Saturday at the Store-fronts

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

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!!!

Moving Right Along...

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!

Store Fronts! Literally!

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-

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!

She's Crafty-

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

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.