The Live Arts Festival has selected 22 performances from local Philadelphians and artists from around the world to take place during these two weeks, while Philly Fringe is open to all Philadelphia performing artists to present their work.

Twenty-nine of the Philly Fringe shows will be held in and around the Kensington, Fishtown, and Port Richmond neighborhoods, including seven at the Walking Fish Theatre(2509 Frankford). 

The theatre company from Walking Fish – B. Someday Productions – has been involved in the Philly Fringe Festival since the festival’s beginning in 1997.  Stan Heleva, the theatre’s artistic director (managing director:  Michelle Pauls), was one of the founders of B. Someday Productions (formerly Bloody Someday Advocacy Alliance – a poetry advocacy group).  Bloody Someday was involved in both poetry publishing and performance, but the performance side of the equation had more support and eventually broke off, creating B. Someday Productions and the Walking Fish Theatre.  Since B. Someday had already been a part of the Fringe Festival, Stan knew that theater companies were always in need of venues to hold their Fringe performances.  So, it was only natural for Walking Fish to become a Fringe venue itself when it opened.  In fact, the first performance held at Walking Fish Theatre was a Philly Fringe show that was held the very first day the theater opened – August 31, 2007.  It is only fitting then, that Walking Fish (in its 4th year as a Fringe venue) is hosting the highest number of shows in the neighborhood this year – seven shows with around fifty performances!

Stan says the Fringe shows that will be held at Walking Fish (and Philly Fringe shows in general) are not just for artsy people.  They are short, cheap, and funny, and “you don’t have to ‘get it’” to enjoy the shows.  While none of the Philly Fringe shows at Walking Fish are produced by B. Someday, the show High Dramma/Low Commedyis produced and performed by Walking Fish’s comedy troupe, High Dramma.  This show is one of the ones Stan is most excited about for the festival because the troupe is all new and better than ever.  Stan is also looking forward to the Philadelphia premiere of Carol Churchill’s Drunk Enough to Say I Love You.  The artistic director also highly recommends Now Showing, a multimedia comedy with an ingenious and intense set, and even a little music.

The first Philly Fringe show at the Fish is the Argyle Station, which will begin this Saturday, September 4th.

Some of the other venues in the Kensington area include: 
The Philadelphia Bookspace (1113 Frankford Avenue) showing Tales a play that “investigates and challenges the conventions of storytelling,”
The Bardo (1151 North Third Street) with Between Trains a dreamlike “musical travelogue,”
The Fire (412 West Girard Avenue) showing Why Can’t Zanni Read? a comedy in the style of traditional Italian slapstick theater
FLUXspace (3000 North Hope Street) showing Elephant, a dance performance,
The Mascher Space Co-op (155 Cecil B. Moore Avenue) presenting The Rocky Horror Show, a new rendition of the cult-classic, and Fresh Juice a “serenade” of cutting-edge dance.

The Papermill Theatre, at Papermill Community of the Arts (2825 Ormes Street), is one of the newest Fringe venues.  Following in the footsteps of Walking Fish, the Papermill will be presenting its first performance ever for the Fringe Festival.  Cheap Guy HOF, Class of 2010is a collection of six plays written by Papermill’s director (and director of Papermill’s theater company, hellafresh theater), John Rosenberg.  Like his theater, Rosenberg is new to Philadelphia, only moving here from San Fransisco in January.  He is very excited to be in a city where theater is so prevalent and popular and to debut his show about “cheap guys” (the term he and his sister used growing up, basically to describe losers).  Cheap Guys will be showing here in Kensington every Saturday and Sunday of the festival.

For more information about tickets for the Philly Fringe or Philadelphia Live Arts Festivals, and all the performances that will be taking place, visit http://livearts-fringe.org/ where you can also find an iPhone app with all the Live Arts/Philly Fringe info from show times to locations and descriptions.

Also, for information on Walking Fish Theatre and B. Someday Productions, and their 2010-2011 lineup of shows please visit there website:  http://www.walkingfishtheatre.com/

Read more about Papermill Theatre and hellafresh theatre at their blog:  http://blog.hellafreshtheatre.com/

A painting from Benjamin Howard's "Asphalt Ascension" at Proximity Gallery

As always, First Friday has a exciting and promising line-up.  With music, theater, and art, it is sure to be a September to remember!

click through the jump for full details

Angel Studios
2452 Frankford Avenue
Angel Studios Host:
A very special Birthday First Friday at Angel Studios September 3rd… come celebrate my birthday with me and enjoy the Awesome Art work and Moving, soulful Moka Music of Paulina Houston McCall and Rob McCall!!!! YAY!!!

Proximity Gallery
2009 Frankford Ave.
Local Young Artists Exhibit
Friday September 3rd, 2010
6pm-9pm
Come out and help us celebrate the work of our local young artists.
Featuring art created by children and young adults from The Art Factory, Kids Club, The Simple Way Art Camp, Pops Playground Art Camp, and Spark Creativity

Coral Street Arts House
2446-68 Coral

Artspace Liberti
2424 York
Artspace Liberti presents its fall show, In3s, paintings by Stephen Evans, Timothy Gierschick II and Matthew Sepielli. This exhibition runs from September 3- October 23, 2010. There will be an opening reception on Friday, September 3rd from 7:00-10:00PM featuring a music performance by Good Dust.

These three painters represent three different approaches to non-representational work but all share an affinity for the process of creation and the experiential nature of looking at art.

Matthew Sepielli’s paintings explore a “what-if” approach to creating art. What happens when you combine oil paint, Vaseline, glue, white out and other materials into a painting? Sepielli is interested in the relative “alchemy” of art- combining familiar materials in something unfamiliar, unknown and somewhat unknowable.
To quote Sepielli: “It is my goal to make works whose physical structure and identity produces a meaning inherent to the moment one encounters the physical object of the work and one whose identity morphs from the moment one encounters the work, to the time one leaves it and remembers it and thus returns- though changed upon a second encounter.”

