#Philadelphia Mural Arts Program

[rgf-wallsplus]

David Guinn, Spring, 13th and Pine Streets, Philadelphia, PA. Sponsored by The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Photo via muralarts.org.

[lboogie1906]

Laura Wheeler Waring (May 26, 1887 – February 3, 1948) a painter and educator was born in Hartford, Connecticut. The fourth child of six was born to Reverend Robert Foster and Mary Wheeler.

She graduated from Hartford High School with honors and went on to study for another six years at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She received the A. William Emlen Cresson Memorial Travel Scholarship allowed her to continue her studies of arts in major cities of Europe.

She worked at Cheyney Training School for Teachers in Philadelphia, where she established both art and music programs, which she directed for over thirty years. She traveled to Europe for a short visit. She produced her first paintings, some of which would be exhibited in Paris art galleries. One piece, Houses at Semur, which she painted in France, would receive wide acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Her work was now in demand in American galleries as well including the Corcoran Gallery, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Her most remembered work was her portraiture, which was largely of upper-class Negroes and whites including James Weldon Johnson, W.E.B. DuBois, Mary White Ovington, and Leslie Pinckney Hill. Her other works such as The Co-Ed, Mother and Daughter, and The Magician all pursue themes that challenge the elitist label.

She painted murals and landscapes of both America and Europe, which gained her wide acclaim. She traveled to Luxembourg to study the paintings of Claude Monet. She traveled to London, Dublin, Rome, Paris, and North Africa.

She married Walter E. Waring (1927) who was a professor at Lincoln University. They had no children. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphakappaapha

[spintaxi]

America's First National Referendum

America to Vote on Artist Pension for Five Starving Visionaries

"The Referendum of the Century: Who Gets the $30,000 and a Voucher for One IKEA Frame?" In a bold move that combines democracy, art, and a dash of nationwide pity, the United States is holding its first-ever National Artist Pension Referendum. This fall, voters won't just decide on senators, school boards, or whether squirrels deserve mailboxes (thanks, Oregon); they'll also choose which of five financially decimated artists gets a $30,000 annual government pension and a guaranteed NEA-funded documentary no one will finish. The program, called "Starving Artist Survivor: Federal Edition," is spearheaded by the Department of Cultural Leftovers and Netflix's new reality division, "Grit + Grants." The nominees are in. The ballot is printed. The stakes have never been so moderately consequential.

Meet the Final Five

Gloria Trashwell - The Dumpster Collage Visionary Hometown: Santa Cruz, CAArt Style: "Upcycled Assemblage of Capitalist Guilt"Most Famous Work: Compost Jesus #7: Biodegradable Resurrection Gloria, 49, creates mosaics from what she calls "late-stage banana capitalism." Her canvases are recycled Amazon boxes, her frames are repurposed yoga mats, and her glue is ethically sourced snail mucus. "I am the medium. I am the rot. I am the truth." She's been arrested three times for unauthorized installations in Whole Foods parking lots, including her controversial Shrine to Expired Hummus.Gloria claims she doesn't want the pension "for myself, but for the fungi I've trained to form post-colonial shapes." Public Opinion: - NPR Listeners: "Stunning. Fragrant. Necessary." - Fox News: "This is why milk costs $8." - Reddit: "10/10 would watch her argue with a possum over a carrot."

Gloria Trashwell - The Dumpster Collage Visionary - A wide cartoon scene in a satirical, exaggerated mid-century comic style. Gloria Trashwell stands triumphantly atop a mountain of garbage made of bana... - Alan Nafzger Reuben Spackle - The Unhoused Muralist Hometown: Anywhere the police aren'tArt Style: Ephemeral Chalk Street PropheciesMost Famous Work: Ghosts of the 99¢ Store Reuben, 61, was once a steelworker until a vision at a Waffle House told him to "paint the sidewalk with truth." He now creates elaborate murals in parking lots that vanish with the first rain, which he calls "capitalism's eraser." His latest piece, Late Stage Capitalism with a Side of Slush, was erased by a Zamboni mid-performance. "That's the point," he whispered. "My pension plan is staying dry. This vote? This is my Social Security and my soap opera." Public Opinion: - Vice Magazine: "Haunting. Drenched." - People who saw it live: "I think it was a dragon or the Fed." - Police Report: "Do not engage. Carries wet chalk." Sierra Moonquake - Spoken-Word Barista Hometown: Asheville, NCArt Style: Eco-Feminist Latté PoetryMost Famous Work: Macchiato Monologues: My Froth, My Rage Sierra, 33, performs avant-garde poetry in cafes, parks, and once, during a TSA pat-down. Her poems center around gluten, gentrification, and the existential agony of dating a man who says "vibes" too much. Sierra has a Master's degree in "Experimental Sound & Folk Trauma," and can speak fluently in sighs. "Art is pain. But also oat milk." A strong Gen Z contender, Sierra has mobilized her 40k TikTok followers with daily haikus about oppression, espresso, and lukewarm hookups. Public Opinion: - BuzzFeed: "An aesthetic, an ethos, a caffeine-induced fever dream." - Your Uncle Greg: "Is she allowed to vote?" - Urban Outfitters: "We'd sell her if she was a candle."

