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 (more…)
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…
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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.
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From its headquarters on Crease Street, Usiloquy Dance Designs stages preformances, educational outreach, lectures & demonstrations of Bharatanatyam Dance. The group’s artistic director, Shaily Dadiala, lives in Fishtown, and is looking for ways to better connect her art and her neighbrohood.
If your interested in hosting a Bharatanatyam demonstration at your venue during First Friday, or any other community event, contact Shaily!
© Seth Shimkonis, Check him out at Artspace Liberti
This month’s First Friday is shaping up well! And, weve got a new venue, Artspace Liberti inside the 2424 York building. It’ll be a great night for shopping, with new items at two percent to glory and vintage motorcycles at Liberty Vintage.
Click through for all the details…
Spring is finally here, and that’s something to celebrate. This past winter was enough to make even Midwesterners shiver in their snowboots. Frankford Avenue greets the sunshine and warm temps with arms wide open. There is hardly a shortage of things to do this coming First Friday. The arts corridor welcomes a new print studio, hosts two exhibitions part of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference and even acknowledges ‘failing’ artists. And this is just a dash of what to expect as you stroll along this vibrant corridor.
Details after the jump. Keep checking back throughout the week for additions…
Well, 2009 was good to the arts corridor! Frankford Avenue witnessed the debut of 7 new businesses. Pirhana Betty’s Art Market, Extra Extra, Part Time Studio, Philadelphia Argentine Tango School, Bella Sera Cafe, F & N Gallery and Angel Studios. And the good news doesn’t stop there. Girard Avenue welcomed quite a few places as well. Enter the new Slingluff Gallery, Fishtown Airways, the Milk Crate Cafe and the Music Fountain, just to name a few. The Caterpillar, a seasonal outdoor performance venue, burst onto the Frankford Avenue scene offering residents and visitors an opportunity to enjoy a pleasant evening and talented artists. Every day it seems like something new and inviting is happening on these corridors. First Fridays are bigger and better than ever thanks to the enthusiastic and growing particpation of merchants and artists each month.
The excitement continues into 2010. This will be a big year for Frankford Avenue. The corridor will see the opening of another sit down restaurant and a vintage boutique, two percent to golory. Fifteen commercial buildings on the corridor and along Norris Street will light up their facades to improve the sense of safety in the evening hours in the next few weeks. And let’s not forget that it’s finally here! The long awaited construction project that will transform the face of Frankford Avenue from York Street down to Palmer Park. Look out for new sidewalks, signage, street trees, 4 additional art racks, trashcans and two spectacular bus shelters. Keep your eyes peeled for a constructions schedule and an anticipated start date in the coming weeks.
While we missed the First Friday this month (we were still enjoying eggnog), some folks carried on with the usual festivities. Pirhana Betty’s Art Market featured sculpture, jewelry and paintings by Laurel Patterson on January 1st. Proximity Gallery hosted an opening reception for the 2nd Annual Neighborhood Group Show on January 3rd. And there is still plenty to do the coming weeks of this chilly month. Highwire Gallery is hosting its opening reception Friday, January 8th from 5- 9 pm. Heat things up next door at the Philadelphia Argentine Tango School when you take the first class of a four week beginning tango dance session at 7 pm. Meander across the street and check out the Part Time Studios crew and the ’Polarbear Polaroid’ event. Hungry for more on Saturday? Mindy Kober’s solo show kicks off at an opening reception January 9th from 6-9 pm at Slingluff.
Andres Amarilla and Meredith Klein are emissaries for what was once a dying art. As an 11 year old boy growing up in the post-dictatorship years of Argentina, Andres was likely the one of the only children in the country learning the Tango. Cultural repression during the junta years had crippled a once-growing traditional dance form, which still resonates in the ears of foreigners as hallmark of Argentinean society. Slowly the dance was winding back into popular psyche, but a young generation had lost the art form. Andres took his rare training as youth and parlayed it into a career dedicated to teaching others a piece of his culture that had almost been erased.
Andres met Meredith Klein, a fellow dancer with ties to the Philadelphia region. After traveling and teaching Tango workshops on the road for several years, and getting married, the couple decided to take up a friends offer to use his South Street loft as a base for a part-time dance academy. Weary of a life of constant travel, they settled into Philadelphia two years ago and began plying their trade in the City of Brotherly Love.
