Art+SoulFood

It All Happens Tomorrow

2011-06-10T14:18:00.002-07:00

It's all happening tomorrow... For a complete itinerary, see below. Make sure to stop by the after party at Mugshot's Coffeehouse sponsored by MM Partners and Yard's Brewing Company!

If you leave feeling like you just haven't had enough (doubtful, but just in case), come back to Brewerytown on Sunday for DJ Night at Era with Cosmo Baker!!

2011 Art + Soul Food Preview

2011-06-03T09:00:00.005-07:00

Here is just a little taste of what you can expect at this year's Art + Soul Food...

Galleries

Color Wheel Bike Studio 2711 W. Girard Ave: TBA

West Girard Business Association 2712 W. Girard Ave: Artist and Brewerytown Resident Charles Harrison

MM Partners 2732 W. Girard Ave: Artist and Brewerytown resident Kathy Hurchla

Mugshots Coffee House & Cafe 2813 W. Girard Ave: Photographer Timothy Broderick showing photographs of the Brewerytown community, PLUS Spoken Word and Open Mic from 5-8

MM Partners 2816 W. Girard Ave: Sculptor Chloris Lowe who works from his studio in Brewerytown

KS Optical 2820 W. Girard Ave: TBA

MM Partners 2833 W. Girard Ave: Video Artist and Brewerytown resident Kristin Apple

Stage

5:00-5:10 Robert Morris Drum Line

5:15-5:45 Chalk and the Beige Americans

6:10-6:20 Reynolds Drum Line

6:30-7:10 Modern Colour

7:15-7:40 Valley Vintage / Evolve Fashion Show w/ Modern Colour Backing

Soul Food

Butter’s Soul Food to Go

Deborah’s Kitchen

Etc.

Honest Tom’s Tacos

Butter Cream Cupcakes

Closing Reception: MM Partners will be holding a closing reception sponsored by Yard’s Brewery in The Yard at Mugshots Coffeehouse & Café starting at 7PM.

Art + Soul Food 2011!

2011-05-27T10:50:00.002-07:00

This year's festival will take place on June 11th, from 5-8 PM. It will be centered on the 2700 and 2800 blocks of West Girard Avenue in Brewerytown.

Here's The Deal...

2010-06-07T12:03:00.011-07:00

The 2010 Art + SoulFood festival is happening this Saturday, June 12th, from 2-6 pm. There will be an after-party at the North Star Bar. Here is a taste of the 2010 festival highlights (complete with handy bullet points):

A meet and greet with Darryl McCray of “Cornbread” fame, a former Brewerytown resident dubbed the father of modern graffiti. Catch the trailer to his upcoming documentary “Cry of the City” by producer Sean McKnight setting the record straight on Cornbread.

A recent mural installation by acclaimed muralist and street artist, Shepard Fairey. Shepard Fairey is most known for designing the iconic Obama poster during the 2008 presidential election, as well as the Obey/ Andre the Giant campaign.

20 area businesses and re purposed storefronts form an eclectic mix of art galleries highlighting mostly local talent. From the dry cleaners to the sneaker shop and even the sidewalks themselves the entire avenue becomes one enormous celebration of art. Couple that celebration with the delectable tastes of the some of the city’s best soul food restaurants and you get Art + SoulFood.

And the bullet points keep coming:

Direct from 26th & Thompson, the Robert Morris School Drum Team will perform!

Even more live music!!!!

Mural Arts Program exhibiting work from their teenage students.

Megawords will be taking over a newsstand??!!

Soul Food, and lots of it.

Art + Soul Food II (Electric Boogaloo)

2010-02-22T08:48:00.006-08:00

June 12th, 2010, people. Save the date. On June 12th, 2010, Art + Soul Food will be back, bigger and better than ever. Lots of plans in the works, so check this space for all the news.

That is all.

(Did I say June 12th, 2010?)

Reeeeeeee-Cap!!

2009-06-18T04:41:00.037-07:00

Despite the rain, we received a sizable turn-out on Saturday night, and the evening went off, basically, without a hitch.

At one point the rain forced some delays/relocating of the musical acts, but all in all the sights, sounds, smells and most certainly the food were enjoyed by all.

Fortunately Lenyon Whitaker was on hand snapping away and gave us permission to use some of his images on our site. He really has a knack for catching the emotion of the specific moment he's focusing on.
See if you can spot yourself!

LOOK AT US!!!

