A Weather Forecast!

The Cultural Arts Center's fabulous dance teacher Joanna Quigley helped us to create this video exploring all the beautiful and terrifying climate events that nature can throw at you....

A Weather Forecast! from Joanna S. Quigley on Vimeo.

Holiday Card

PDDC staff and artists are hard at work this afternoon, screen printing our holiday greeting card! 

Little Berlin Fairgrounds Project

The artists of the Cultural Arts Center are partnering with Little Berlin to create a sculptural installation for their Fairgrounds Project. The goal of this project is to work with local artists and art organizations to transform an abandoned lot in East Kensington into an art and garden space. We're so excited to be part of this exciting undertaking!

Today we painted bricks that will be used to make one of three pyramid-like sculptures that will be part of the Fairgrounds sculpture garden.

George and David

David and John

Larry and Marie

 

Emilia and Freddy create a title mosaic on stone pavers that will be part of the installation.

 

A few of the tiled stone pavers

 

Evening Ceramics Classes

Last evening the Cultural Arts program held the last in an eight-week session of ceramics classes, "Working with Clay,"taught by one of our talented staff, Siobhan Koslap. These classes are open to all members of the community over the age of 18, regardless of ability.

During this session of classes, students learned hand-building techniques like coil construction and making boxes from clay slabs. They also had the chance to learn how to throw on the wheel. And of course everyone had a great time glazing and decorating their work.

Another session of classes will begin September 25. The classes will be held every Tuesday evening from 6 to 8 PM through November 13 at the Cultural Arts Center. Here's more information on how to enroll in this class!

Art/Gage!

This Saturday, artists from the Cultural Arts Center had a booth at the annual Art/Gage Community Street Fair hosted by Philadelphia's Magic Gardens. We sold hand-made tote bags, note cards, hand-made paper, ceramic pots, wind chimes, and prints while raising awareness about PDDC's programs and activities.

 We made beautiful ceramic pendant necklaces. 

 Mary mans the booth!

 Our silk-screened and quilted tote bags were also for sale.

Hand-printed notecards made from handmade paper, etchings, and zines (of course!)

Visit from Camphill Kimberton Villagers

Today residents of Camphill Village Kimberton, a vibrant farming and handcrafting community including people of all ages and varied abilities located in Kimberton, PA, visited the Cultural Arts Center to create a collaborative tapestry. We also got to know each other better by participating in dance class.

Stop-Motion Movie!

Matt Reed helped to facilitate this stop-motion experiment! Look for a full-fledged stop-motion movie coming soon...

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!

Everything Everywhere at B2

Work by Cultural Arts Center artists David Neisser and Ashley Townsend will be featured in Everything Everywhere, an exhibition at B2, 1500 East Passyunk Avenue, from April 13 through May 9, 2012. David explores the medium of watercolor through abstract paintings that reference the patterns and rhythms of nature. Ashley combines imagery from her everyday life and from mythology and fairy tales to create unique and at times cryptic (but always playful) narratives.

The opening reception for this exhibition is Saturday, April 14 from 6 to 8 PM. Come out for a chance to meet Ashley and David while enjoying B2's delicious coffees, teas and vegan treats!


An Interpretation of Ratti's Christ Giving the Keys to Peter, from La Salle University Art Museum's Collection, by Ashley

Aurora Borealis Mandala by David Neisser

Free Movement Specialists Visit the Cultural Arts Center!

Today members of Free Movement Specialists, led by Joanna Quigley, led two dance workshops at the Cultural Arts Center focused on both exploring new dance techniques and improvisational movement. We learned new dance moves like "Hot Child in the City," "Easy Knees" and "The Blowhole."

You can view even more photos on the Flickr site of The Arc of Philadelphia and PDDC.