Conversely, Stephen Evans’ work investigates a more minimal and calculated approach to painting. The application and development of the works are more deliberate and controlled. Evans taps into Kandinsky’s views of painting that there is an “initial, physical, and optical reaction to an image that takes place in the eye, but that it may also go further to touch on another level of a being: the emotional and spiritual level. I believe that the formal issues of art are perfect vehicles for the allegorical, and may further more leave the message to supersede the artwork itself.”

Somewhere between these two approaches lies the work of Timothy Gierschick II. His paintings appear simultaneously calculated and improvised. His work is a slow call-and-response. Gierschick’s paintings are as much an internal dialogue as they are a conversation with the world. Like Sepielli, his materials are often recycled and repurposed. Prescription pads, found wood and latex paint are salvaged and reborn, combining seemingly unrelated materials. Within the structure of the work, color and shape combine and set next to one another in an Albers-like method of communication.

The artists’ reception will be held on September 3rd from 7:00-10:00PM at 2424 E York St in Philadelphia between Gaul and Cedar Sts.

While the gallery does not maintain regular viewing hours, visits can be scheduled by appointment. Please e-mail us at artspaceliberti@gmail.com to arrange a visit. Viewing is also possible during Sunday church services between 10:30AM-12:00.
Artspace Liberti is a multi-discipline arts venue organized and maintained by liberti church east.

Craft Foundry
701 Belgrade
Latest work by Minna Aaparyti in the world of bookbinding and jewelry; locally made soy candles and fair trade teas; come out and try your hand at  Decorative Painted papers and find out more about classes.  Snacks and beverages served.

Part Time Studios
2031 Frankford
Keith Warren Greiman presents “Wherever You Go, I’ll Always Be Your Neighbor”.  A show of new paintings at Part Time Studios.  Opening reception Friday, September 3rd, 6-10pm. 

Johnny Brenda’s
1201 Frankford

Leotah’s Place
2033 E York

Extra Extra
2221 Sepviva

Liberty Vintage
2212 Sepviva

BYO Studios
2212 Sepviva
PRINTERS without PRESSES
BYO Print wants you in our space!  Visit us on September 3rd to see our expanded facilities, and learn about how you can print here.  We are currently looking for 1-2 monthly share members who have full 24/7 access to the printshop plus perks!  We also have ample opportunity for printers to rent time on the presses at BYO for special projects and one-on-one tutoring.
 
Friday, September 3rd, 7pm-10pm
PRINTERS without PRESSES
BYO Print Studio Open House
2212 Sepviva, North Loft

Perpetua
2039 Frankford

F&N Gallery @ Circle of Hope
2009 Frankford Ave.
Local Young Artists Exhibit
Friday September 3rd, 2010
6pm-9pm
Come out and help us celebrate the work of our local young artists.
Featuring art created by children and young adults from The Art Factory, Kids Club, The Simple Way Art Camp, Pops Playground Art Camp, and Spark Creativity

two percent to glory
1817 Frankford
Vintage cloths, cheese and wine!

Highwire Gallery
2040 Frankford
NOTEBOOKS
Lydia Hamilton Brown
“I am interested in ideas,not merely visual product.”  ~ Marcel DuChamp 
“NOTEBOOKS” is about ideas and how these ideas are processed. Everything is an experiment and nothing is ever finished.
My work is about making art, it is as simple as that.

Fire Museum Presents a benefit for the Kensington Community Food Co-op
with:
North Lawrence Midnight Singers
Taggart
Gringo Motel

Friday, September 3rd 6:00PM
Outdoors at
2205 Frankford Ave at Susquehanna
Philadelphia, PA $5 (on up) suggested donation
(indoors at Highwire Gallery if it rains)

A First Friday fundraiser in the great out of doors (ok, Frankford Ave,
but it is outside) for the Kensington Community Food Co-op. The
Kensington Community Food Co-op project is driven by area residents who
are dedicated to bringing healthy food and products (including
organic+local) to the area by opening a co-operatively owned and run
grocery store. The initiative is picking up steam, stop on by and give
your support or become a member!

North Lawrence Midnight Singers:
“Together, the boys create a rich, rollicking take on old-fashioned
rock, rolling together the big, booming harmonies of Buddy Holly with
the winding guitar work of American Beauty and the witticisms of Bob
Dylan.- INTRIGUING SOUNDS OF NLMS” – Brian Rademaekers, The Fishtown
Star

Taggart:
“Taggart, together as a band since 1995, has been tearing up stages in
the tri-state area with their high-energy brand of rock n roll. Taking
cues from seminal bands like The Replacements and Husker Du, coupled
with British legends like The Who and The Beatles, Taggart has released
two full length records and has been featured on numerous compilations.
Taggart’s sets are high energy affairs – with well over 50 originals and
triple that in classic and obscure cover songs, Taggart have been
Philadelphia’s best-kept secret for almost 10 years!” – bio

Gringo Motel:
“Gringo Motel is a mariachi spaghetti western, instrumental surf band
with excursions into ambient landscapes, David Lynch, circus music, and
outsider art. Their desolate resonance of somber tunes invoke reality as
a picture show. Founded in 1999 by multi instrumentalist, engineer, and
artist Tom Scheponik as a project combining art and music. The idea of
the project was to have different people stopping by and staying for a
while with no commitment.” – bio

Philadelphia Argentine Tango School
2030 Frankford, Wine, cheese and free mini-tango lessons (8-9 pm)!  Followed by a FREE practica (casual social dance event) until 11 pm.

Heathen Salon
2021 Frankford Ave

GERM Books and Gallery
2005 Frankford
A Piano and a Cocktail Murderess features Matt of Philly’s foremost “post-everything band” Radio Eris on keys backing performance artist LizZ (Beyond the Pale Fringe 2008, Crooked House Fringe 2009). They’ve mined the vast sea of 20th century pop music using keen curatorial ears to select surprising and enchanting songs. Once adapted for midnight cocktail lounge piano, the likes of Elvis Costello, Peggy Lee, Tom Petty, and all sorts in between thrill all over again.

Opening act is the a capella folk singer/ poet Scott Norman.

