelvision 1.0" along with the opening of Patricia Baga's "Rectangle with the Sound of Its Own Making" at Fourth Wall, and the continuation of "Quadruple-Consciousness" is curated by Malik Gaines. It was juried by Rachel Cook.

This Friday, January 7th, join Vox at 7pm for their first annual video festival, a screening juried by Rachel Cook. The videos will be looped through the month of January and will feature the following artists; Karen Ostrom's "The End", Julia Sherman's "The Audience Reacts", David Politzer's "A Rousing View of Nature's Magnificence", Kara Dunne's "Ag dul sios an Straighre", Katie Cercone's "Queen Candy Bile", Justin Lincoln's "09/22/2010 blogmix", Skote's "Dump", Justin Lincoln's "Color Grid I", Jillian Mayer's "How My Best Friend Died", Julia Landois' "Indelible", Esfandyar Poozesh's "...to Eden", Skote's "Treasure Island", Tara Kelton's "Time Travel", Jessica Mallios' "1:1", Skote's "Catalogue" and David Politzer's "You Are Listening to Metallica Because...".

Opening Reception & Video Screening: Friday, January 7th, 7:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Friday January 7th - Sunday, January 30th

Vox Populi
319 North 11th Street
Third Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215.238.1236
http://www.voxpopuligallery.org/index.php

To see more work of Julia's, visit http://www.julialandois.com/