2009-06-12T02:51:00.003-07:00

As the long hours add up in the last hours before our event, some locals have been taking notice, both in print and online:

Thrillist

City Paper

Philadelphia Weekly (page 23!)

Daily Candy

See you all tomorrow!

For those about to Rock-

2009-06-11T04:24:00.002-07:00

(or roll, or jam, we got you covered)...
We Salute You!

As previously mentioned, there will be live music performed at two spots along the Avenue on Saturday, basically on either end of the action. Just outside of the Megawords display in 2621 Girard will be a line-up curated by local beat-cop and musician Officer Bryant, featuring:

Sinister: R&B group with a funk and soul sound.
David "Bluesman" Blossom: Blues signer and guitarist.
TKO: Funk and R&B singer with full band.
The Illusions: Oldies R&B group with Temptations style song and dance.
Voices For Christ: Gospel

At the other end, just outside of the Home + Craft space will be on 2943 Girard. This grouping was organized by James Coughlin, who is not only a musician himself but a painter as well:

Rob Dingman- Tape loops, synth, and xylophone
Tadoma minimalist experimental
Arc in Roundindie experimental ambient
Lo Power Plane Indie rock
Busses indie rock

Just Across the Street

2009-06-09T03:25:00.003-07:00

from the gallery on 2819 Girard is Endustre on 2826, a boutique where me met Hamid Holloman-a talented and absolutely charming designer. The ensembles in the window display were sharp as tacks, too.

Hamid is constantly drawing inspiration from a myriad of sources and shared his findings on line at several sites:
Meezan Art Couture

MESE Design Studio and the online shop, Shop Meezan Online.

Even more exciting? It just so happens that Endustre will be sponsoring some live painting outside the shop this very Saturday, coinciding with Art+Soul Food! Not to be missed, people...

Everybody's Working-

2009-06-08T04:01:00.022-07:00

For the weekend!
A+SF teammates were all over this whole curating thing the last two days. The excitement became contagious as artists trickled in Saturday and Sunday to drop off their work.
Here you see co-curator Sarah Peoples supervising the hanging method of assistant-to-the-curator Jacob Roller (who moonlights as property developer).
Well done!
Sarah painstakingly makes sure that each of Natalie Hope McDonald's photos are on the level.
Josh Harmony's pottery was too irresistible to leave in the box. Wait until you see the mini-cups! Perfect for drinking sake out of...
We were up to our necks in pedestals and paint for shelves...

Ahhhh paint scabs.It wasn't all fun and games though. Co-curator Beth Smallwood has some pretty unconventional methods when it comes to directing...

So cavalier!Pearl Bell brought the family over along with her work-that's husband Matt and daughter Ava.

Unfortunately she took Ava with her...but we're happy to have her plates!
We all treated ourselves to some Rita's-Ava got Cherry, I splurged for a soft-serve with jimmies. (sprinkles?)
John Blanchet dropping off his work and papers at the space on 2819 Girard...
Along with the puddles painters will be a digital video installation by Ira Blanchard, inside this secret room:
We have our work cut out for us, as you can see.
Rob Sutherland dropped off his work at the space on 2943 and then came down to 2819 to check out the progress.
Then we all peeked in 2711 to see the newly rehabbed floor. That's Maria Eife to the left. Note the Rita's cone in her hand. We're turning into junkies here...I can't wait to get back to work again today so I can have more water ice!
Where water ice leaves off, beer picks up-and we plopped our sweaty butts down for a few at Era after the day was done. Look! Our coasters!
Unfortunately we missed all of the big bike race action of the day, but a couple enthusiasts were kind enough to give us a recap.
Era was flexing its artistic muscles with a show of its own. We spoke with Luke Haggerty, the photographer you see below. Work it, Luke.
And the lovely Paula Pardo shows us her lemons from behind the bar.
On our side of the bar, her photos can be seen:
At some point we all made it home in time to catch a disco nap or two and now it's time for me to get my act together and gear up for another busy day.
Can't wait to see you all on Saturday!!!!
xoxo,
A+SF

Just Coastin' Along...

2009-06-05T04:57:00.006-07:00

Look for these at a bar near you starting NOW! If you happen to receive your tall frosty one on an Art+Soul Food coaster, leave a comment on this blog telling us where you were, what you drank, time of day, and what you were wearing. We'll give you a prize.

And by prize, we mean that Beth Beverly will tell you a really good knock-knock joke at the opening next week.

