Archive for the ‘field trips (local)’ Category

Consumed: Eileen Tognini, Phila Inquirer 2.2012

Tognini.cropped

Independent curator Eileen Tognini conjures up the site-specific works at Fishtown’s massive Skybox Gallery. So far, she and her artists have filled the turn-of-the-century industrial space with installations made of hand-charred tree limbs, recycled water bottles, and gigantic balloon sculptures. “The shows have been about taking a simple material and reimagining it,” she says.

Tognini also chairs Collab, the committee that drives the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s modern-design initiatives. Her studio overlooking the SkyBox reflects her life in design and art. … read more

Posted on February 17th, 2012 by Caroline in consumed, Crits, design crits, Field Trips, field trips (local), garden, In Print, Inquirer, Local Design, Philadelphia Design | No Comments »

Consumed: Witold Rybczynski, Phila Inquirer 1.2012

Rybczynski.cropped

Witold Rybczynski has built a distinguished career chasing his curiosity about culture, urbanism, and architecture. His 17 books explore topics ranging from the history of domestic comfort to the evolution of cities. This fall, he published his latest: The Biography of a Building (Thames & Hudson), about the Norman Foster-designed Sainsbury Center in England.

As you’d expect from a professor of urbanism who was trained as an architect, Rybczynski lives with a lot of books. The University of Pennsylvania prof also lives with a mash-up of furniture styles in the 1907 three-story stone house in Chestnut Hill that he shares with his wife, Shirley Hallam. … read more

Posted on January 27th, 2012 by Caroline in architecture, consumed, Crits, Field Trips, field trips (local), furniture, In Print, Inquirer, interior (residential), Local Design, Philadelphia Design | 1 Comment »

zoe strauss billboard project

For ten years, Philadelphia photographer Zoe Strauss has shown her work in a particularly gritty museum without walls, a section of an underpass located beneath I-95 in South Philadelphia. Her annual one-day exhibition was based on Homer’s Odyssey and was meant to illuminate “the epic narrative about the beauty and struggle of everyday life.” Throughout the decade, she accrued recognition and comparisons to Diane Arbus and Nan Goldin for her documentation of life in the city’s rougher neighborhoods. A mid-career retrospective called Zoe Strauss: Ten Years, opens at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Jan. 14. The Billboard Project, consisting of more than 50 billboards featuring her photographs around the city, is an extension of that museum exhibition. I watched one of them go up on Thursday.

An account exec from Clear Channel, who, along with Krain Outdoor Advertising, donated the billboards for the project, handed the billboard to Zoe all folded up and she joked that it felt like a flag ceremony. It looked like one, too. The  billboards are giant, but the material carrying the image is lightweight and feels like Gore Tex. It’s called Ecoflex. The Clear Channel rep said they switched to Ecoflex about three years ago. It’s easier to put up and more environmentally friendly than the old-style ads with paste. Clear Channel sends retired Ecoflex ads to Avangard who recycles them into railroad ties — which presumably won’t happen with Zoe’s artwork.

Here it is going up at Reed and Passyunk, at the triangle (Acme/CVS/Rita’s/Triangle Tavern). The guy installing it looped some rope attached to the Ecoflex sheet up and around hooks at the top  of the billboard and pulled and tightened. The image is of Antoinette Conti, one of Zoe’s neighbor’s at 13th and Wharton. She is bound, determined, and framed against clear blue sky.

The ClearChannel exec remarked that more advertisements should look like this: simple, straightforward with just an image and no text. He observed that most advertisers try to cram in too much information but that a simple graphic is much more effective for communicating a message.

Here’s Antoinette again, as Zoe meant for her to be seen. The cell towers behind and above the billboard are her crown — the piece is called “La Corona,” which means “the crown” in both Italian and Spanish. This language bridge signifies the changing demographics of Conti’s neighborhood, which was once mostly Italian and is now settled by a large community of Mexican immigrants.

The fact that Zoe’s work is going up on billboards is fitting because of her mandate to make art of the street and to make the street her museum. As seen in this image, Everything (2005, Philadelphia), she captures the city’s sense of place as much as she does its characters. Those characters include the city’s abandoned houses and lots, shuttered businesses, and quirky pizza parlors.

