City Hall Exhibition Preview

The artists of the Cultural Arts Center at PDDC have partnered with HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy to present Artist Exchange, an exhibition of works created both individually and collaboratively by artists from both programs. The exhibition can be seen on the fifth floor of Philadelphia City Hall March 5 through May 4 as part of the Art in City Hall program . Below is a preview of some of the work by Cultural Arts artists that can be seen in Artist Exchange.


"Coral Reef" by David Neisser


"A Dog" by Richard Johnston


"Untitled" from the Silver Lining series by James Sanders


A splatter painting by Stanley Lee


This sculpture was created through a collaboration between HMS students and PDDC artists. The students visited the Cultural Arts Center over the course of 4 weeks to build and paint a total of 5 sculptural figures.


The Yarn Monster


Say hello to our Alien Overlord, another collaborative sculpture

The opening reception for Artist Exchange is Wednesday, March 14 from 5:30 - 7:30 PM at Philadelphia City Hall. Stop by to mingle with the artists and enjoy some food and music!

HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Today students from HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy visited the Cultural Arts Center with their art teacher Eiko Fan to help us make life-size sculptural figures that will be included in our upcoming collaborative art exhibition Artist Exchange. This exhibition will open at Philadelphia City Hall on March 5 and is part of the Art in City Hall program. We had a great time working together to create and paint these beautiful sculptures and can't wait to share them with you at the exhibition's opening reception on Wednesday, March 14 at 5:30 PM!


Emilia demonstrates for Jason and David how to ball up newspaper that will form the body of the sculptures.


Marcos and Emilia work with a student from HMS to add to the sculpture armatures.


Sarah works with an HMS student.


Andrea helped to make this large figure.


John paints a sculpture of a dog.

Litho Printing at Second State Press

Today we printed our drawings using a modified lithography technique at Second State Press, using lower-toxicity process with litho plates from Z-Acryl. 

Emilia demonstrates rolling up the ink onto a leather roller...

 

...and John demonstrates his roll-up technique.

Myron wets the plate.

Floyd rolls the plate up with ink.

John, who may have been a lithographer in a past life, runs the plate through the press.

John proudly displays the final print.

Happy Halloween from the Cultural Arts Center!

Today we had a costume dance party led by our fabulous dance teacher Joanna Quigley. Check out our amazing home-made costumes!


Freddy as Kid of Kid'n'Play


Tyree, Tom, David, Pietro and Joanna


Ashley as a witch


Joanna and Keith cut a rug


Tom as Batman


Joanna, Madeline, Tyree, and Jason as Magneto

Cultural Collaborations at La Salle University Art Museum

All year the artists of the Cultural Arts program have been working with art teacher Emilia Brintnall and La Salle University Art Museum's educator Miranda Clark-Binder on creating artwork through our Cultural Collaborations partnership. Miranda has been presenting works in the museum collection based on different themes, and the artists have been creating work in response to these themes with Emilia's help. We've explored portraiture, abstract expressionism, cityscapes and narratives in art.

Today, an exhibition of the artwork we created opened at the Community Art Gallery of La Salle University Art Museum. Below are some pictures from the reception.


Ashley and Rasheed with her rendition of a painting in La Salle's collection, part of the "Narratives in Art" series.


Mike S. talks about the painting he created after looking at Indian miniatures as part of the "Narratives in Art" series.


George with his stuffie self-portrait, part of the "Portraits" series


Hubert in front of his collaborative painting with Pietro, part of the "Abstraction" series


Cultural Arts Associate Director Linda Price and Ashley


Laura with a reception guest


Mary and Hector


Richard talks about his stuffie portrait with reception guest Justin.


James with the painting he created after learning about the abstract work of Philadelphia artist Moe Brooker.

You can learn more about the La Salle University Art Museum by visiting their website.

Points of Transformation Award

Mike Gerkovich, a direct support professional and teacher for the Cultural Arts program, was recognized today for his work at the Points of Transformation Brunch. He received an award for his work with the artists of the Cultural Arts Center. Mike puts the mission of the Cultural Arts Center into action every day by working with program participants as his artistic peers and, more importantly, as his friends. Congrats, Mike!



From left to right: Kathy Sykes of IdS; Shalaine Wallace of PDDC, who also won an award; Mike G.; Laura Princiotta, Chief Operating Officer of PDDC; and Linda Price, Associate Director of the Cultural Arts Center.

Photo credit Bonnie Squires

Pictures from Shaky Shaky Planet

Shaky Shaky Planet debuted at the Painted Bride Art Center on Wednesday, September 7. Emily Schumacher co-wrote and co-directed this original performance with the Shaky Shaky Players of the Cultural Arts Center.

Over a hundred people were introduced to the denizens of the planet of Jupiter-Venus, where Goblins, Robots and Blob People worked together to overthrow their evil employers Roberta and Villina with help from the Ghost-Slayers and, of course, an epic dance-off!


Ashley backstage getting ready to go on


Our fabulous director Emily


Monica the narrator


Villina and Roberta, the evil mermaid proprietors of the Blue Lobster


Richard, Jason, Sharay and Tyree as Blob People


David, Mike S., Sarah and Murph as Goblins


Charles, George, Marcos and Mike G. as Robots


The Ghost Slayers!


Miss Charlene sings her solo


DANCE OFF!!!


Joanna Quigley as the Referee




The cast takes a bow