Ongoing in the Gallery:  “Curious Creatures and Archons of Alternate Dimensions”
A selection of artwork by Lynnette Shelley and Brandon Lord Ross
Friday, August 6, 2010, through Saturday, September 18, 2010
 
Lynnette Shelley
Deeply influenced by Celtic, Eastern, Asian and aboriginal / native works; art nouveau, abstract expressionism, and medieval artworks; fantasy and science fiction; as well as zoomorphism, therianthropy, cryptozoology and mythological stories and legends; Lynnette fuses these styles into her strikingly unique illustrations.
“I am a fan of a multitude of artists – from the various pen-and-ink artists such as Aubrey Beardsley and Edward Gorey to medieval illuminated manuscripts created by Celtic monks to Russian iconic artists to Japanese scroll painters and native artisans. I also appreciate artists who portray the world around them with a unique eye and a colorful imagination – Vincent Van Gogh, William Blake, Frida Kahlo, Marc Chagall, Gustav Klimt, Henri Rousseau, Edvard Munch, Susan Seddon Bouletand Walton Ford, to name but a few.”
Lynnette’s artwork strikes a primal chord in many viewers, with almost Jungian associations to the colors and shapes. Her animal art and creature illustrations are both primitive and sophisticated, and have been likened to images from an undiscovered ancient civilization or culture.
Lynnette is a Delaware native who moved to Philadelphia in 1999. Her artwork has been displayed at various venues across the Philadelphia and surrounding metropolitan areas, including the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (POST), the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, Three Ravens Gallery in Ardmore, the Manayunk-Roxborough Art Center, both the Highwire Gallery and Art Machine Productions in Fishtown, and the Wilmington Grand Opera House. Some of her creature drawings were featured in the animated short “The Spider Is the Web” shown at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, while more of her artwork was featured as part of an on-screen art show at the 2008 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon. She also exhibited at the juried art show at Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA, one of the largest fantasy / sci fi-themed conventions in the world.
In addition to her fine art pursuits, Lynnette is also the co-founder of The Red Masque, an original avant rock band which has played numerous shows and festivals since 2001. The Red Masque is currently signed to an experimental / avant label based out of Colorado.
Info & Contact: www.lynnetteshelley.com | redeye@designbyredeye.com

Brandon Lord Ross
“Always having an interest in art, metaphysics, and creating intuitively, I began doing several drawings, and then paintings, and oil pastels, and noticed a repeating theme-mostly strange figures surrounded by or connecting to geometric shapes, stryations, and patterns that seem to part of each other. These pictures invoke something deep in the psyche, and are eerily familiar in many ways. I believe what is depicted is a truer more pure reality and that we may be in the “canvas” of these beings.
I think the ultimate goal for a person should be to achieve personal and spiritual freedom and live life on your own terms and if somehow “drawing” things out can go towards achieving these ends, then intuitive art — especially what exists on the ‘outside’ — is a highly valuable resource.”
Brandon Lord Ross is a Philadelphia area musician and outsider artist. He is a founding member/bass guitarist of the avant/progressive rock band the Red Masque and has composed two rune tone songs for the website of Inventor Karl Welz. He as been creating numerous artworks on and off since 2000 and has had original artwork featured in a juried exhibition at the Manayunk Art Center as well as at Art Machine Productions and the Highwire Gallery in Fishtown.

Redbubble Site: http://www.redbubble.com/people/lordmasque
Band website: www.theredmasque.com
Blog:http://lordmasque.blogspot.com/

NKCDC Garden Center
1825 Frankford
Browse our selection of perenials!

Walking Fish Theater
2509 Frankford
THE ARGYLE STATION
Fresh Meat
Fresh Meat has returned with a new experiment that takes place at the intersection of spontaneous generation and suspended animation. That’s when HE enters with a story as old as fishing. Here, reality is speculative, meaning is decorative, and being out of your depth can be a good thing.
$12 aditional shows; Sat Sept 4 at 4:00 PM, Sun Sept 5 at 6:00 PM, Mon Sept 6 at 7:00 PM, Tue Sept 7 at 7:00 PM, Fri Sept 17 at 11:59 PM, and Sat Sept 18 at 4:00 PM

Dylan Clements is an eclectic and passionate actor/writer based in Philadelphia.  Favorite roles include Jason Posner in “Wit”, James Avery in “Valhalla”, and an original ensemble created play, “Pay Up” with Pig Iron Theatre Company. Film roles include Jacob O’Donnell in “Wobble: The Weight of the Truth”, and the Hotel Clerk in “Audition.” Currently he is shooting an indie comedy in NYC entitled, We Are The Hartmans.  In October 2010, he will begin a 3-year program at Helikos (Florence, Italy) in Collaborative Theatre Creation.

Aram Alan Aghazarian is an actor/theater maker from Philadelphia. His ensemble-created work includes Dilated (Fresh Meat), Speak Mascot! (Workshop for Potential Movement), Pay Up (Pig Iron Theater Company) and Please Make Us Happy or Protagonismo! (Burvil Hoist). He recently performed in Eurydice and Forward Operating Base at Alaska’s Perseverance Theater. Training: London International School of Performing Arts.

Memphis Flats
1714 Memphis Street

BookSpace
1113 Frankford browse the vast selection of printed materials!

Atlantis the lost Bar
Frankford & Hagert

VWVOFFKA
2037 Frankford
VWVOFFKA invites you to the 2ndannual Portside Art Center’s summer camp art show on September 3rd2010. The Portside Art Center is a non-profit art institution located in Port Richmond on Lehigh and Belgrade.For three years the Portside has been introducing arts, music and culture to its surrounding community. This first Friday VWVOFFKA will be featuring artwork made by all the children who participated in the 2010 summer arts camp. We will also be holding interactive art projects through out the night and want everyone young and old to join in and get creative!