Comedy Writer - A wide, satirical cartoon illustration in the style of exaggerated mid-century humor comics. Sierra Moonquake, a spoken-word barista, performs poetry ... - Alan Nafzger 7 Leonard "Crayola" Jenkins - Graffiti Philosopher Hometown: Philadelphia, PAArt Style: Existential Bathroom GraffitiMost Famous Work: "God is a Bathroom Attendant" - 2016, Shell Station Leonard, 55, is a philosopher with a Sharpie and no fixed address. He's written some of the most quoted phrases in American urinals, including "Free will died in the vending machine" and "Capitalism is just coupons for trauma." "They can keep their museums. I have a stall, a pen, and one witness at a time." Leonard once tried to publish a collection of his gas station works, but the publishing house said it "violated health codes." Public Opinion: - The New Yorker: "Witty, pithy, surprisingly clean." - Gas Station Manager: "He better not come back." - Joe Rogan: "This guy's a genius. Or on shrooms. Or both."

Leonard "Crayola" Jenkins - Graffiti Philosopher - A wide, exaggerated cartoon illustration in a satirical mid-century humor style. Inside a grimy gas station bathroom, Leonard 'Crayola' Jenkins writes... - Alan Nafzger Aimee Glum - Experimental TikTok Taxidermist Hometown: Boise, IDArt Style: Reanimating Roadkill With Self-Help NarrationMost Famous Work: Gary the Motivated Squirrel Aimee, 26, fuses traditional taxidermy with TikTok therapy culture. Her creations-mainly small mammals and birds-deliver lines like: "You are enough. Even if you're flat and missing a paw." Controversial and deeply divisive, Aimee insists her work "gives second life to roadkill and first life to inner peace." She's been banned from Etsy and from five pet cemeteries but continues to gain traction through her viral series Dead But Empowered. Public Opinion: - Teen Vogue: "Spooky. Inspirational. Disturbing. Must-follow." - Rural Americans: "This is why Gen Z shouldn't vote." - Local Priest: "She once baptized a ferret."

Aimee Glum - Experimental TikTok Taxidermist - A wide satirical cartoon illustration in the style of exaggerated mid-century humor comics. Aimee Glum, the TikTok Taxidermist, stands proudly in her ... - Alan Nafzger

The Referendum Process: Let the Nation Decide

The voting method is pure democracy-if democracy included phone-in ballots, holographic debates, and interpretive dance-offs moderated by RuPaul and a hologram of Frida Kahlo. Each finalist will compete in three categories: - Public Performance (at a Subway footlong launch party) - Charity Auction (items include Gloria's mold sculpture and a haiku scribbled on toast) - One-Minute TikTok Justification using only facial expressions and metaphors The winner receives: - A $30,000/year government pension - One IKEA frame - A federally sanctioned title: "Cultural Disturber Emeritus" - And a guest appearance on Dr. Phil: The Abstract Years

What the Funny People Are Saying

Jerry Seinfeld: "So now we're voting on who should get paid to not sell their art? What's next? A pension for people who didn't start a podcast?" Ron White: "Back in my day, artists either painted a barn or starved in one. Now we're giving 'em money for squirrels and sidewalk sadness." Sarah Silverman: "I love the girl with the roadkill. It's like Disney meets Dahmer." Larry David: "They're all awful. But that's the point, right? Art is pain, and I'm in pain."

Experts Weigh In

Dr. Lucille Throttle, Chair of the Federal Bureau of Abstract Viability, says the referendum could change how America values creativity. "We used to fund artists through alcoholism and trauma. Now we try pensions. This might be progress." Dr. Throttle's team published a 400-page report concluding, "Art is whatever still exists after an earthquake and two policy shifts."

What Voters Are Saying

Shawn, 29, Minneapolis: "I'm voting for Aimee. Her possum named Sheila got me through my divorce." Gretchen, 41, Tampa: "Leonard's stall quote-'Time is a urinal cake'-made me rethink my whole career in HR." Carl, 62, Montana: "I don't know who Sierra is, but I like her voice. Sounds like regret mixed with pumpkin spice." Chaz, 19, Portland: "Gloria Trashwell IS my religion. She once blessed me with expired salsa."

