May, 2013
On Sunday, May 5, 2013, the Manayunk-Roxborough Art Center (MRAC) will host Collaboration of Hope a visual art exhibit and humanities program to benefit the families of the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Northwest/Northeast Philadelphia (NPIHN). The opening reception for this exhibit is Sunday, May 5, 2013 from 12:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. and will be presented in MRAC’s gallery, located at 419 Green Lane (rear), Philadelphia, PA 19128. Spoken word and song presentations will take place from 3:00 to 5:00 P.M. and will include works from the MRAC Humanities director, Peter Krok and Philadelphia poet and MRAC member Mike Cohen, also in the gallery at MRAC. The visual art exhibit, featuring new work by members of the Manayunk-Roxborough Artists’ Co-Op, runs through May 26th.
Collaboration of Hope is a fundraiser for NPIHN, an organization that responds to homeless families dislocated by the economic crisis with congregation-based emergency aid, family financial counseling and other vital supports. NPIHN’s motto is, “The shelter that’s not like a shelter.” Twenty-five percent of all proceeds from the exhibit and humanities event will go to NPIHN.
During the past 20 years, NPIHN has moved 327 families from homelessness to stability, through the efforts of their skilled staff and over 1,200 volunteers from 30 Northwest Philadelphia congregations. NPIHN’s key benchmarks are that families attain and maintain safe, decent housing, access resources, keep up with their bills and avoid a return to homelessness.
Shirlyn Swann, Vice President of the NPIHN board is excited to work with the Manayunk-Roxborough Arts Center. She stated the NPINH has many volunteer performers including, a storyteller, a juggler, singer, spoken word performers, and poets who will participate in the humanities event along with Krok and Cohen. According to Swann, “NPIHN’s program is highly effective, as 92 percent of families have permanently overcome homelessness. A committed Board, congregations, community businesses, and institutions are responsible for the success of the program. With community support, “Collaboration of Hope” is sure to be a very successful.”
MRAC members are also enthusiastic about the fundraiser. In the words of MRAC Exhibition Director, Pamela Martin, “MRAC is dedicated to supporting non-profit agencies such as NPIHN. Martin highlights the importance of working together as a community towards making a positive difference for others.
MRAC Membership Director and fine art photographer, Ron Howard will be among the contributors to the art exhibition from the Manayunk-Roxborough Artists’ Co-Op. He plans to exhibit his photograph, Heaven In Hell, a 16″x 20″ black and white photo on canvas that was taken inside the heart of the Eastern State Penitentiary. Ron uses the outside light from above to penetrate the darkness within the prison interior.
The Manayunk-Roxborough Art Center is a non-profit arts organization, supported in part by a grant from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. The exhibition’s opening includes, refreshments, live music, and the opportunity to meet the artists. For more information phone 215. 482.3363.
June, 2013
'Red Menace' - Assemblage by David P. Kozinski
Assorted Ceramics by Marnie Briggs
On Sunday, June 2, 2013, noon to 5:00 P.M., the Manayunk-Roxborough Art Center (MRAC) will host an opening reception for its month-long exhibit, MRAC Art Market featuring ceramics, jewelry, sculpture and other three-dimensional works. Along with the gallery exhibit, there will be work presented outdoors. Artists from the public are invited to purchase an exhibition table for a flat fee of $15.00. The gallery show runs June 1st through June 30th. The June 2nd event coincides with Philadelphia’s annual professional bicycle race that will start and finish on Lyceum Avenue, at the top of the Manayunk “Wall”.
In addition, MRAC will offer an interactive art project with a large canvas outdoors, available for members of the public to create their own expressive signatures. MRAC volunteers take pride in their efforts to support and include their neighbors in fundraisers, classes, and community activities. MRAC is located at 419 Green Lane (rear), between Mitchell and Pechin Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19128. For more information, phone 215. 482.3363.
Long time Manayunk-Roxborough Artists’ Co-Op member and poet, David P. Kozinski will exhibit some of his three-dimensional assemblages including, Red Menace, and, Limbo Proof God Box, in June’s show. Constructed from found and altered objects, the former is made entirely of wood, while the latter includes part of a computer’s motherboard, ceramic cherubs, driftwood, and mirrors. Kozinski first began creating assemblages decades ago when he lived in Philadelphia and was renovating an old house on 46th Street. He had many wood remnants in varying shapes and sizes and wanted to put them to use rather than discarding them. He also had a collection of the white and black tins that had housed Sobranie cigarettes, which Kozinski describes as, “Exquisite (Turkish tobacco), that came ten to a tin and cost about twice as much as regular cigarettes.” He could not bear to throw the tins away and made an assemblage from them as well as another with empty Gitane (French cigarettes) packs. After his parents passed, Kozinski rooted through the basement of their Wilmington, Delaware home and found great artifacts that re-inspired his interest in creating new art. Of his work, Kozinski states, “The assemblages are often attempts to capture moments of past and present in the onrush of time, and to comment with a measure of humor on the transitory, absurd nature of human experience.”
New MRAC Co-Op member, Marnie Briggs will display a new collection of her unique ceramic works. She is enthusiastic about being a member at MRAC and exhibiting her work at the Art Market. When Briggs was a child she enjoyed being very close to paintings and sculptures so that she could observe the tiny details of the brush strokes and chisel marks. Throughout her early years, she was very “hands on” with her paintings and drawings. She recalls, “While majoring in art in high school, my teacher would constantly tell me to keep my fingers out of my drawings and paintings.” When Briggs enrolled in a ceramics class in Breckenridge, Colorado, she was introduced to the marvels of clay. At that time, she chose to focus on creating her vessels using coils of clay with her hands instead of using a pottery wheel. She notes, “It was satisfying to create with my hands as my only tools. My work is meant to inspire you to reach out and brush the surface texture, to invite you to feel how it fits in your hand. So much art is made for your eyes, but not for your hands.” Recently Briggs challenged herself to focus on the pottery wheel for an opportunity to fire her work in Baltimore Clayworks’s noborigama style wood and salt kiln and is pleased with the results.
The Manayunk-Roxborough Art Center is a non-profit arts organization, supported in part by a grant from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. The exhibition’s opening includes, refreshments, live music, and the opportunity to meet the artists. Gallery hours are Saturdays and Sundays, 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. MRAC will be closed during the July 4th weekend.