 O’Reilly’s Pub
Frankford & Lehigh

Rocket Cat
2001 Frankford
Amy Morrissey will be showing at the Rocket Cat First Fr- 6-9pm
http://www.minerstreet.com/amymorrissey/index.html
http://www.minerstreet.com/amy.html 

Slingluff Gallery
11 W Girard

Mendez Homes & Investments
2480 Frankford
Artist: Gillian Pokalo
6:30pm -9:30pm

Mary and Erica have had a burning desire to run their own café for years and they did not take this dream lightly. Erica, a Traffic Manager for business support at XPN (she schedules event and business announcements) and Mary, a hair stylist, spent many years saving for this venture. The ladies worked on completing a business plan for almost two years – researching, projecting and imagining. They shaped a vision for The Lola Bean by spending time in some of their favorite coffee shops and observing which characteristics indicated successful businesses. Regular hours, a friendly and welcoming environment and delicious food and coffee were necessities for succeeding in a competitive café market.

When Erica and Mary started looking for spaces, it didn’t take long to realize that 1325 Frankford Avenue was the perfect space. Small but full of natural light, the café on the corner of Mercer and the arts corridor is passed daily by dozens of commuters either walking to the el or biking. And it’s no secret that Fishtown is full of home based businesses – folks who sometimes need that pick me up just around the corner. Customers can expect to find delicious LaColombe coffee and espresso drinks, pastries from Au Fournil and other baked goods from Carangi in South Philadelphia. Pre prepared salads and sandwiches, fruit, yogurt and bottled drinks will also be available. Erica and Mary hope to incorporate local baked goods made right here in the Fishtown and Kensington area in the future.

So where did the name Lola Bean originate? Why their dog of course! When Mary and Erica first moved to Fishtown, their walks with Lola to the park and around the neighborhood led  the ladies  to interact with their neighbors. The community made them feel welcome and immediately at home.

 The Lola Bean will be opening in the next 4 to 6 weeks so keep your eyes and ears peeled. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 6:30 am to 6 pm, Saturdays 7 am – 5 pm and Sundays 7 am to 4 pm. Interested in having your baked goods or treats featured in the café? Stop in when the café opens and talk to Mary!

Contact info: www.lolabean.com or 215-634-LOLA. Or visit them on Facebook.

Please join us on Wednesday, August 18, at 6 p.m. for an occasion to meet the French exchange artists at the VIKING MILL BUilding Mural SIte , and Preview the Mural
in Progress.

Food and DrinkS PROVIDED.

This month, as part of our ongoing exchange with the US Embassy in Paris and Culturesfrance, Mural Arts welcomes a team of talented French artists who are working on a new mural project in East Kensington. Alex Stolypine, an internationally reknown street artist known as “Psychoze,” will be leading this project along with Philly’s own master muralist Paul Santoleri, Emilie Ledieu (the lead mosaic artist) and assisted by “Bulle d’Ox,” a group of five young French artists.

Alex, Paul, and Emilie are also engaging a group of students in our YVRP and Art at the Court programs in the creation of this mural.

Located at the Viking Mill building at 2026 East Hagert Street, this project will be completed in September.

For more information about this project please contact Netanel Eliezer, Project Manager, at netanel.eliezer@muralarts.org.

We would like to thank the City of Philadelphia, the City of Philadelphia Department of Human Services, David Hirsh, Tony Porretta, the East Kensington Neighbors Association, the NKCDC, and the Coral Street Arts House for all of their support

Birds of Maya playing a show

Fire Museum will present two concerts on the lot at 2213 Frankford Ave in the comming weeks.  The first will benefit the Highwire Gallery accross the street, the second will benefit the Kensington Community Food co-op.  Rock for a cause indeed.

On Saturday, August 28th at 7:00PM: Birds of Maya, West Vienna & Comoros

On Friday, September 3rd at 6:00PM: North Lawrence Midnight Singers, Taggart & Gringo Motel

Click “read full post” for all the details and band descriptions.

Fire Museum Presents a benefit for the Highwire Gallery with:

Birds of Maya, West Vienna & Comoros
Saturday, August 28th 7:00PM
Outdoors at 2205 Frankford Ave at Susquehanna
Philadelphia, PA $5 (on up) suggested donation (indoors at Highwire Gallery if it rains)

Birds of Maya:
”(W)onderful LP from Philadelphian garage rockers Birds Of Maya, whose immense riffing recalls Cream and Black Sabbath at their most psyched. This is no dullard pentatonic, pseudo blues-sludge nonsense though, these guys can really cut it as musicians. Some of the far out wah-wah guitar solos are particularly arresting, sounding loosened up and dangerous while the impossibly heavy rhythm section lays down an authoritative groove. This thing sounds like it was engineered by whoever records Times New Viking albums too, coated in a ridiculously loud veneer of high-gain fuzz and sticky noise syrup. Tremendous..”- Boomkat

West Vienna:
The trio version of West Vienna made their debut at the Trenton Ave Arts Festival and blew everyone away with a 30 minute non-stop psychedelic improvisational number. “West Vienna – in its debut live performance – stole the show[…]. With a muscular sound of repetitious Can-like rhythms and sub-tones behind them, (they) howled, crooned, and chattered their way through smart, positivist poetry and skewered jazz.” – A.D. Amorosi/Philadelphia Inquirer

Comoros:
”Every sound is engulfed in huge washes of analog delay and spacious reverb. The resultant sound is smeared and blurred to the point of abstract beauty without the usual instrumental signifiers. When identifiable voices (synth squiggles here, bass drones there) do emerge, they simply provide landmarks to help us catch our breath before sliding back into the beautiful murk.” –Foxy Digitalis

Fire Museum Presents a benefit for the Kensington Community Food Co-op with:

North Lawrence Midnight Singers, Taggart & Gringo Motel

Friday, September 3rd 6:00PM

Outdoors at 2205 Frankford Ave at Susquehanna

Philadelphia, PA $5 (on up) suggested donation (indoors at Highwire Gallery if it rains)

A First Friday fundraiser in the great out of doors (ok, Frankford Ave, but it is outside) for the Kensington Community Food Co-op. The Kensington Community Food Co-op project is driven by area residents who are dedicated to bringing healthy food and products (including organic+local) to the area by opening a co-operatively owned and run grocery store. The initiative is picking up steam, stop on by and give your support or become a member!