Tara Murtha of the Philadelphia Weekly has a great account of the rest of the preview tour here.

{last two images, courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art}

Posted on January 7th, 2012 by Caroline in Events, events and exhibitions, field trips (local), graphic, Local Design, Philadelphia Design | 2 Comments »

marginalia*: giant LED screen, comcast center

(*Marginalia is a closer look at the designed objects populating everyday life in Philadelphia.)

{photo by Joseph Kaczmarek for The Comcast Center}

Object: Largest four-millimeter LED screen in the world

Location: Comcast Center, 17th and JFK Blvd

Background: Soon after the Comcast Center opened in 2008, the giant LED screen in its light-filled lobby became a tourist destination to rival LOVE Park. The cutting-edge video wall with its quirky to breathtaking content has proven to be a beautiful and valuable addition to the city’s designed environment. The wizard behind the screen and the pictures/scenarios playing in a constant loop is New York-based David Niles of Niles Creative Group. Niles told Sound and Video Contractor magazine that he monitors the lobby from a webcam in his office. “I can’t tell you how thrilling it is to see a couple of hundred people stopping to watch the images on the wall while smiles break out on their faces,” he says. “It’s show biz. That’s what I do.” That article has a great deal of info about the wall’s installation and specs. For more show biz: The snow scenes in the Holiday Spectacular were filmed on a soundstage in Florida.

In context: Slapping a logo on a stadium has always seemed a bit crass, although I suppose it does foster bonds between a company and sports fans. Still, it gets annoying when the names are constantly changing over (“Where are we going again: Wachovia? First Something? Wells What The? “). In this post-OWS world, I wonder if the logo-slapping scheme doesn’t put too blunt an emphasis on the reality of corporate conglomeration. Personally I prefer a subtler manipulation.

My daughter doesn’t know about any of this. She just knows that the Comcast Holiday Spectacular rates a few “wows,” and the Macy’s light show rates about fifty-seven “wows.” (For some reason the old-fashioned light show beats photorealism in an 18-month-old’s world.) As she grows up, she’ll associate Comcast and Macy’s with memorable holiday experiences.

The Comcast Experience (the LED’s official name) at the Comcast Center is a brilliant way to puff up employees as they walk through their lobby and feel responsible for all the shiny, happy faces. The holiday show appropriates music and images (the Nutcracker, Christmas carols, children playing in the snow). Niles told USA Today that 90% of his scenarios feature a human — these humans are bicycling, dancing, swinging on a trapeze, and doing other things that look fun and exhilarating.

Encouraging identification with people mid-exhilaration can’t help but make even the grinchiest Grinch twinkle. All of this fosters a feel-good connection that occurs anew all day on the hour, every hour—which is a very clever way of counteracting and distracting consumers from all the times they’ve felt like this.

This is what I saw in Philly today. You?

Posted on December 26th, 2011 by Caroline in Crits, Field Trips, field trips (local), interior (commercial), marginalia, Philadelphia Design, video | No Comments »

marginalia*: smurfs, please touch museum

(*Marginalia is a closer look at the designed objects populating everyday life in Philadelphia.)

Object: vintage smurf diorama

Location: a toddler area downstairs at the Please Touch Museum

Background: The Smurfs began as “Schtroumpfs,” created by Belgian artist Pierre “Peyo” Culliford  in 1958. According to Time magazine, his wife chose the color: ”They couldn’t be green — they would have vanished in the vegetation. Red would have been too flashy and yellow a bit unfortunate. Only blue was left!” she said.

Peyo’s daughter, Véronique, says their appeal lies in their relatability, “Everybody can recognize himself in one of the Smurfs. There is a Smurf for every personality. They are very kind, very social. They have all the qualities that people would like to have.”

The first Smurf figurines (Papa, Normal and Angry) were produced in 1959. Since then there’ve only been two years (1991, 1998) when no new Smurfs entered the market.

