Those April showers stood at bay to let the sun shine down on our neighborhood, highlighting all of the art that was on display this First Friday! From our veteran First Friday participants to the addition of some newcomers, First Friday was a hit as it ushered in new art, nice weather, and good causes.
1311 Frankford Avenue
We are more than thrilled to announce that Fishtown Pop Up has officially joined the First Friday family! The gallery’s first exhibition featured the New York based artist Clintel Steed. Shop owner and antique dealer Heather Vieira brought in Steed, a long-time friend, to kick things off. And so his solo exhibition inventory c. steed was born.
Friends, fans, and walkers-by were greeted by large canvases full of colorful compositions and vibrant brushstrokes. The works on display are a compilation of paintings done throughout Steeds career. “It’s not my newest work,” said Steed as he pointed out a few works painted in 2001. “But I just want people to see it, I want to share it.”
Steed is a contemporary artist who is influence by what he experiences in his daily life. “It’s about feeling life,” said Steed. “I just want to be me and experience life, and what I feel I’ll put out to the world.” The paintings in the gallery space range from portraits, to the tsunami that struck Japan in 2011. When asked if he had been to Japan during the time of the tsunami, Steed said he had not been there physically, but from all of the news coverage and images in the media, he experienced the disaster emotionally. And that emotion is what pushed him to create.
Now it may seem strange that someone dealing in antiques would put on a show for a contemporary artist like Cintel, but that’s the beauty of it all. “As an antique dealer, I’m always buying things that are 100 years old,” said Vieira. “I don’t know the maker [and] I’m not really having an impact on their life. But then it dawned on me –I have all of these friends that are artists, and I can make an impact in their life today by participating in their creativity through what I know how to do, which is sell things.”
If you missed the chance to see Clintel’s work at the exhibition opening, that’s okay. Fishtown Pop-Up will have the work on display through the rest of the month. And if you like what you see feel free to set up an appointment with Heather and add an original Steed to your personal art collection.
1638 E Berks St
As Fishtown Pop Up celebrated their first First Friday, The Art Dept. was happy to announce that it was their fourth birthday. And what’s a better way to celebrate a birthday than to throw a party? And as with all parties there were tons of greats activities, snacks, and party favors of course.
Sticking to its roots as a community space and workshop, The Art Dept. had a terrarium bar set up for visitors to make and take home their very own party favor in the form of a terrarium. Color Vintage also made an appearance as they set up their very own vintage pop-up for guest to buy some good ol’ vintage goodies.
The Art Dept. also embraced its gallery space and had the photographic work of Dese’Rae Stage on display. Stage’s exhibition, Live Through This, is a portrait and oral history series of suicide attempt survivors. The exhibition at The Art Dept. is the largest physical display that the series has ever seen. “There are 130 of the portraits on display,” said Stage, “and the idea behind the project is to show that suicide doesn’t discriminate.” These portraits and the stories humanize the issue of suicide. “This population of people is really anonymous, erased really, and I was looking to give everyone a voice.”
The photos will be on display through the end of the month, and owner Emily Carris encourages everyone to come and see the exhibition. If you can’t make it to The Art Dept. before then, you can still see the work Stage has done by visiting http://livethroughthis.org.
1542 E Montgomery Ave
Just down the street, Atonement Lutheran Church was also reaching out to a group that is need, and sometimes forgotten. Jonathen Wurzel organized the event “I was in Prison and You Visited Me,” which is a quote by Jesus from the gospel of Matthew.
The event offered members of the community a chance to reach out to those who are incarcerated through letters and their own artwork. “We have two different lists of men and women who are all incarcerated and haven’t received letters yet,” said Wurzel. “So we’ve got stamps and envelopes and paper, and if you feel like drawing instead of writing here we are,” as he pointed to the colored construction paper and coloring tools provided.
The night gave participants the opportunity to reach out to those who are sometimes believed to be forgotten, and prove that thought wrong. “During the mail call, to hear your name called out, tells not only the prisoner and their fellow inmates, but the guards that this is someone who has not been forgotten,” said Pastor Noah.
Talk of the prison system began to arise and there was an understanding that visiting those who are incarcerated is becoming increasingly more difficult. As conversations unfolded, it seemed that writing to someone was becoming a potentially easier way for a larger group of people to reach out to those who are currently in jail.
Soon the table began to amass with envelopes filled with drawings and kind words as each incarcerated man and woman was written to. The hope of sending solidarity and comfort to those who are currently experiencing discomfort was clear, and there was even an option available to establish long-term pen pal relationships to ensure that those incarcerated would not be forgotten.
2007 Frankford Ave
Circle of Hope’s gallery has been graced with the work of Eric Van Nielsen for the second time. His latest show, Prelude, shows a further progression into his transition to an abstract expressionist.
Nielsen went to school at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts in 2005 and has held a studio in the Fishtown are for the last three years. Originally painting realistically from life, Nielsen switched to a much more abstract style in 2015. He admits that transitioning into abstraction was difficult at first, but now it’s almost second nature, and his paintings can attest to that.
The paintings vary in size from works that are almost as big as a wall, to something much smaller. His vibrant imagery with intense color palates reaches out and grabs you both visually and emotionally.
His works take on a synesthetic quality, where the brush strokes and colors almost seem to vibrate around each other, adding a musical quality to the layers of emotion already embedded. “I was always envious of music’s ability to give people emotion and feelings, and be like a therapy,” said Van Nielsen. “[Music is] a universal language and I wanted to find a way to have that same impact, but with visual art.”
Synesthetic art is one that is made with the influence of music. Synesthesia causes you brain to link certain experiences and senses together. Often times in reference to art, it is linked musically –where the artist hears a song or notes and see and image(s) and/or certain colors in their head that associate with that song or sound. This is commonly seen through the works of Wassily Kandinsky and Joan Mitchell, who are some of Van Nielsen’s biggest artistic influences. Musically however, he finds a lot of resonance and inspiration in classical music and composers like Bach who, according to Van Nielsen was “looking for that perfect marriage of logic and perfection with the emotional and expressive.”
Prelude will be up throughout the rest month. While there aren’t any set gallery times Gallery Tam Leader, Amanda Capasso, assured that between 4:30 pm and 8:30 pm on Sundays are the best times to stop by, check it out, and if interested buy the painting that speaks to your soul. If that doesn’t work for you, don’t sweat it! Amanda can be contacted to set up an appointment for those interested in buying something.