North Lawrence Midnight Singers:
“Together, the boys create a rich, rollicking take on old-fashioned rock, rolling together the big, booming harmonies of Buddy Holly with the winding guitar work of American Beauty and the witticisms of Bob Dylan.- INTRIGUING SOUNDS OF NLMS” – Brian Rademaekers, The Fishtown Star

Taggart:
“Taggart, together as a band since 1995, has been tearing up stages in the tri-state area with their high-energy brand of rock n roll. Taking cues from seminal bands like The Replacements and Husker Du, coupled with British legends like The Who and The Beatles, Taggart has released two full length records and has been featured on numerous compilations. Taggart’s sets are high energy affairs – with well over 50 originals and triple that in classic and obscure cover songs, Taggart have been Philadelphia’s best-kept secret for almost 10 years!” – bio

Gringo Motel:
“Gringo Motel is a mariachi spaghetti western, instrumental surf band with excursions into ambient landscapes, David Lynch, circus music, and outsider art. Their desolate resonance of somber tunes invoke reality as a picture show. Founded in 1999 by multi instrumentalist, engineer, and artist Tom Scheponik as a project combining art and music. The idea of the project was to have different people stopping by and staying for a while with no commitment.” – bio

links at http://www.museumfire.com/events

Liberty Vintage will host a vintage cycle show, live music, and negative image screen printing this month

August is shaping up to be a great month for Frankford Avenue.  With new artists in the ‘hood, some brand new sidewalks, and the possibility of a week below 90 degrees, I think its safe to say were all excited…

 click through the jump for full details

Angel Studios
2452 Frankford Avenue
A Summer collective of artist musicians including Pearl Street Jazz Trio and Urbana

Proximity Gallery
2434 East Dauphin -on vacation til September-

Coral Street Arts House
2446-68 Coral,
A display of work made by the residents of Coral Street Arts House inluding the works of; Nathan Smith, Kamilah Long, Dustin Sparks, Yvonne Lung, Joann Hulme, Aja De Groff, Kelsey Harro, Nashay Pendleton, Barbara Kellam, Michael Ellyson, Wendell Christie, Christine Baran, Christine Blai, Jeremy Wagner, and Audrey Taylor

Artspace Liberti
2424 York

Craft Foundry
701 Belgrade
handbound books and jewelry

Part Time Studios
2031 Frankford
“We All Screen for Ice Cream”.  Local screen printers show off their summer flavor with limited edition T-shirts inspired by ice cream.

Johnny Brenda’s
1201 Frankford

Leotah’s Place
2033 E York
Sculptures by Meg Lemieur with Paper Stampede
& paintings by Brujo de la Mancha
we will also be enjoying the tunes of a drum jam down. bring a drum if you would like to participate!  
Hours: 6:30-9:30

Extra Extra
2221 Sepviva
This August extra extra presents works by Artie Vierkant and Constant Dullaart. As part of the show number of writers have been invited to contribute a (p)review the exhibit.  Ceci Moss of Rhizome at the New Museum, Gene McHugh of Post Internet, and Nicholas O’Brien of Bad At Sports, among others, will have their writing available at www.artievierkantconstantdullaart.com and in print at the opening Friday August 6th.  

http://www.artievierkant.com/ , http://constantdullaart.com/

Liberty Vintage
2212 Sepviva, vintage cycle show, live music, and negative image screen printing

BYO Studios
2212 Sepviva
BYO Birthday Celebration + Printing Demonstration
http://byo-studio.blogspot.com/

Perpetua
2039 Frankford

F&N Gallery @ Circle of Hope
2007 Frankford
A collection of Mixed Media Work & Animation featuring Tegan Brozyna, Katy Matich, Erin Filson, Yvonne Valenza, Kiersten Wildermuth
“Idioms is a group show sampling artwork from local and emerging female artists as they explore their own unique artistic voice. The audience is invited to view an array of works in various media from painting to printmaking to animation and mixed media.” 

two percent to glory
1817 Frankford, Vintage clothing, accessories, plus wine and cheese

Highwire Gallery
2040 Frankford
Fire Museum Presents:
An outdoor screening (indoors if it rains) of Burmese Daze (2010) by Mats Stromberg
Friday, August 6th 9:00PM
Highwire Gallery
2040 Frankford Ave.
Philadelphia, PA free
“Burmese Daze” is a film consisting of randomly selected clips taken during a short jaunt through Burma (Myanmar) in early 2010. Traveling by Bus, Train or Boat I just focused the camera on everyday aspects of Burmese Life. The Temples and religious processions, the marketplace, street and festivals etc… There’s no message, just a series of sequences arranged in some sort of self directional rhythm.” – Mats Stromberg

Philadelphia Argentine Tango School
2030 Frankford, Wine, cheese and free mini-tango lessons!

Heathen Salon
2021 Frankford Ave, A House Salon – All are Welcomed

GERM Books and Gallery
2005 Frankford
“Curious Creatures and Archons of Alternate Dimensions”
A selection of artwork by Lynnette Shelley and Brandon Lord Ross
Friday, August 6, 2010, through Saturday, September 18, 2010
***OPENING RECEPTION:  FIRST FRIDAY ON FRANKFORD AVENUE, AUGUST 6, 5PM-9PM***
 
