Group Show at the Woodmere Museum

Also in February is the opening of a group show at the Woodmere Museum that includes a recent woodblock print. The exhibition will be up from February 17th until April 22nd, and there will be an open house on Saturday, February 25th, between 1 and 4pm.
(above image by Murray Dessner)

Elemental: Nature as Language in the Works of Philadelphia Artists
Antonelli I and II Galleries, Corridor Gallery, and Schnader Gallery

Elemental brings together works by Philadelphia artists for whom nature is an inspiration. Elegant, minimal, controlled, and sometimes austere, the works of art in the exhibition offer a variety of potent evocations of the natural world. Artists include Edna Andrade, Steven Baris, Helen Bershad, Yvonne Pacanovsky Bobrowicz, Astrid Bowlby, Frank Bramblett, Diane Burko, Thomas Chimes, Michael Ciervo, Murray Dessner, Stephen Estock, Kevin Finklea, John Formicola, Neysa Grassi, Ana B. Hernandez, Charles Kaprelian, Elaine Kurtz, Samantha Mitchell, Elizabeth Osborne, Keith Ragone, Warren Rohrer, Kevin Strickland, and Dina Wind.

Solo Exhibition in February

This month I am delighted to have a solo show at the Grizzly Grizzly Gallery in Philadelphia, on the 2nd floor of the Chinatown warehouse where Tiger Strikes Asteroid and Vox Populi also reside. Below is the press release, please join me for the show's opening on Friday, February 3rd, between 6 and 10pm.







Totems and Topographies: Samantha Mitchell


Grizzly Grizzly is pleased to present Totems and Topographies, a solo exhibition of work by Samantha Mitchell, the winner of our viewer’s choice award during Other Possible Titles. This exhibition features works on paper that investigate the inherent chaos and order within natural structures, combining precise pen and ink drawing with spontaneous watercolor washes.

Interested in ideas of geological change and destruction, Mitchell draws inspiration from the striated rocks of the Utah desert and driftwood from the shores of Lake Michigan for this elegant body of work. Using direct observation, photographic devices, and scientific analysis, Samantha Mitchell activates the history of inert specimens by finding the intricate patterns of order within. She is ultimately interested in the tension of organic formation; in her own words, “we witness both revelation and destruction, formation and deconstruction through the agents of time, leaving the dismembered, altered remains of a once cohesive structure that lend themselves to this alternate order."

Samantha Mitchell comes to Grizzly Grizzly after participating in our first call-for-entries group exhibition in November 2011, Other Possible Titles. Throughout the duration of this show, Grizzly Grizzly asked the audience to vote on their favorite piece in the exhibition with the winner receiving a solo show. Over the course of this month-long exhibition, over 900 people cast their vote, choosing Samantha Mitchell for this exciting exhibition.

About the artist: Samantha Mitchell has exhibited her work at the Woodmere Art Museum and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and internationally in Tel Aviv and Berlin. She is a current MFA candidate at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 2012.

The artist will be in attendance during the February 3rd opening reception from 6-10PM.

“Totems and Topographies: Samantha Mitchell”
February 3 – 25, 2012
First Friday Opening, February 3, 6-10pm
Grizzly Grizzly, 319 North 11th Street, 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA
Hours: Saturday and Sundays, 2-6PM
www.grizzlygrizzly.com

Three Group Shows, Opening November 4th and November 11th

Welcome back! Fall is here, looks like November is shaping up to be a busy one:

1. Other Possible Titles: A Juried Exhibition
November 4 - 26, 2011
Opening Reception, First Friday: November 4, 6-10PM
On view until the end of the month.

A group show at Grizzly Grizzly Gallery at 319 N. 11th Street, 2nd floor. Come and vote on your favorite piece, the winner will have the opportunity for a solo exhibition in 2012.




2. November Student Exhibition, Gallery 128, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 128 N. Broad Street
Opening Reception November 4th, 5-9PM
On view until the end of the month.
A group show of PAFA students in the basement gallery of the museum.




