ONE YEAR!

 Trenton Ave Arts Fest 2011

So tomorrow marks one year of being officially out in the world, telling people about the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym! Our first event was the Trenton Avenue Arts Festival last year (which I had signed up for after finding out I won a Knight Arts Challenge Grant but before they announced the winners so it was hysterically top secret..."Zak and Krista, I want to sign up for a booth for TAAF but I can't tell you what for...".) In the past year we've: searched for and found a building, became an official business, ran a successful Kickstarter campaign, met our Knight Arts Challenge funding match, been featured on TheAtlanticCities.com, FlyingKiteMedia.com, Temple News Online, WHYY, The City Paper, Philadelphia Business Journal, and most recently, Grid Magazine, had a great Moldmaking workshop at NextFab, joined forces with fellow maker groups in the city, worked on our space relentlessly, hosted a launch party for Spodee Wine and tomorrow are opening the gallery with our first show of work by our fabulous and amazing Charter members...Whew! It has certainly been a whirlwind and we COULD NOT have done it without the help of everyone along the way...Thank you so much for your advice, your time, your suggestions, your donations, your help and your support. Every time I think about how much everyone has helped us along the way, I start to tear up (Like I am right now! Happy tears!) and am overwhelmed by the support. This has really been the most amazing journey so far and it's only just started. We are so excited to create the space, but we are even more excited for the community that has grown out of it. Here's to the next year and to everyone who has helped us get through the first one! Thanks for everything!

This Weekend! Happy hours, ASE, and Art Star!

I've heard its going to be beautiful out this weekend so I am very excited to get out to promote PSG at the Art Star Craft Bazaar on Saturday and Sunday!!! We'll be in booth #5 up at the top of the stairs (near the food, yes!) so come check us out! We'll be doing family friendly demos in clay sculpting, making press molds and casting both days and we'll have Philadelphia Sculpture Gym T-shirts, Totebags, Mugs and Memberships for sale! So come on out to the Great Plaza at Penn's Landing (On Delaware Ave between Walnut and Chestnut Streets). Get something nice for your momma!

And tonight there is a Happy Hour happening at Philadelphia Woodworks starting at 5pm. $5 open bar and members of lots of the maker collectives in the city, like our friends at The Hacktory, NextFab Studios and Hive 76) will be there (We are hoping to be there but are dealing with a possible transmission issue at the moment and hope to get it fixed in time...!)

And then there is the yearly tradition of going to PAFA's Annual Student Exhibition (the ASE). Justin, Gus, Olivia and I will be heading over to see that. The show is always pretty amazing and of course its great to continue to see the work coming out of the school you graduated from (Justin is the PAFA grad... I went to Moore and saw their student show in April, which was also great!) These events are exactly what we needed after lots of late nights at the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym! Hope to see you at one of them! Have a great weekend everyone!

Art + Science

There are so many things happening in Philly right now involving Science and the Arts!

Today is the last day to submit work to HACK: A Technology Based Design and Art Exhibition! Also, check out their Kickstarter campaign!!!

Our friends at Next Fab are looking for artists and designers to submit work for an exhibition at the upcoming preview party for their new space, Next Fab 2.  The deadline for applying is April 12th! More details here: Next Fab Call for Submissions
While you're at it, check out the info about the preview party for their new space, Next Fab 2!

Without Walls: Works from the muraLAB/Breadboard Residency opens on Friday, April 27th at Esther Klein Gallery!

And speaking of science...check out the Philadelphia Science Festival this month from April 20-29th!! They have tons of amazing events planned!

Waste Mold De-mold

Wanted to share some process shots of the demold I did on the waste mold from our NextFab Moldmaking Workshop. (I also made a video but am still trying to figure out how to upload it...)

The finished waste mold.

Chipping off the plaster I put on to cover the seam line.

Seam line uncovered!

Removing the wire binding the pieces together.

 

The underside of the waste mold. Because we used Hydrocal the mold and the casting are the same color. (I usually like to use Ultracal, which is grey and easier to see when demolding the piece.)

 

First piece removed. (I used a chisel to pop this off...not my fingers.)

I love when the pieces come off in large chunks!

The back of the piece demolded.

Normally we use cold chisels to demold waste molds but ours were at the studio and I was at home so I used this set of beater chisels. They, surprisingly, still have sharp edges so you have to be careful not to gouge your finished piece...or yourself...when using them!

The casting emerged successfully! Still needs some cleaning up and picking out of plaster mold bits, but it came out nicely.

The destroyed mold.

NextFab Award Two

Check out NextFab Award Two! Create a fascinating and innovative project for a chance to win a $1,000 NextFab Gift Card! Visit their website for details and contest rules.

POST: West of Broad - Oct 1 & 2

This weekend is the first weekend of the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours! You have a chance to visit Artist Studios and Work Spaces in Center City West, Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy, Germantown, East Falls, Manayunk, Roxborough, Fairmount, Francisville, and West Philadelphia. Need to plan your tour? Check out their website and search for artists by area.
We highly recommend checking out the following artists:

Philadelphia Traction Company
Michael Konrad
NextFab Studio
Zoe Cohen
Genevieve Coutroubis and John Karpinski
John Phillips and Gina Michaels
Elisabeth Nickles
Philadelphia Sculptors at UArts

Have fun!!!