Call for Artists: Eastern State Penitentiary

This Call for Artists is one I want to apply for every year, but never seem to get together in time. The space is amazing. If you've never been, they offer a tour for artists interested in applying. I highly suggest you check it out!

Artist Proposals - 2013 Season

Visit the ESP website for full info and guidelines.

Proposal Deadline (for all funding and approvals):
Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 4:00 pm
At Eastern State Penitentiary:

Art Proposals - 2013 Season
Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site
2027 Fairmount Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19130

Delivery: The deadline is for arrival at the site, not for a postmark. Please mail your application with sufficient time to arrive at Eastern State before the deadline. Applicants may also drop off proposals at the site between 10 am and 5 pm daily.

Grace Period: There is a 24-hour grace period for all applications. Applications received after 4 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012 will not be reviewed.

Confirmation: Please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard if you would like confirmation that your package was received. All applicants will be notified of the review committee’s decision by email in the fall.

Contact:
Sean Kelley
Senior Vice President, Director of Public Programming
sk@easternstate.org
(215) 236-5111 x13

Bruno Walpoth

Wow...my friend Evan sent me a link to Bruno Walpoth's website and I love his carved wood figures. They are beautiful and the subtlety that Walpoth gets with the forms in wood is impressive. I was also interested in how he photographs some of them in settings, rather than on a plain backdrop. It adds another layer of narrative to each piece, which really brings them to life...

Inspiration

 A shot of Julia Levitina's studio

I was sitting at a coffee shop early yesterday AM with the fabulous and lovely Julia Levitina, and we were talking about sources of inspiration for the pieces we are currently working on...and while they varied greatly (my inspiration being Pet Sematary, crackheads, and those weird "With Love xoxo Philadelphia" ads, hers being a show she saw in Paris, poetry, and lyrics from a Josh Ritter song) we both realized that these weren't the things we were immediately thinking about when starting the pieces, but things that were tucked away in our subconscious somewhere, surfacing when we needed them to. Take my zombie cat for example...it was directly inspired by an outdoor cat who hangs out behind the house of the woman I cat sit for... Once I had the idea to sculpt him, I started thinking about how similar crackheads are to zombies (As a side note, we live in Kensington, where, unfortunately, crackheads are common passerby. And as someone who grew up in small town New Jersey, this was at first shocking. I've since (sort of) gotten used to them but they still freak me out a bit.) because they do that slow zombie amble down the street. I'm also regularly accosted by the "With Love xoxo Philadelphia" billboards, which market Philadelphia as a great place to come visit (which it is). They always makes me laugh because I am coming from North Philadelphia, where zombie crackheads and whatnot run rampant...So I'd already thought maybe I'd make a piece (or body of work...we'll see) about what happens in North Philadelphia. The zombie cat seemed to fit (since all my animals are representations of humans or experiences) so I got to work. At one point though I got stuck and was thinking that I needed better zombie cat reference, when I remembered Church, the cat from Pet Sematary, the original zombie cat...

 

A quick Google search brought up this image and I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of this reference before...I've probably seen this movie atleast 6 times, so of course it was in my brain somewhere, but it took weeks to surface. Anyway, all this rambling is to say that sometimes inspiration comes from the strangest places and sometimes it been with us for a while, just waiting for the right moment...

Coldhearted Update: Vendors

 

 Zsa's Gourmet Ice Cream Truck will be there!!!

Coldhearted is shaping up to be a fabulous event and I am really excited about the list of vendors so far. Here's a peek at some people who will be there...

Aaron Weber www.fineartsdept.com

Andrew Wilkinson www.arwilkinson.com



 Armadillo Design

 

Aubrie Costello www.aubriecostello.com 

Carly N. Herman www.handsondec.etsy.com

Colleen Rudolf www.portraitsbycolleen.com 



 Gigantic Sequins http://giganticsequins.com





Group Hug Quilts www.grouphugquilts.com
 

Jake Henry

Jeanette Wintjen

Katie Tackman www.ktbutterfieldphoto.com 

Katie VanVliet www.kvanvliet.etsy.com 


KellyAnne Mifflin www.geodewebs.wordpress.com

Khara Ledonne www.kharaledonne.etsy.com

Lisa Imperiale www.imperialeprints.etsy.com

Love Letters Paper www.loveletterspaper.com

Marilyn Glinka www.emgielibris.etsy.com 

Sarah Cullen  www.letscooktogetherphilly.com

Sue Grobels Henry

Strong Coffee www.strongcoffee.etsy.com 

 SquidWhale Designs  www.squidwhaledesigns.etsy.com

Timothea Canny

Waffles and Coffee  www.wafflesandcoffee.com 

Zsa's Gourmet Ice Cream  www.facebook.com/Zsas.Gourmet.Ice.Cream

 

Interested in becoming a vendor? Check out more details here.

Why the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym is a Good Idea: Reason #583

So you don't have to cast pieces in your bathtub.