Making the Rounds...

2009-06-05T04:44:00.002-07:00

With just over a week until Art+Soul Food ,the labor pains are kicking in and this colorful bundle of joy is making its presence known. Read up on a couple of our favorite blogs!
Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
UWISHUNU
The Art Blog

Did this whet your appetite? More links to follow.
Stay hungry!

In case you haven't already...

2009-06-05T04:40:00.003-07:00

Saturday at the Store-fronts

2009-06-01T08:12:00.013-07:00

On Saturday us curators met up to see for ourselves how the spaces are progressing, and lay out our plans for just how we intend to display all the artwork we expect to be inundated with this coming weekend when the artists begin dropping it all off.
This space is 2819 Girard; it will house the works of our Puddle Painters and various sculptors/potters. The contractors were actually working on the floor when we came, and explained to us the differences in the floor surface. Some of the wood you see in this floor is over 100 years old! Isn't it beautiful? Just a few months ago it was covered up in many year's worth of linoleum and such.

And don't even get me started on the walls...

Towards the back there will be a keg and Butter's will be set up as well, dishing out mouth-watering morsels.
Some of the ceiling remains the same, with the exposed wooden beams overhead. That's Mr. Roller of MM partners admiring them.
Down the street at 2711 Girard, progress is evident but not quite as far as 2819. There's Sarah Peoples, peering at her reflection in the freshly sealed brick wall.
Around the edges of the original parquet wood floor, new hard wood has been installed. I found the exact edges,perfectly negotiated around all the pipes and uneven edges, to be quite impressive.
From here you can see the rest of the brick wall. This space will house sculpture, jewelry design and illustration. Just squint your eyes and imagine a row of pedestals down the middle with gorgeous drawing running up the wall...
More brick.
Towards the back of the space is more wall, and also room for where we'll be serving wine. Deborah's Kitchen will be set up closer to the front, serving delicious samples off their menu.

We then headed over to what will be the craft space on 2943 Girard. While it basically looks the same as it did when we were over there painting pedestals last week, we discovered a forest of weeds growing back in the patio area which will need to be addressed this week. Aside from that, everything is looking all aces and we're very excited to curate this space.

Perhaps the most exciting news of the day is that our buddies over at Ritas will be serving up a special, one-time batch of Art+Soul Food themed water ice, flavored like sweet potato!

Pedestal Painting

2009-05-24T08:58:00.005-07:00

As many were kicking off the holiday weekend with cocktails and BBQ prep, a few of us Art+Soul Foodies met up for some white hot pedestal painting action at the storefront which will serve as the Craft gallery when the show commences. Here you see team members Beth Smallwood and Jacob Roller hard at work, applying layer after layer of paint on our treasured pedestals.

We worked until about ten at night; and had the opportunity to meet some of the residents walking along the Avenue who poked their heads in out of curiosity. The local support for this project is touching, and it fuels us to pour every ounce we've got into making this the best event it can possibly be.
That said, I think it's time I caught up with all the Memorial Day revelers and had a glass of Sangria already.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to A+SF-er Maria Eife!!!

Meet the Artists!

2009-05-19T03:19:00.039-07:00

While all of the artists participating in Art+Soul Food have been mentioned in some capacity or another on this blog, here is a complete list with brief descriptions/images of their work and, when applicable, links to sites. We are thrilled to be working with such a talented team of creative individuals, and have some exciting plans in regards to curating all this work into the storefront gallery spaces. Please stop by again soon as more details emerge...

Pearl Bell: Fashion inspired art and Tableware. Pearl's hand crafted plates feature an array of unique and expressive visages, the common thread in all of them being a high level of attention to detail. In Pearl's own words: "I especially love faces. I feel that the details of a face reveal so much about a person. Each is so different; each flaw, each expression makes up for so much of what a person’s individuality is."

Beth Beverly:Sculpture. Having experimented with various methods of tissue preservation and taxidermy for the last eight years, Beth's latest work reflects a whimsical fascination with bridging the gap between dreams and waking life.

Ira Blanchard:Videography. Ira has been documenting a myriad of situations for years, recently returning to Philadelphia after a stint in New York where he worked on several projects. We've commissioned him to dazzle us with a moving collage of images related to the forces of nature for this event, which will be projected onto a wall in one of the gallery spaces.