3. Wish You Were There
Opening Reception November 11th, 6-8PM
On view from November 4th - November 27th.
University City Arts League, 4226 Spruce Street


"WISH YOU WERE THERE" art show, back by popular demand , will be having its run at the University City Arts League this November! The show has expanded and now features work by twelve artists working in a variety of mediums. Thanks again for coming to its last run at the Green Line Powelton-- we hope you will make it out again to see the show in its new incarnation! Details about the theme and participating artists below:


work by:
Michael Branca
Matthew Colaizzo
Sam Finn Cate-Gumpert
Andrew Defrance
Sarah Finestone
Kirsten L. Fisher-Price
John Broderick Heron
Rebecca Miller
Samantha Dylan Mitchell
Kaitlin Kylie Pomerantz
Paul Richardson
Becky Suss

curated by:
Kaitlin Kylie Pomerantz

"WISH YOU WERE THERE" presents the work of twelve artists inhabiting urban environments -- Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York -- grappling with ideas of the natural world, alternative ecosystems, space and place. The featured paintings, sculpture, photos, installation and works on paper take a variety of approaches toward explaining the significance and promise of “nature” as it sits in and often grates at the mind of the urban dweller. These artists twist and mold generic conventions from the still life, landscape and architectural traditions to meet their unique vantage point as urbanites reflecting on imagined, remembered, or fantasized experiences of the natural world. The works draw from a range of references and inspiration, including scientific illustration and visual taxonomies, pop culture postcards and technicolor photographs, civic iconography, maps, flags, and blueprints, and express a variety of idiosyncratic, obsessive, personal visions. "WISH YOU WERE THERE" highlights the variety of ways we experience, interpret, discover and lose ourselves in "nature" or an amorphous, greener "beyond."

Hope to see you there!

Show in West Philly

WISH YOU WERE THERE
Philadelphia artists thinking about the natural world...

WORK BY:
Rebecca Miller, Samantha Dylan Mitchell, Matthew Colaizzo, Sarah Finestone,
Michael Branca, Paul Richardson, Andrew Defrance, Kaitlin Kylie Pomerantz
CURATED BY:
Kaitlin Kylie Pomerantz


GREEN LINE CAFE
3649 Lancaster Ave.
(Near the intersection of 38th St., Lancaster Ave. and Powelton Ave.)
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2011


Wish You Were There presents the work of eight Philadelphia-based artists grappling with ideas about the natural world. Featured works draw from a range of references-- from traditional landscape and still-life painting, to pop culture postcards and technicolor photographs, to scientific illustration and visual taxonomies, to more idiosyncratic, obsessive and personal visions. This grouping of work reveals the complexity of the urban dweller's relationship to real or imagined ideas of a geographical, ecological "other". Beyond mere escapist fantasy, Wish You Were There highlights the variety of ways that we experience, interpret, project ourselves onto and lose ourselves in "nature" or an amorphous, and often greener "beyond".


OPENING RECEPTION:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4th, 6-8pm
Light drinks/BYO!
Refreshing beet kvass by Powelton Village's own Food and Ferments!
Edible tidbits from Philadelphia's only sustainable grocery delivery service, Harvest Local Foods!

Move To Philadelphia

After five months of travel in the western United States, I moved back east to Philadelphia to start MFA work at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. I'll be updating the website more regularly with current projects.

Chicago Art Open 2010

One of my drawings will be included in this group show at the River East Art Center in Chicago, IL. "The Chicago Art Open, now in its 12th year, is the Midwest region’s largest open invitational art exhibit, featuring works by over 350 visual artists during a three week exhibit at the River East Art Center." according to Chicago Art Magazine. If you're in the area, go check it out! Hours are posted in the link. Otherwise here is a catalog to peruse. It opened Tuesday and will be up until May 7th.
(Thanks to Anna Ustupski and Jasmine McCaffreyfor installation help!)
Unfortunately I cannot see the show myself, because I am here:

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

VOTE FOR TONY!