Lynnette Shelley
Deeply influenced by Celtic, Eastern, Asian and aboriginal / native works; art nouveau, abstract expressionism, and medieval artworks; fantasy and science fiction; as well as zoomorphism, therianthropy, cryptozoology and mythological stories and legends; Lynnette fuses these styles into her strikingly unique illustrations.
“I am a fan of a multitude of artists – from the various pen-and-ink artists such as Aubrey Beardsley and Edward Gorey to medieval illuminated manuscripts created by Celtic monks to Russian iconic artists to Japanese scroll painters and native artisans. I also appreciate artists who portray the world around them with a unique eye and a colorful imagination – Vincent Van Gogh, William Blake, Frida Kahlo, Marc Chagall, Gustav Klimt, Henri Rousseau, Edvard Munch, Susan Seddon Bouletand Walton Ford, to name but a few.”
Lynnette’s artwork strikes a primal chord in many viewers, with almost Jungian associations to the colors and shapes. Her animal art and creature illustrations are both primitive and sophisticated, and have been likened to images from an undiscovered ancient civilization or culture.
Lynnette is a Delaware native who moved to Philadelphia in 1999. Her artwork has been displayed at various venues across the Philadelphia and surrounding metropolitan areas, including the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (POST), the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, Three Ravens Gallery in Ardmore, the Manayunk-Roxborough Art Center, both the Highwire Gallery and Art Machine Productions in Fishtown, and the Wilmington Grand Opera House. Some of her creature drawings were featured in the animated short “The Spider Is the Web” shown at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, while more of her artwork was featured as part of an on-screen art show at the 2008 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon. She also exhibited at the juried art show at Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA, one of the largest fantasy / sci fi-themed conventions in the world.
In addition to her fine art pursuits, Lynnette is also the co-founder of The Red Masque, an original avant rock band which has played numerous shows and festivals since 2001. The Red Masque is currently signed to an experimental / avant label based out of Colorado.
Info & Contact: www.lynnetteshelley.com | redeye@designbyredeye.com

Brandon Lord Ross
“Always having an interest in art, metaphysics, and creating intuitively, I began doing several drawings, and then paintings, and oil pastels, and noticed a repeating theme-mostly strange figures surrounded by or connecting to geometric shapes, stryations, and patterns that seem to part of each other. These pictures invoke something deep in the psyche, and are eerily familiar in many ways. I believe what is depicted is a truer more pure reality and that we may be in the “canvas” of these beings.
I think the ultimate goal for a person should be to achieve personal and spiritual freedom and live life on your own terms and if somehow “drawing” things out can go towards achieving these ends, then intuitive art — especially what exists on the ‘outside’ — is a highly valuable resource.”
Brandon Lord Ross is a Philadelphia area musician and outsider artist. He is a founding member/bass guitarist of the avant/progressive rock band the Red Masque and has composed two rune tone songs for the website of Inventor Karl Welz. He as been creating numerous artworks on and off since 2000 and has had original artwork featured in a juried exhibition at the Manayunk Art Center as well as at Art Machine Productions and the Highwire Gallery in Fishtown.

Redbubble Site: http://www.redbubble.com/people/lordmasque
Band website: www.theredmasque.com
Blog:http://lordmasque.blogspot.com/

NKCDC Garden Center
1825 Frankford

Walking Fish Theater
2509 Frankford
Pilot Light Theatre Company, in its maiden production, presents: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee!
About the BEE:
In the musical comedy, THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, six young people in the throes of puberty, overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, learn that winning isn’t everything and that losing doesn’t necessarily make you a loser.
The hilarious tale of overachievers’ angst chronicles the experience of six adolescent outsiders vying for the spelling championship of a lifetime. A quirky yet charming cast of outsiders for whom a spelling bee is the one place where they can stand out and fit in at the same time
Friday, August 6 @ 8pm!
(Other dates as well)

Memphis Flats
1714 Memphis Street

BookSpace
1113 Frankford browse the vast selection of printed materials!

Atlantis the lost Bar
Frankford & Hagert,

VWVOFFKA
2037 Frankford
This month at VWVOFFKA the exhibition is Speculative Ecology
participating artists are Jesse Beamesderfer, Tyler Kline, Sarah Everton and Alyssa Maucere.
The show is made up of a series of installations that are over-growing and cascading into each other and into space. Each artist portrays their personal visions of an environment and a balance between worlds within it- they are the man made world, the natural world and the metaphysical world. Opens Friday August 6th at 7PM

 O’Reilly’s Pub
Frankford & Lehigh,

Rocket Cat
2001 Frankford,

Slingluff Gallery
11 W Girard,
Saturday

The Philadelphia Art Hotel presents a video screening featuring the work of resident artists:
Elana Mann, Caleb J. Lyons & Kathryn Scanlan

July 16, 2010, 8:30pm
2007 – 2015 E. Hazzard St.
Philadelphia PA 19125
Free and open to the public
*BRING AN FM RADIO FOR AUDIO*

On July 16, 1945, Leonard Pepkowitz, a scientist involved in the Manhattan Project, put on some warm clothes and sat on a
summit in Los Alamos, New Mexico waiting for the detonation of the “Trinity Test.” On July 16, 2010, during a different kind
of war, Elana Mann (Pepkowitz’ granddaughter) will wear a dress and project her new video Can’t Afford a Freeway (2007-10)
on the wall of a building in East Kensington, Philadelphia. All are welcome to drive-in/ride-in/walk-in and bringing an FM radio
is greatly encouraged. Additional videos will be screened by fellow PAH residents Kathryn Scanlan and Caleb J. Lyons

Elana Mann’s artwork probes the theatrics of exchange. Through performative strategies, she investigates psycho-social and
emotional undercurrents of both open communication and silence. In many of her projects she initiates dialogs and
collaborations with friends, acquaintances and strangers as a means to explore interpersonal, social and political contexts.

Caleb J. Lyons’s artistic practice encompasses a diverse range of activities—directing an exhibition space and a “conceptual
artist residency program,” gardening, DJing, working collaboratively with other artists, as well as more conventional modes
of working such as painting, sculpting, and video-making. He investigates abstraction both formally in the work itself and
conceptually by addressing the way in which ideas and information can become increasingly mediated or disconnected from
reality.

Kathryn Scanlan is an artist and writer currently living in Des Plaines, Illinois. Her work has appeared in NOON, The
Collagist, Wigleaf, and elimae, and she recently received first prize in The Iowa Review’s annual fiction contest. She is
the nonfiction editor of MAKE Magazine and co-director of Old Gold Exhibitions and Events, a collaborative project space
in Chicago.

The Central Delaware Advocacy Group will host Round 2 of Civic Cluster meetings for the Master Plan for the Central Delaware.  This is an interactive workshop to give the DRWC input about key topics to concept plans for the Plan for the Central Delaware, including open space and recreation. 

