A Walk through the Morris Arboretum

Today we defied the cloudy weather and visited the Morris Arboretum! We really enjoyed our walk through the beautiful gardens and seeing the signs of spring.

    Maggie laughing

    Jason, George, Marcos and Freddy hanging out with a frog

    Freddy

    George, Jason, Rasheed, Freddy, Marcos and Myron

Celebrating Earth Day with Awbury Arboretum and Art-Reach

Today a group of artists from the Cultural Arts Center visited the Awbury Arboretum to participate in an Earth Day event sponsored by Art-Reach, a great organization dedicated to increasing arts accessibility to people of all ages and abilities. We learned about invasive plant species and helped to weed the arboretum grounds of one particular offender, the garlic mustard plant, which is not native to the western hemisphere.

We also created journals, bugs, and clay leaves with help from representatives from the Main Line Art Center, enjoyed a picnic lunch, and went for a walk through the arboretum's beautiful grounds.


Starting out on our nature walk


Tom, Leroy, Diane and Linda bag up some garlic mustard plants


Matt Bryan from Art-Reach and Marcos


Mary and Myron


Tom, plus Madeline, David and Hector


Ramona and Myron


George and Tom work on decorating their journals


Myron and Madeline make bugs with a teacher from the Main Line Art Center


Myron with his completed journal


After doing some crafting, we walked through the Arboretum grounds. In this picture is Hector, Madeline, David and Ramona.


Marcos, George, Linda, Tom and Myron




Mary makes a wish for more beautiful spring days like today!

Magic Gardens Part Two!

Today another group of artists visited Philadelphia's Magic Gardens to be inspired by Isaiah Zagar's mosaic murals.


Myesha, David and Howard explore the gardens


Myesha


James


Walter, Mary and James

Philadelphia's Magic Gardens

Today we visited Philadelphia's Magic Gardens to learn about the mosaic murals of Isaish Zagar. We also made our own doily tiles. All photo rights reserved by Philadelphia's Magic Gardens.


Counterclockwise from left: Romy, Leroy, Richard, Gabe, Matali, Marianna, Jamie, Monica, Mike S., Mary, Ike, and Tyree


Romy and Ike


Richard and Ike with Kay


Mike S.

The Life Aquatic

We made a second trip to the Camden Aquarium for those that could not make it the first time around. Rasheed snapped some great pictures of the mystical under water flora and fauna!

















In photos: Christina S.

Adventure Aquarium Trip!

Today we visited the Adventure Aquarium in Camden. We learned about all sorts of aquatic life.




Tom, Richard, Bernard, Marco, Andrew and Jamie




Everyone had a chance to touch starfish and sea anemone.




Marco checks out a crab




Tom

"House of Dreams" Debut

Our play, House Of Dreams, premiered at The Rotunda in West Philadelphia yesterday to a very supportive and receptive audience.

It encompasses the main goals of the program by showcasing the various creative talents of the individuals within the Cultural Arts program through acting, writing, performance art, choreographed movement, live and recorded music, 2 and 3 dimensional visual art, and multimedia outlets, all under the umbrella of theater.

The project was headed by Jerry Perna, Michael Gerkovich, and Alie Vidich, with the rest of the Cultural Arts staff contributing in a strong way. Linda Price and Gina Renzi facilitated its creation.


Richard contributed a great deal of his creative energy to this project. He played beautiful songs for the audience as the cast took their places backstage.


Mike S. narrates.


Eyes in the dark, at the bottom of the sea


The cast focuses their collective energy to become The Blob


David emerges from a dinosaur egg.

Special thanks to Nofre Vaquer for taking these photographs!

Temple Football Practice

Today a group of people from PDDC's programs watched a Temple football team practice. Their quarterback Kee-ayre Griffen has been volunteering in the Cultural Arts Center this month. Many thanks to Temple and to Mike Barnes for making this trip happen!


Rasheed and Chester Stewart


Rasheed and PDDC/Arc intern Tim


Kee-ayre and Murph

Morris Arboretum bookends the summer

Last week, a group from Cultural Arts once again ventured away from the urban grid of Philadelphia, to the pastoral settings of the Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill.


Hector is seen here enjoying a bush of roses.


Linda, Yvonne, Monica, Pietro, Myron, and Charlene observe the landscape.





Rasheed, as per usual, handles the camera like an unblinking eye.