In context: I asked my husband which Smurfs he liked best when he was a kid. He replied: the smurf with the hammer; Papa Smurf, “because he had all the answers”; Brainy Smurf, “because he knew stuff”; and then, when my husband got older and his two little brothers really started to bug him, Gargamel. As a girl, I had  fewer options. Smurfette was the only female in a band of 100, and, boy, is her creation story one for the feminist archives.

I was reading a review yesterday of Young Adult in New York magazine in which writer Diablo Cody says the following about the current trend of films and TV shows about immature women: “I believe in just having as many representations as possible of women onscreen … good, bad, shitty, whatever. There just needs to be volume.”

I heard there were going to be more female Smurfs in the 2011 movie, but I haven’t seen it yet so I can’t comment. I hope this is true and that they’re neither blonde nor princesses. I want my daughter to have way more options than I did.

There are none of those newfangled characters from the 2011 movie in the Please Touch diorama, where Philadelphia’s youth smudge the glass partition as they gaze curiously upon these vintage Smurfs — and Philadelphia’s parents gaze upon their youth.

This is what I saw in Philly today. You?

Posted on December 20th, 2011 by Caroline in Crits, field trips (local), marginalia, Philadelphia Design | No Comments »

Everyday Design, Phila Inquirer, 5.2011

Collab, the volunteer group that has helped build the Museum’s highly regarded modern design collection, will open a major exhibition Saturday.

Although the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s modern design collection has grown to be the biggest and best-regarded of any general museum in the country, it has lived mostly under the radar.

Even the name of the group largely responsible for that hefty trove has kept a low profile.

Starting Saturday, that era is over.

“Collab,” the 40-year-old, all-volunteer committee of design professionals who have helped build the collection of more than 2,500 contemporary objects, will get its own exhibition.

“We are looking to bring Collab out from the shadows and into the limelight,” says Lisa S. Roberts, a member since 1992 and, with her husband, David Seltzer, the patron behind the Perelman Building’s Collab Gallery and a new book about the museum’s modern collection. “I think it is the future of the museum’s audience. We attract people who are interested not just in design, but because these are everyday objects . . . the things that we live with.”… read more

Posted on May 20th, 2011 by Caroline in Crits, Events, events and exhibitions, Field Trips, field trips (local), In Print, Inquirer, what is Philadelphia design? | No Comments »

more back rooms

The typical equation for a writer is: butt in chair + coffee = copy, so occasionally it’s great to get out of that chair and into the sunshine to do some research. I’m working on a magazine story right now that took me this afternoon to a bunch of great spots, including Space 1026, a gallery and studio space in Chinatown that’s one of those quintessentially Philly places I’d never been to.

Here’s how you get into Space 1026. You pull on that piece of wood . See it on the right side of the picture? You have to pull hard. It rings a bell. Then you get buzzed in by a lovely, slightly disheveled artist who appears at the top of the stairs and is surprised to see you at the door. (The gallery has no posted hours, but you can come by pretty much anytime during regular business hours.)

Inside there’s a gallery, and the show that’s up is interesting but what’s really fascinating is what lies beyond. Floor to ceiling, the terrifically high walls are pasted with the output and detritus of fourteen years of artists occupying the studios that line the hallway.

Looking down the hallway toward the screenprinting facilities….

Notice the tin. According to my artist guide, this used to be a jewelry store. Behind that door in the photo is a trap door in the floor to a very, very deep vault, now used by Space 1026 to store art and equipment.

Here’s some of the work being made by the artists who rent out the studios behind the gallery.

A peek inside a studio. Cozy, right?

Peering closer to read some of the ephemera on the walls….

My next stop was the Fabric Workshop and Museum which, well, which you’ll have to read about in the article but is really worth a visit. Needless to say this little excursion has a totally different vibe than the Flower Show going on across the street—but it’s equally worthy, and you don’t have to push through the crowds.

The next exhibit at Space 1026 is the T.C. Collection, a display of secret correspondence between Snoopy auteur, Charles Schulz, and his alleged mistress.

Posted on March 11th, 2011 by Caroline in field trips (local), interior (commercial), studio visits | No Comments »

Clover Market Debuts, Phila Inquirer, 4.2010

New market an opportunity for the artistic

In Fishtown, a young artist toils away in a cramped workshop in the back of a long, narrow garage. Dan Elman’s medium is oil-based enamel and his canvas is a low, sturdy Chippendale-style server with cabriole legs and ornate ball-and-claw feet.

He’s restored it by creating a rubber mold of one intact foot and injecting it with resin to make clones. Once a dull brown, the newly painted canary-yellow piece seems to glow on this dank, rainy day.

Elman, 31, is between steps five and six in the highly detailed process he has developed over more than a decade of refinishing and restoring furniture.

“My work involves adopting pieces no one else will,” he says, referring to the server, which was gathering dust in a West Philly thrift shop when he came along and recognized its potential…. read more

Posted on April 2nd, 2010 by Caroline in consumption junction, Events, Field Trips, field trips (local), furniture, Happenings, In Print, Inquirer | No Comments »

end of week/weekend guide

I hardly ever do these, but my inbox was filling up with so many fun, designy things to do right now and over the weekend, I figured I’d post a quickie guide:

1. SHOP a sample sale:

Philly textile designer Kevin O’Brien‘s sample sale to benefit PAWS started this morning and goes through Saturday. On sale are pillows, scarves, robes, and bedding at 70% off retail prices; 15% goes to PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society). O’Brien’s signature aesthetic is Art Nouveau-esque in printed and burnt velvet. Once you become acquainted with his style, you’ll start spotting his stuff all over the place, including in Anthropologie, Lisa Reisman, and Barneys.

The deets:

Where: Baltzell design Studio in Northern Liberties, 919 N. 5th St.

When: Till 9 today; 11-9, tomorrow; 12-5, Saturday.

2. DRIVE BY a lace fence:

Demakersvan installed their lace fence for Lace In Translation, the exhibit that opens September 24. The fence is a gentle arc connecting the parking lot at the Design Center at Philadelphia University to Henry Avenue. From afar, as observed by the Center’s Executive Director Hilary Jay, it looks like a ribbon of fabric. Up close, it looks like coated steel wire “embroidered” into something functional. Here’s more about the designer and directions to the Center.

3. RUMMAGE at a flea:

I’d do it in rain, snow or sleet, but everyone else seems to agree that fall weather is the perfect weather for flea-marketing. There’s a big flea on Saturday around Eastern State Penitentiary in Fairmount, from 9 to 5. And/or, check out one of my favorites, Shupp’s Grove, where it’s painting/prints/sculpture weekend. Of course, if you just happen to be in Paris, the fleas at Saint Ouen are the best place to spot a 5,000-euro cabinet. I just adapted a magazine story I wrote on the Paris flea markets for a blog, The City Traveler. (The photo above is one I snapped à Paris.)

4. WAVE a paddle:

In Lambertville, at Sollo/Rago’s Real Modern Auction this Saturday. This Paul McCobb/Calvin breakfront cabinet (estimate: $2,000-$4,000) is just the thing to show off those flea-market finds. The auction action starts at 11 a.m.

5. LEARN TO arrange like a pro

Beautiful Blooms‘ floral design workshops at their gorgeous new space on Liberties Walk in Northern Liberties officially start this Saturday, with a three-hour workshop called “Urban Vase.” (The pic above is of a Beautiful Blooms design.) Here’s a link to their workshop schedule.

Happy almost weekend!

Posted on September 10th, 2009 by Caroline in events and exhibitions, field trips (local) | No Comments »

best-designed milkshake

The décor at the new Square Burger by Stephen Starr at Franklin Square (6th and Race sts) is kind of eh. It’s really just a nice, new shack:

But the Cake Shake is truly inspired. I snapped a shot of the recipe and “plating” (shouldn’t it be “cupping”?) instructions taped up inside for employees:

The very thick straw is a nice touch as it accommodates the Krimpet bits that survive the blender. Of course, I’d already downed half the shake before it dawned on me to take a picture of that. Oops! You’ll just have to go and get one yourself — or make one, now that you have the recipe.

Posted on July 22nd, 2009 by Caroline in field trips (local) | No Comments »

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