Controversy Brews: Congressional Pushback

Senator Dale Splinch (R-IN) has filed a motion to halt the vote, saying, "This is cultural Marxism. Next thing you know, pigeons will be eligible for Medicare." Meanwhile, Rep. Luanne Lightbender (D-CA) defends it: "It's about time we stopped funding drones and started funding dreams-especially if those dreams are covered in glue and scream about systemic anxiety."

The Final Showdown: Lincoln Memorial Livestream

The final ceremony will be broadcast live from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, sponsored by Crayola and Monster Energy's new flavor: Existential Raspberry. Each artist will present one final work, live: - Gloria: Sets fire to a Whole Foods receipt while reciting Elizabeth Warren tweets in reverse. - Reuben: Draws a chalk mural of Biden hugging Bernie while rain slowly erases it. - Sierra: Screams into a latte machine while playing a Tibetan bowl with her elbow. - Leonard: Tags the Lincoln statue with "THIS IS ALSO A TOILET." - Aimee: Makes a dead raccoon whisper affirmations through a Bluetooth speaker.

Conclusion: Art, Democracy, and Whatever This Is

As ballots open, Americans are left asking: What is art? Who decides its value? And why does that squirrel sound like it has a minor in psychology? This referendum may not solve the national debt, healthcare, or why everyone suddenly hates cilantro, but it will finally answer the most pressing question of our time: Who gets to live off the American Dream… one weird sculpture at a time? Auf Wiedersehen.

SpinTaxi Magazine - A wide, satirical cartoon illustration in the style of mid-century humor comics. The scene depicts 'America's First National Referendum Artists Compe... - Alan Nafzger "Get Out the Vote" guide based on the referendum to award one poor artist a federal pension. This blends exaggerated humor with civic engagement, encouraging Americans to vote in the most absurdly democratic art competition in U.S. history.

Your Satirical Voter Guide: Help America Decide Which Starving Artist Gets a Government Pension

Because Nothing Says Democracy Like Voting for a Woman Who Taxidermies Roadkill into Life Coaches Why Should I Vote in the National Artist Pension Referendum? - Because Netflix has turned democracy into a reality show, and if you don't vote, someone else's grandma will decide which interpretive dancer gets paid with your tax dollars. - Because Leonard "Crayola" Jenkins just Sharpied "Freedom is Voting in a Gas Station Stall" and that's basically the Constitution now. - Because the last time America ignored art, Guy Fieri became a cultural ambassador. - Because even if you've never cared about contemporary art, you do care about watching people cry during PowerPoint presentations made of toast. When Can I Vote? We can't give real dates (thanks, legal shackles), but pretend it's Election Day and your ballot smells faintly of despair and Mod Podge. Here's what your day might look like: - 6:00 AM - Polls open. So does your existential crisis. - 9:45 AM - You debate whether Gloria Trashwell's mold shrine counts as sculpture or an OSHA violation. - 12:00 PM - Reuben Spackle starts chalking your driveway. You realize art is temporary. So is lunch. - 7:00 PM - Final votes cast. Leonard Jenkins lights a scented candle called "Truth in Urine." Where Do I Vote? You may be eligible to vote: - At your local polling place. - In the comments section of an Instagram post tagged #PensionForPossums. - Inside a Whole Foods produce section (Gloria is staging a "protest-slash-banana-installation" near the arugula). - At a roadside shrine to forgotten grant proposals in Boise. How Do I Vote? Just like any civic duty, except with more glitter and fewer illusions of competence: - Show up with ID. Bonus points for irony (e.g., your MFA diploma). - Review the artist bios. Try not to cry. - Check one box: - Gloria Trashwell - Compost Prophet - Reuben Spackle - Sidewalk Sadness Savior - Sierra Moonquake - Espresso Oracle - Leonard Jenkins - Stall Philosopher - Aimee Glum - Roadkill Whisperer - Fold ballot using the "Origami of Concern" method. - Place it in the box. Or toaster. Depends on the venue. What Happens If I Don't Vote? - The Department of Cultural Leftovers selects the winner by spinning a wheel made of unpaid parking tickets. - A raccoon writes the ballot using blood-orange ink and unresolved daddy issues. - Kanye West declares himself the winner anyway and builds a statue of himself hugging the Declaration of Independence. What Do the Candidates Promise? Gloria Trashwell: "Every landfill shall be a Louvre."Reuben Spackle: "Free chalk and free speech for all."Sierra Moonquake: "Vibes-based health care. With oat milk."Leonard Jenkins: "Public restrooms shall be sacred creative spaces."Aimee Glum: "No roadkill left behind. Every opossum deserves hope." What If I'm Still Undecided? Ask yourself: - Has any other nation offered you the chance to fund a woman who speaks fluent haiku and ferret? - Can you honestly say your tax dollars are doing anything better right now? - Have you ever felt more politically alive than during a chalk-based interpretive reenactment of late-stage capitalism? Words of Encouragement Dear voter: This isn't just about funding art. This is about believing in something so beautifully dumb that it transcends partisanship. You're not just voting for one starving artist. You're voting for weirdness, for freedom, for the unkillable cockroach of American creativity. So sharpen your pencil. Iron your voting pants. And remember: The artist you elect today may be the person painting your grandchildren's anxiety meds tomorrow. Vote boldly. Vote weird. Vote for the raccoon. This satirical voter guide has been approved by the Department of Allegorical Democracy and a philosophy major turned dairy farmer.