The studio is oh so cold these days so I've taken my work home with me. I also commandeered the 2nd floor bathroom as a makeshift mini studio (don't worry, we shower in another bathroom on the 3rd floor...this bathroom is slated for demolition/renovation hence the reckless abandon with which I am using the materials). Once we have the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym space up and running, there will be a fabulous and wonderful moldmaking area and I will no longer have to worry about bringing work home with me...atleast not this kind of work!

Call for Artists: Catagenesis at Globe Dye Works

Philadelphia Sculptors has put out a call for artists for an upcoming exhibition Catagenesis, which is being held at the amazing Globe Dye Works building (check out the video below for a virtual tour...) September 9 - October 21, 2012. If you are interested in applying, check out more info here. The submission deadline is March 15.

Inliquid Benefit v.12

Wow! There is a huge list of artists for the Inliquid benefit this year and I saw a lot of great names on there. Justin (and Olivia) and I will be at the main event on the 10th to check it all out. If you can't make it on the 10th, check out the other events they are having on Second Thursday (2/9) and on Valentine's Day.

Coworking for Artists Recap

Wow. I had an amazing time last night at CFEVA talking about Coworking for Artists with a great group of people that I was very happy to meet. In case anyone missed the talk, the panel was made up of myself (representing the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym...yay!), Dan Schimmel of Breadboard, Kelani Nichole of both Indy Hall and little berlin, and our fabulous moderator, Marcel Williams Foster of CultureWorks. I got to hear a bit more about what each of these organizations does and it was so exciting and inspiring. I highly suggest that everyone check all of them out! I took some notes and when I get around to deciphering them, I'll share some thoughts I had and ideas I got from the talk.

Bird Boxes by John Dilnot

Saw these bird boxes by John Dilnot on Colossal yesterday and thought they were beautiful. I'm a big fan of Joseph Cornell and these pieces remind me very much of his work.

2013 Wind Challenge Call for Entries

The Wind Challenge Exhibition Series is back and there's a great list of jurors this year! 

Check out the website for more details.

This Thursday! Coworking for Artists at CFEVA

Come to CFEVA this Thursday for a Direct Dialog Lecture on Coworking for Artists. It will be a panel discussion featuring Kelani Nichole of little berlin and Indy Hall, Dan Schimmel of Breadboard, myself and Thaddeus Squire of CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia will be acting as the moderator. Check below for details!

Dance Parties and Drum Teams

 

O'Rae, Uncle Hibb and I

Olivia and I had an amazing time at the Zoe Strauss dance party on Saturday. It was a great time, with amazing music, wonderful treats (ask Olivia...she had 4 mini cupcakes...), fabulous friends and an incredible exhibition. Congrats to Zoe for everything. All the hard work paid off. It was amazing! And congrats also to Lynn, Ilene, Cosmo, Walker and of course, Savannah. I know you guys are all so proud!

 Drum team at Zoe's opening

 
And as a side note, I have to just mention how amazing the entire Strauss/Baker/Roberts family is...Ilene (Zoe's mom) arranged for a drum team to come into the museum to kick off the party. It was amazing and gave me total flashbacks to mine and Justin's wedding when Savannah (my best friend and Zoe's sister) arranged for a drum team to come in as her toast. My one dream that I couldn't get together for my wedding was to have a drum team there as a surprise to everyone...and Savannah made it happen, surprising Justin and I.  It was once of the most amazing moments of my life and I still cry when I watch the video (Drum teams are to me as bagpipes are to other people...they make me all weepy and happy...so if you saw me all glassy eyed at the PMA the other night, this is why!) Awesomeness totally runs in this family!

Drum team at our wedding

And the winner is...

Emily Fest! You are now the proud owner of a baby bunny sculpture! Congrats!
Thanks to everyone who entered. There were alot of amazing art goals and resolutions on the list!
We'll be doing more giveaways soon, so keep an eye on the blog!

TGIF...the 13th!

Happy Friday the 13th! Hope everyone has a great weekend. We'll be celebrating out mom's birthdays (yup, they both have the same bday! Happy birthday Mom and Barb!) and then we'll be at the PMA dancing to celebrate Zoe Strauss's opening reception!  Check back on Monday to see who won the baby bunny sculpture! (You still have until 11:59pm tonight to enter! Good luck!)

Giveaway!

UPDATE! You have until tomorrow night at 11:59 to enter to win this sculpture in our Giveaway!

There was a giveaway that got away from us at the end of last year so we wanted to refresh everyone's memories (ours included) and extend the deadline. To enter, visit our Facebook Page by 11:59pm on Friday, January 13th and tell us your art related new year's resolution. The winner will receive a baby rabbit in a crow mask sculpture (official title is It started at a young age...)! This is one of the rewards that was given during our Kickstarter campaign and I'm still busy casting, priming, painting, packing and shipping them. The winner will most likely receive theirs sometime toward the end of January, as I'm finishing up the pieces for our fabulously wonderful and patient backers first.

 

Can you enter this giveaway if you've already received one as a backer? Yup. Can you enter this giveaway if you aren't a sculptor? Yup. Can you enter this giveaway if you are in a different city/state/country than we are? Yup/yup/nope (Sorry but this giveaway is open to US residents only)

make at the West Collection

Check out the newest opportunity from the West Collection: