What to do on First Friday
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Don't miss Benjamin Neiditz and Zachary Webber's Aphrodite's Mousetrap, a mechanical Venus flytrap (it's as creepy as it sounds).
If a tree falls in Bartram’s Garden, the former home of Philadelphia’s 18th-century plants aficionado John Bartram, the material will be reused.
After a storm ripped through the Southwest Philly botanic garden in 2010, knocking down several trees, the Center for Art in Wood put out a call to artists to create works using the discarded wood.
Thirty-two projects made it to the final cut. The exhibit’s title, “Bartram’s Boxes Remix,” is a reference to the boxes of curiosities that Bartram sent to colleagues and customers in England.
Beth Feldman Brandt and Claire Owen took inspiration directly from Bartram’s creations. Using wood, found objects and paper, they made their own boxes and decorated them with miniature portraits.
Don’t miss Benjamin Neiditz and Zachary Webber’s Aphrodite’s Mousetrap, a mechanical Venus flytrap (it’s as creepy as it sounds).
Through July 19, reception Fri., May 2, 5:30 p.m., 141 N. Third St., 215-923-8000, centerforartinwood.org.
While describing Jun Kaneko’s surreal, electric design for an opera production, an art critic once said it “unfolds like a shared dream.”
In the exhibit “A Stage for a Shared Dream,” Kaneko’s ceramic pieces are paired with video excerpts of his costume and scenic designs for Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
Kaneko says he listens to operas hundreds of times until he associates a visual image with the music. His ceramics are playful, covered in brightly colored polka dots and other shapes, but they also sometimes contain a somber element. His wall slabs, filled with the deep, dark blues of the ocean, hint at loss and emptiness.
Through May 31, reception Fri., May 2, 5:30 p.m., 600 Washington Square South, 215-629-1000, locksgallery.com.