John Blanchette: John is perhaps known to more of us for his culinary prowess, having worked in a slew of the kitchens in such fine establishments as Royal Tavern and Marigold's. Aside from his gastronomic adventures, he's a self-taught painter, creating (along with several other artists in this show) what has come to be known as puddle paintings.

Greg Brellochs:Painting. A Professor of Sculpture and Design at Camden County College, Greg is a Philadelphia based artist whose work explores an intersection of Art, Science and Philosophy through the visual experience and process of drawing. "My work seeks to integrate my interests in aesthetics, the natural sciences, cognitive science, and philosophy. I am intent upon the embodiment of concepts through the formal aspects of the work, and look to create arresting, sensual and evocative experiences."

Gabriel Byrne:Painting. One of the Puddle Painters in the show, Gabriel produces his work with oil paint and egg tempera. He stresses a "heavy emphasis on experimentation in my work. The experimental process attempts to replicate the primordial Waters of Chaos; raw nature as it was before the notion of ten thousand separated things existed. My desire is to provoke in the viewer a sense of themselves which exists beyond name, position and status; to strip down notions of identity in search of a universal self."

James Coughlin : Painting. Jim employs a plethora of materials and disciplines when creating his hypnotic images, including but not limited to: spray paint, oil paint, fire, and a hefty serving of patience. Jim has most recently began exploring the marriage of his painting with his photography work, and has created stencils from various snapshots to combine with the puddle paintings.
Bob Deane:Pottery. Bob works with clay derived from local creeks just outside of Philadelphia. His experimentation with glaze have resulted in effects visually similar to that of the paintings we will be showing, and are an excellent 3-dimensional complement.

Maria Eife: Jewelry Design. Maria is an active member in the Philadelphia art community (SNAG, Collab) and designs thought-provoking and thoroughly modern pieces employing traditional and non-traditional materials alike. Her most recent works reflect an exploration of word-play and self-adornment.

Ryan J Greenheck: Pottery. Ryan creates classic forms of bowls, teapots, pitchers, and mugs, each wheel thrown, slip decorated, and glazed. With the beautiful shapes and meticulous slip trailed patterning, each piece feels as if it belongs to a world that is precise, well ordered, and waiting for afternoon tea.

Josh Harmony: Pottery. With a BFA in ceramics from the School for American Crafts at the Rochester Inst. of Tech, Josh creates endearingly charming and functional tableware.

Natalie Hope McDonald: Photography. Natalie Hope McDonald lives and works in Philadelphia, and in the past has exhibited her paintings in group and solo shows. Most recently, she began exploring photography as a way to document urban life in its most immediate digital form. She now photographs urban and small town landscapes and its people. McDonald relies on natural light, shadow and graffiti to capture lonely, pensive scenes of modern American life.

Megawords: Lighting Exhibit. A collborative of creative individuals best known for experimentation in contemporary media and communication, Megawords pushes the boundaries of conventional exhibition and creative process.

Rabid Fox: Jewelry Design. Rabid Fox is a locally made line of jewelry centered around a plethora of adorable and sometimes mischievious looking animals, manipulated to wrap around one's finger (or wrist, neck, etc...). Molds are created from toys which are then transformed into cast-metal jewelry through a process called lost-wax casting.

Sarah Peoples:Sculpture & Drawings. Sarah creates tangible snapshots of specific emotions, moments, dreams in a variety of mediums. Her images are provocative, her sculpture disarming, and her most recent works reflect a deep exploration of myth and mystery.

Rob Sutherland: Pottery. Rob takes a more documentary approach to ceramics than most; he views his work as recorded observations about the world around him, bits of posterity to hold onto as the world around him constantly evolves. In his words, "A pot needs to function in a way not only to satisfy the task, but also to connect with the contemporary world."

Moving Right Along...

2009-05-12T03:36:00.004-07:00

Despite a minor setback in regards to scheduling, the storefront spaces are making significant headway.

The glass fronts being installed,
And now they're finished!
Keeping our fingers crossed that things keep running smoothly; more info the live music portion of the event coming shortly!

JOOSE interview

2009-05-07T19:24:00.004-07:00

Last night team member Beth Smallwood-Coughlin spoke with the completely charming Anyta Thomas and Tanya Murphy Dodd, the two founders of Salon JOOSE. The interview was overall a tremendously positive experience, and despite the fact that Beth was a little nervous (and her cell phone cut out a bit here and there) she thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We all listened to the episode together as soon as it was posted, and the general consensus was that it's refreshing to converse with fellow artists, familiar with the struggle to get a project off the ground and gain momentum.
Head on over to the JOOSE site to take a listen!

DATE CHANGE

2009-05-07T19:06:00.005-07:00

A valuable lesson we've just learned (I don't know about you but I seem to "learn" this lesson every ten minutes) is that not everything goes according to schedule all the time. "Man makes plans, God laughs" is how the age-old adage goes, I believe. And none of us were laughing when we learned that, due to extraneous circumstances, we'd need to push back our event date by one week.
After some thought, though, we realised that it all could just be one big happy silver lining, seeing as now we have one extra week to tie up every possible loose end and make this the absolute best celebration possible. Plus, the shows will be up into July and we've decided to host a closing celebration on July 4th. Seeing as we're so close to the art museum, the fireworks will certainly be heard, if not seen.
But I digress. The point of this post is to make sure every last person keeping up with the Art+SoulFood project has been informed of this crucial change in itinerary.
Sorry for any inconvenience and don't forget to mark your calender-

JUNE 13TH!!!

TONIGHT!

2009-05-06T05:02:00.004-07:00

Art + Soul Food is about to get JOOSED!
Listen as ladies Anyta and Tanya talk with A+SF team member and co-curater Beth Smallwood-Coughlin about the Brewerytown event-which is happening exactly one month from today, by the way.
The interview is at 8pm tonight; check out the Joose website for more details.

Store Fronts! Literally!

2009-05-04T11:48:00.006-07:00

And floors, too.
This past weekend saw much progress in terms of the physical spaces' transformation from shell to gallery. Look, glass fronts!

and floors...
and more floors!
Thankfully the weather was nice enough to make putting such a large dent in the work load not entirely unpleasant. We've got our fingers crossed that today's precipitation hasn't completely slowed the momentum down.

Dance your cares away-

2009-04-28T03:33:00.006-07:00

worry's for another day!

Last Friday was an ideal day for outdoor activity, and one of the Art+Soul Food team members biked around Brewerytown and snapped a couple shots. Clearly, many people are working hard on getting these spaces spiffed up and ready to go. At the risk of dating myself, I find that most construction-type scenarios remind me of watching the industrious Doozers hard at work, scaffolding throughout the city of Fraggle Rock.

I'm guessing that with the now four-day heat-wave we've been experiencing, there is most certainly a line outside Ritas for the better part of the day. In fact, we were just talking about the deliciousness that is a Ritas Gelati with vanilla ice cream and lemon sorbet. Did I mention it's going to be ninety degrees today? I think I'll head over there after I wipe the drool of my keyboard.

Era is a fantastic bar tucked down around the corner from all the action on Girard. The food is superb, the drinks cold, and the staff is delightful. Oh, and the selection in the jukebox rivals that of any other R&B joint in town. This is where we intend to spend many happy hours over the next few months as we may need to lift our noses from the grindstone every now and again. It's also our official Art+Soul Food after party destination. Can't wait to see you there!

Shaping things up

2009-04-20T06:07:00.019-07:00

We've been hard at work rounding up artists and assigning all works into the gallery spaces in order to form several shows composed of cohesive styles and themes.

One space is revolving around the concept of stories-lore, if you will. Artists showing in this space are:

Beth Beverly : Fantasy Taxidermy-Having experimented with various methods of tissue preservation for the last eight years, Beth's latest work reflects a whimsical fascination with bridging the gap between dreams and waking life.

Maria Eife: Jewelry Design-An active member of the Philadelphia art community (SNAG, Collab), Maria designs thought-provoking and thoroughly modern pieces employing traditional and non-traditional materials alike.

Sarah Peoples-Sculpture & Drawings-Sarah creates tangible snapshots of specific emotions, moments, dreams in a variety of mediums. Her images are provocative, her sculpture disarming, and her most recent works reflect a deep exploration of myth and mystery.

The storefront just a few doors down will be occupied by a collection of artists working in ceramics and paint, all sharing a similar aesthetic revolving around organic shapes and processes. These works involve the perceived manipulation of and occasional surrender to all forms of nature.

Jim Coughlin:Paintings-Jim has been creating "puddle paintings " for the last decade, spending some of that time in a collaborative studio with fellow painter John Blanchet and potter Bob Deane.

Jim has most recently been exploring the addition of hand-made stencils being layered atop his work, and Bob is an accomplished potter living in Delaware County.
Gabriel Byrne:Paintings: Gabriel is a painter who arrived at his own style of puddle painting independently of the above participants, yet his work bears in inherently similar aesthetic.
Greg Brellochs: Painting- Through his unique images, Greg expresses his interests in aesthetics, the natural sciences, cognitive science, and philosophy.

Ira Blanchard:Video Projection- An experienced videographer, Ira will be presenting a myriad of nature-related images intended to tie all the bodies of work in this show together, the theme being all things organic and autonomous.

Serving as one bookend to all this action on Girard will be a corner space in which Gallery 27.28 will host a show curated by the owners, (who will also be hosting a show in their Gallery just down the block- busy bees!) of which the outside space is reserved for a lighting exhibit conducted by none other than Megawords. A collaborative of creative individuals best known for experimentation in contemporary media and communication, Megawords pushes the boundaries of convention exhibition and creative process.

Capping off the other end of the action on Girard is the craft space of which we briefly wrote about recently. Along with the previously mentioned artists exhibiting there, we've got
Ryan J. Greenheck: Pottery

and Josh Harmony: Pottery
There will be musical acts as well; stay tuned to find out who!

She's Crafty-

2009-04-13T18:04:00.013-07:00

And she's always down.
We spent some time this past Saturday checking out one of the storefronts-this one will serve as a gallery space to show the photography works of Natalie Hope McDonald, hand-painted plate-ware by Pearl Bell, jewelry by Rabid Fox, ceramics by Rob Sutherland and other works by several yet to be confirmed crafts-persons.
Here is a view of the front room...
with a gorgeous picture window just begging for a display.
Here is the view from the back of the space, as you can see there isn't too much work to be done here as far as rehabbing. A little paint here and there, and some extra lighting are in order.
This is the back room, which leads to-
a lovely little outdoor space! Ideal for BBQ, or live music? Stay tuned...

Hit the Ground Running

2009-04-06T04:43:00.004-07:00

Yesterday we spent some time checking in on the storefronts, which have already made significant progress in regards to rehabilitation since the last time we visited. Clearly, there is much more work to be done, but we're determined and excited to make it happen.

Just to the left of one the future galleries, 2819 W Girard, is the renowned Butters Soul Food, which was packed with soul food connoisseurs as early as 9:30 am on a Saturday.

Yes, it's that good.

If you squint your eyes a bit, you can just make out the freshly painted walls and artwork inside...

The view inside another space, the sheer size of which we all found deliciously exciting:

Here's another storefront; this one requires much less labor as it's already set up in a layout which is cohesive to our plan. Unfortunately we were unable to gain access yesterday, but these images give you a general idea:

Thanks for checking in with us; please subscribe to this blog as we will be updating frequently with fresh pictures documenting building progress, as well as a full artist participant list and samples of their work.

Welcome to Art+Soul Food!

2009-04-05T05:15:00.033-07:00

We're a team of local artists, musicians, property owners and restaurateurs pooling efforts to create a recurring series of gallery spaces known as Art + Soul Food. Slated to open with a community-wide celebration on Saturday, June 13th, 2009, the event will highlight emerging artists by staging exhibitions in currently unoccupied storefronts along West Girard Avenue in Brewerytown. In conjunction, Butters Soul Food, Deborah’s Kitchen and Rita's Water Ice will cater the opening events which is appropriate, seeing as Brewerytown has recently been recognized as the “epicenter of soul food in Philly” by the Philadelphia Weekly.

What we hope to accomplish with this project is to bring attention and visitors to the 6 block stretch of West Girard Avenue between Girard College and Fairmount Park, while showcasing the area’s culinary and arts contributions and subsequently create more activity on the avenue from both a residential and commercial standpoint.

Unoccupied storefronts along the 2600-2900 blocks of Girard will be serving as gallery spaces, and a team of curators have assigned a diverse collection of work to each space, featuring emerging artists working in a plethora of media. Also included will be live music (both inside and on the street!), soulful refreshments, and visual and performing arts. The hope is that with six exhibition spaces featuring multiple artists, along with the general celebratory atmosphere, there will be a significant opportunity to draw a critical mass of people to the event.

Each show will be open for at least one month, with the possibility to extend. Additionally, they will be accessible to the public on a weekly basis, with the time and day to be coordinated so that all the spaces are open at the same time.

Please check back regularly as we assemble the show's full and comprehensive roster.