This is a great opportunity for the Frankford Avenue Arts community to make a showing, and contribute our ideas to the redevelopment of the riverfront.  So please, consider bringing your forward thinking, creative mind to one of the below public meetings and contributing to the dialog!  Public processes like this can only reflect your demographic if you and people like you show up!

The meetings are:

 Thursday, July 15
6:30-8:30pm
Independence Seaport Museum
Chestnut St. and the Delaware River

 Monday, July 19
6:30-8:30pm
First Presbyterian Church in Fishtown
418 E. Girard Ave. (between Columbia and Palmer)

 The program is the same for both meetings, you may attend the one you find most convenient.

Click here to go to the Friday Arts page and see the video!

Kyle Fisher's "Living Room" at Part Time Studios

 Before you split for the shore, check out Frankford Avenue’s July 1st Friday!  Held over at Proximity is “Self Portraits of People I dont Know”, check it out if you missed it last month.  Also of note; Kyle Fisher’s “Living Room” at Part Time Studios (pictured at left), and SUSPECT DEVICE BY Lauren Brick, Sydney Conaway, Emilie Fosnocht & Ingrid Burrington at Extra Extra.

New this month: Heathen Salon, a house salon where first friday goers chat, listen to music, check out neighbor’s artwork, and generally comiserate.

click through the jump for full details

Angel Studios
2452 Frankford Avenue, Artists:

Dave Barnis - animation and design
Erik Melendez -Mostly pencil /charcoal / pastel work
Kenny White- photographer
Bob Gorchovemail -acrylics
IRA- artist/graphic designer

Music by Urbana and acoustic artist Bill McConney    
(  we also have open jams throughout the evening )

Proximity Gallery
2434 East Dauphin, JoKa’s “Self Portraits of People I Don’t Know” (held over by popular demand)

Reception: JULY 2ND 2010 6pm-9pm
Show runs until July 15

 Are we ever really ourselves? More often than not, the way we act toward others is but a slight manifestation of the person we truly are in our hearts and heads; a projection of a person specially designed to meet another’s expectations. With this, who can you say you truly know? Your friends? Your family? Yourself? Even interactions between good friends, significant others and close family are no more than superficial surface scrapes.
In his new series of miniature portraits, all measuring under two inches, JoKa expresses this concept through his interpretation of family and close friends — people he is acquainted with, but whom he might not truly know. A pointillist, JoKa uses toothpicks as his sole form of paint application. Beyond giving him control and precision, this process gives him a level of intimacy with his subjects that conveys the subtleties and (in)sincerity in each expression, and in presenting each persona, as any artist does, he injects in each portrait elements of his own personality.
When not painting his familiar strangers, JoKa’s common subjects include charbroiled meat, sex, dissection, hypnosis, corruption of youth, morbid obesity, swashbuckling, insects, male-pattern baldness, bumps, self-loathing, ham, candy corn and clones. His work has been called nostalgic, though not by him. His art has been featured nationally and internationally, and in national art publications. He is a carnivore.

Artspace Liberti
2424 York, -closed for the holiday-

BellaSera Cafe
2146 East Susquehanna, skateboard/graffitti artist, Denny Smyth
live band playing outside and plenty of free beer and samples of vegan pastry

Part Time Studios
2031 Frankford,  “Living Room” by Kyle Fisher

Johnny Brenda’s
1201 Frankford, Happy Hour with DJ Brian Sokel (5 to 10 pm)

Extra Extra
2221 Sepviva, SUSPECT DEVICE BY Lauren Brick, Sydney Conaway, Emilie Fosnocht & Ingrid Burrington

SUSPECT DEVICE is an exhibition of work from four artists, (Lauren Brick, Sydney Conaway, Emilie Fosnocht, Ingrid Burrington) curated by Ingrid Burrington. The exhibit employs sculpture, animation, and two-dimensional renderings to explore how the aesthetics of our environment act in tandem with its mechanization. Ingrid brings together hand-crafted objects with her self-described “slicker, cleaner” work and the 3-d animations of Lauren Brick to comment on the underlying design of our environment and it’s supposed utility.
“There is increasing discussion today of the application of design to life. Nations are branded, personal interests are data, above all objects have some function, and productivity generates both fiscal and cultural capital. Even the terms by which we describe art objects—as works—suggests that they are a mechanism for some productive use. These artworks reference useful objects and design strategies, and appear to be in “use”, but obscure or complicate the actual use; and in so doing emphasize the symbolic function of objects while implying a somewhat sinister, somewhat comical secret purpose that might be best left unknown.”

Liberty Vintage
2212 Sepviva, Woodworking and Metal work exhibition
+vintage bikes, as always

Perpetua
2039 Frankford

F&N Gallery @ Circle of Hope
2007 Frankford, -Closed for the holiday-

two percent to glory
1817 Frankford, Vintage clothing, accessories, plus wine and cheese

Highwire Gallery
2040 Frankford, Fire Museum Presents: Fursaxa, Dora Bleu & Kuschty Rye Ergot

Friday, July 2nd 9PM – $5

Fursaxa:
”The most beautiful of these cuts is perhaps “Nawne Ye”, a modal vocal line looped over itself in round-like patterns, four or five iterations going on at a time, all of them in Burke’s lovely voice. There is no other instrument here but voice, yet the piece is almost unbearably complex; you lose yourself following one voice, as it loops over and under and around the others. “Rattling the Calabash,” is denser and more varied, pitting shaken percussion, drums and solitary organ lines against exotically pitched guitar plucking. A slow march’s rhythm pushes the piece forward, and Burke’s voice is earthier, more foreign. It sounds North African, then Middle Eastern, and then simply sublimely strange, yet tied to the world through its drums and tambourine rattles. “Of Tubal Gain” leans more towards rock, with its distorted electric guitar slashes under slow-blooming vocal notes; you can imagine Burke collaborating in this fashion with contemporaries like Bardo Pond and Jackie O Motherfucker. Burke finds unworldly beauty in many different places, in medieval chants and multivoiced rounds, in ethnic tinged improvisation and in electrified rock, and she makes her own weird kind of sense of it wherever it occurs. This is not folk or rock or anything but a waking dream, beautiful, mysterious and frightening.-Jennifer Kelly/Pop Matters (review of Alone in the Dark Wood)

