Notes from Black Bear Farm
Thursday, January 19, 2023
Divided We Fall: Russia, Democracy, and the Cult of Trump
US vs China: "This Time It's Real"
URBANISM at PAFA
Arlen Bendler Browning |
Urbanism: Reimagining the Lived Environment
July 2- September 4, 2011, Fisher Brooks Gallery
Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building,
Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts
118-128 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
“Urbanism” speaks to social priorities and cultural tendencies in the postmodern age. The genius of the exhibition is in the cumulative dynamism of the four iconic artists/ teams. Brilliantly curated by Julien Robson, the themes are timely, relevant and intellectually engaging.
The work is stylistically diverse, with aesthetic range.
Arden Bendler Browning’s paintings are semi abstract, expressionist landscapes. Sweepingly gestural, they encompass a distinctly contemporary urban experience. Immersed in the composition and color and energy of these highly emotive, visually compelling environments, the viewer is transported by the energy of the city.
Amy Walsh’s minutely detailed architectural installation incorporates deception and discovery. A pathway through coarsely veneered walls of cardboard and detritus leads to peepholes through which four minute, personalized, layered, private spaces are revealed. Each is its own painstakingly constructed, miniature model urban environment, simultaneously literal, referential and surreal.
The Dufala Brothers play with the aesthetics of urban “bling” to create compelling, repurposed metaphor. “Twenty Yard Dumpster Coffin” is an upholstered cavity of a giant green dumpster. This luxury-limo, padded lounge is “contained” in an impenetrable, steel industrial shell.
Ben Peterson’s elaborately imagined cartoons carefully illustrate managed chaos. Disintegrating environments are cheerfully propped with scaffold. Elements of whimsy and leisure are interjected amongst cantilevered decay. Buckled turf, reinforced to support multiple layers of tilted structure, shelters intricate subterranean cities. Peterson addresses human reaction to external forces, incorporating themes of evolution, decay, denial, and persistence.
This exhibition invites the viewer to consider scale, intimacy, and materialism in the context of the constructed environment, addressing social context, dynamic reinvention, and the sustainability of a material obsessed culture.
Find out more: http://www.pafa.org/Museum/Exhibitions/Currently-On-View/Urbanism-Reimagining-the-Lived-Environment/989/
This article is published and can be viewed with images at
http://christinegriffininfo.blogspot.com/2011/08/urbanism-at-pafa.html
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
2012 Delaware Water Gap Earth Fair & Enviro-Film Fest
On Sunday April 15, 2012 from 11 am-5 pm, Dutot Museum and the borough of Delaware Water Gap hosted the Delaware Water Gap Eco-Film Fest and Earth Day. The Earth Fair is free, with Educational booths and presentations by Josie Porter Farm & CSA, Forwardian Arts, Brodhead Watershed, Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation, Dierdre Nonnemacher Jewelry, Youth Infusion and Trips for Kids, Lehigh Valley Gas Truth, Stop Fracking PA, Liz Forrest for 189, Maureen Madden for 176, Cartwright for Congress. Musical performances by Lois "Earth Lovin'" Heckman & Maxwell Kofi Donkor, Seed Mandala Necklaces for Kids w. Flora and Friends. Organic popcorn, snacks and munchies will be provided by Black Bear Farm Organic Catering!!Documentary film screenings include "Queen of the Sun, What the Bees are Telling Us?" with a 1 hr. Family Screening @ 11, and a full screening at 3:20. "Living Downstream" , by Sandra Steingraber, Phd, documents the scientist's personal journey through cancer and her observations on the ecology of industrial contamination, screened at 1:30 and 5 pm. Advance tickets are $4 for the family screening for one adult and up to two children, and $5 for the full screenings for ages 12 and up, available at the Deerhead Inn during regular business hours. Door tickets will be $5/$6, and seating is limited.Festival Events will take place at the Dutot Museum, the Deerhead Inn and the Castle Inn. The Dutot Museum is at 24 Main Street, Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327. More information, please contact Black Bear Farm, (BlackBearFarmFun@gmail.com)
Read more about this event!
Pocono Record Article 1 "People & Owls Enjoy the Delaware Water Gap Eco-Film Fest"
Pocono Record Article 2 "Movie Screenings Part of Delaware Water Gap Earth Fair"
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Good Night Irene!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Autumn Planting Garden Prep
Image: HobbyFarms.com
Wednesday morning, I found a great sale at Johnny's Seeds, and got all my autumn crops ordered for just $8.95, including shipping! For more on organic seeds, check out the Organic Seed Alliance.
I am hoping to get a greenhouse over my raised beds, using some scrap 2 x 4's and rated greenhouse polymer film. My garden soil is high mineral, low nutrient . . . "I've lost my shirt" was a common expression in my art school days, referring to everything from misplaced glue to emotional distress. Well, yesterday at Twin Willows Farm, I truly "lost my shirt"! I planned to bring home a bag or two of aged manure from the barn to amend the soil with much needed nutrients, but it seems I left the bags on the parking lot last night! Whoops! "Lost shirt"? My bad! Wonder who will find my dark and smelly treasure?
Monday, June 27, 2011
Full Steam Ahead!
Mountaindale Farm, which has been operated on chemical free, sustainable agriculture principles for three generations, in Minisink Hills, PA. |