Allies in Art
How do artists share ideas? How can artists from different communities find opportunities to share their work, their process, and meet new artists? How can artist studio spaces be made more accessible for community building and collaboration?
Allies in Art was developed to create opportunities for the artists of Center for Creative Works to work alongside their peers in the greater Philadelphia arts community. Over the course of eight week intensives, CCW artists travel to the studio of a local artist to take part in a project revolving around a specific material, technique, or approach, familiarizing them with the studio practice of a professional artist in the process. At the same time, local artists have the opportunity to meet an inspiring new group of makers and engage with them through collaborative making processes. AiA creates an invaluable opportunity for CCW artists to expand their creative circle and broaden their range of influence and engagement in the local creative community.
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Allies in Art is made possible by generous funding through the Genuardi Foundation
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2018/2019 Allies in Art Projects
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Printmaking with Mark Rice / Pressure Club
featuring Mary Beth Frampton, Clyde Henry, and Kristina Salamone
April/May 2019
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Plaster Casting with Lucia Thomé
featuring Lillian Moseley, Joyce Moseley, and Natasha Plaza
May/June 2019
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3D Painting with Alyssa Piro
featuring Olubunmi Ojo, Faith Rowbottom, and Timothy O'Donovan
February/March 2019
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Printmaking with Carla J. Weeks
featuring Natasha Plaza, Benjamin Riley, Brooke Heckler
August and September, 2018
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Carla is a British born artist and designer living in Philadelphia, PA. Using pattern as a vehicle to articulate memory, Carla's paintings, textiles, and murals are visual recordings informed by her interactions with both natural landscapes and the built environment. Distilling the color and form experienced in specific geographic locations, Carla aims to create 2-dimensional patterns that communicate a resonating sense of place. Carla holds a BA in Art History, and professional experience in Exhibition Design, Set Production, and Retail Display. Her formal and applied skills are both self-taught and lovingly collected from a sea of talented colleagues and friends.
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This Allies in Art project explored pattern through two types of printmaking: block printing and screen printing. CCW artists were asked to engage with the idea of using pattern as a vehicle for memory and place. It culminated in a series of small-scale block prints on fabric and paper, and large-scale screen printed fabric banners.
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2017 Allies in Art Projects and Galleries
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Looks Like a... with Kaitlin Pomerantz
featuring Brandon Spicer-Crawley, Judy Barnett,
Joyce Moseley, Julie Ostertag, and Matthew Correale
July and August, 2017
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Kaitlin Pomerantz led a project centered around the theme of the specimen: drawn, photographed, and collected. Inviting CCW artists into her studio practice rich with a wide range of inspiration and material processes, the artists investigated the translation of physical objects into photographs, cyanotypes, drawings, and new amalgamated objects. Artists also took part in “digs” from Philadelphia’s abundant community gardens as well as RAIR (Recycled Artist in Residency, an artist residency program run by Billy Dufala at Revolution Recovery), and photography/sketching trips to the Wagner Institute.
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Highlights from the project's diverse offering of works are ornate pencil drawings of birds by Julie Ostertag, colorfully painted poured plaster sculptures inspired by taxonomical charts by Joyce Moseley, densely textured ceramic shells and stones made by Judy Barnett, evocatively painted photographs of flora by Matthew Correale, and embellished cyanotype by Brandon Spicer-Crawley.
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Fresco Project with Mariel Capanna
featuring Paige Donovan, Tamisha Williams, and Vinetta Miller
September and October, 2017
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Buon Fresco is the traditional process of painting with earth pigment into wet plaster. Most commonly associated with Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, fresco wall-painting techniques have been used by dozens of cultures over the span of thousands of years, from Egypt to Mexico. Over the course of the project, Mariel worked with three CCW artists to learn this ancient technique of painting into plaster, from mixing dry earth pigments with water to slaking lime and plaster onto plywood surfaces, and included a variety of individual and collaborative endeavors.
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The artists created a diverse range of work in fresco, including Vinetta Miller's old master copies inspired by a range of art historical figures (from 15th century Florence to Whistler), Tamisha Williams' shaped frescos in the form of birds, weeds, and rainbows, and Paige Donovan's fresco landscapes created in the giornatto technique and featuring her signature stippled mark-making.
Painting and Printing Fabric Yardage with Tim Eads
featuring Jacob Berger, Lydia Thompson, and Mary T. Bevlock
October and November, 2017
In his own practice, Tim designs repeat patterns to screen print on thick fabrics that he sews into bags that he designs for high-end boutiques. Together the group planned designs for fabric yardage with the intention of making both bags and clothing. Using both fabric paint and printmaking techniques, the artists created immersive designs on the surface of the fabric. Bags and garments were cut and sewn in the studio, premiering in a fashion show in early December at West Philadelphia's Rotunda.
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The fabric created represented each artist's unique style based on years of aesthetic development at CCW, along with improvisational painting and mark-making facilitated by the large fabric painting table in the studio. A budding graphic designer who has worked with Tim to design fabric for bags in the past, Lydia Thompson developed a flock of chickens design which she printed on fabric and embellished with painted donuts. Jacob Berger printed and painted his trademark abstract forms, which look like amoebae or space shuttles. And Mary T. Bevlock created a repeat pattern of a psychedelic Jesus and painted the fabric with various additional figures, including the Saint Joseph's University hawk mascot.