 Dora Bleu:
Dora Bleu is Dorothy Geller, formerly of From Quagmire (VHF Records) and Laconic Chamber (Camera Obscura). “Frail and delicate are the voice and acoustic guitar of Dorothy Geller, The music moves furtively like her shy voice. Adhering to a song structure. The instruments play out slowly as they are unhurried by any percussion, save the cymbals which seem to accent more than set a pace. The playing does get unconventional enough to perhaps fall into that foggy area called “freak folk”, whatever that might mean. However, there is enough of an angelic, calm quality to this album to make it worth speaking of on its own. Even in those few places where the ensemble fly off into crazier free playing it fits into the whole as they match the peculiar character of this personality.”-Eric Lanzillotta/Bixobal (review of Clones of Eros)

 Kuschty Rye Ergot(members of Kohoutek):
Kuschty Rye Ergot is the new project from long-time DC area multi-instrumentalist/vocalist John Stanton. A collective as opposed to a fixed lineup, performances range from drifty slowburn Popol Vuh-ish watercolor solo guitar/synth constructs to full blown ensemble sonic exhaust blasts, along with occasional stripped down acoustic folk musings. Elements of many of Stanton’s wide-ranging previous efforts (Redeemers, Cash Slave Clique, Nik Turner/Harvey Bainbridge of Hawkwind, Spaceseed, Promise Breakers, Cotton & Billawtm) are in evidence, refracted via a prism of spatial folk, electronics, and whatever else the lineup du jour shakes loose from their collective tree. A universe where Ronnie Lane and COB channel Dome and Peter Hammill? You decide. In addition, John sometimes performs as a member of the improv-psych band Kouhotek, playing guitar, synth, electric piano, and other instruments.

 links at http://www.museumfire.com

Philadelphia Argentine Tango School
2030 Frankford, Wine, cheese and free mini-tango lessons!

Heathen Salon
2021 Frankford Ave, A House Salon – All are Welcomed

730 pm, free, music but not in a traditional house show way -more with food, conversation, and the display of music as one would display art
this months music: des ark, a stick and a stone, and resin hits

GERM Books and Gallery
2005 Frankford, Jonathan Canady’s Cases and Composites 2.0
THE ART OF CHAOS, PASSION AND DISTORTED FLESH COME TO PHILADELPHIA’S GERM BOOKS

Germ is pleased to present Jonathan Canady’s “Cases and Composites 2.0,” the artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. Imagine the blurred images that populate the dark corners of every human mind projected onto canvas. This is Canady’s art.
Canady’s work has been exhibited in galleries and published in the underground press across the United States and in Europe. With “Cases and Composites 2.0,” the well known underground experimental musician who turned to painting in 2007 shares the latest examples of his terrible vision with the world — both the physical as well as the virtual.
All work will be simultaneously exhibited on the internet in addition to the gallery.
To see examples of the artist’s work please go to http://www.art.malsonus.com/
For more information and high resolution visuals, e-mail the artist at malsonus@yahoo.com

NKCDC Garden Center
1825 Frankford

Memphis Flats
1714 Memphis Street

BookSpace
1113 Frankford browse the vast selection of printed materials!

Atlantis the lost Bar
Frankford & Hagert, “It came from across the street”- the Poster Art of Devilfish Ink Hi-Fidelity Graphic Arts & Printing.

Brian Potash owner and operator of Devilfish Ink Hi-Fideltiy Graphic Arts and Printing will be having his first solo art show in over 14 years, July 2, 2010. The show titled “It came from across the street” – The poster art of Devilfish Ink will feature over 16 silk screen and digital gig poster prints from the past 10 years. Art work will be framed by Blue Velvet Custom Framing as well as multiple backlight frames.

As the lead singer of local punk-rawk-rhythm-n-blooze band, the Sideshow Prophets, Potash has found his creative outlet through the need for promotional posters. Gig poster art has been in circluation since the 1800’s, with a resurgence in the 1960’s, but in the past few years a modern movement has flourished and brodened it scope by creating not only stunning 2-D prints and paintings, but even sculptural posters. Potash’s work will feature a wide range of posters from the Sideshow Prophets, but also theater and dance posters as well. Medias include acrylic paint, watercolor, colored pencil, pen/brush & ink as well as digital illustrations and photo manipulation.

Hand silk screened and digital prints will be available for purchase of each poster for $15.00 unframed.

Samples of various work can be viewed here. 

VWVOFFKA
2037 Frankford, OLFACTICS
a post Neolithic performative sculpture, brought to you by aspiring Neuro-abstractionists Finazzo, Molholt & Chadwick.  A physical olfactogram specifically designed to sharpen one’s senses & subvert the ritual anosmia perpetuated by modern society,OLFACTICS is a multivariate analysis of odourant induced neural activity.  Prepare to experience the full spectrum of scent through a pungent array of odour specimen, running the gamut of imaginable smells.  Opens Friday July 2^nd from 7:00  – 11:00 PM at VWVOFFKA, located at 2037 Frankford Avenue. Bring your nostrils.

O’Reilly’s Pub
Frankford & Lehigh, local music: “The Nines”
starts at 8pm

Philadelphia Art Hotel
2010 Huntingdon

Rocket Cat
2001 Frankford, “Plexus” fiber art by Rachel Blythe Udell

Slingluff Gallery
11 W Girard,
Saturday July 10th, 6-9p. The Slingluff Gallery Presents Mike Egan. Meet and Mingle with the artist.

 Mike Egan’s paintings are created using acrylic paint, shellac and sandpaper and are made on wood panels and stretched canvases. He likes to think that each painting is in some way a good bye to somebody who passed away. A funeral portrait.
“The subject matter in my work tends to deal with life, death and religion. I’ve been working in funeral homes for the last five years and I’ve become quite familiar with all three subjects. Through funerals we tend to celebrate not only someone dying but we also celebrate that persons life. Through religion we hope that our loved ones are in a better place, that they are not suffering anymore.” – Egan