Who are the Candidates in America's First National Referendum

1. Gloria Trashwell - The Dumpster Collage Visionary - Medium: Found objects from Whole Foods dumpsters. - Story: She's been banned from four farmer's markets for "unsanctioned interpretive compost." - Satirical Angle: America votes whether the "Queen of Organic Decay" should get a pension for teaching her cat to finger paint with almond pulp. 2. Reuben Spackle - The Unhoused Muralist - Medium: Stolen sidewalk chalk and optimism. - Story: His art vanishes each time it rains, which he claims is "part of the statement." - Satirical Angle: Conservatives think he's a freeloader. Liberals think he should be a National Monument. Elon Musk once called him "Too analog." 3. Sierra Moonquake - Performance Poet / Barista - Medium: Spoken-word haikus about Wi-Fi trauma. - Story: Spent 8 years performing poems titled "Capitalism Made Me Lactose Intolerant" to unpaid audiences at vegan co-ops. - Satirical Angle: Has a Master's degree in "Ethically Sourced Sound." Has never had health insurance. Might explode if given $30,000. 4. Leonard "Crayola" Jenkins - Graffiti Philosopher - Medium: Sharpie on urinals. - Story: Known for writing quotes like "Cogito ergo pee" in gas station bathrooms. - Satirical Angle: His work was stolen by Banksy. Twice. Kanye offered him a job but paid him in foam slides and vibes. 5. Aimee Glum - Experimental TikTok Taxidermist - Medium: Roadkill and ring lights. - Story: Tried to make a living by reanimating squirrels and giving them motivational speeches. - Satirical Angle: Should government fund someone whose last grant proposal included the phrase "Postmodern Possum Empowerment"?

Vinny Vibecheck - A wide, surreal cartoon illustration in the style of exaggerated mid-century humor comics. Vinny Vibecheck, an elderly DJ in a crushed velvet tracksui... - Alan Nafzger Why Vinny Vibecheck Was Disqualified from the Artist Pension Referendum Vinny Vibecheck-real name Vinton Darrel Bloop-was a frontrunner in the National Artist Pension Referendum until a series of unfortunate metaphysical events led to his abrupt disqualification. First, the Federal Bureau of Existential Affairs ruled that Vinny's entire body of work-consisting of DJ sets played exclusively in the key of dread-was technically not "art," but "emotional sabotage disguised as bass drops." His most recent EP, Anxiety Beats Vol. 7: Is This a Drop or a Cry for Help?, was found to cause involuntary flashbacks in three NEA interns and one emotional support ferret. Second, allegations surfaced that Vinny's weekly event, The Midnight Panic Rave, was not held in a permitted venue but rather in an abandoned Blockbuster that doubles as a metaphysical liminal space. Several voters who attended claim they entered the rave in 2023 and came out as middle managers in 1986. Read the full article

[eraserhood]

New Post has been publisned on ERASERHOOD:

Panorama... - Street Art in Context

(http://ehood.us/4tj)

[ts-56]

Mural World

[forkadelphia]

New Post has been publisned on Urban Landscapes:

Panorama... - Street Art in Context

(http://bruhin.us/Ta)

[urbanlensbabe]

Philadelphia | September 2017

[1962dude420-blog]

Today we remember the passing of Daniel Johnston who Died: September 11, 2019 in Waller, Texas

Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – c. September 11, 2019) was an American singer-songwriter and visual artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded alone in his home, and his music was frequently cited for its "pure" and "childlike" qualities.

Johnston spent extended periods in psychiatric institutions and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He gathered a local following in the 1980s by passing out tapes of his music while working at a McDonald's in Dobie Center in Austin, Texas. His cult status was propelled when Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was seen wearing a T-shirt that featured artwork from Johnston's 1983 cassette album Hi, How Are You.

Beyond music, Johnston was accomplished as a visual artist, with his illustrations exhibited at various galleries around the world. His struggles with mental illness were the subject of the 2005 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston. He died in 2019 of what is suspected to have been a heart attack.

Johnston was born in Sacramento, California, and grew up in New Cumberland, West Virginia. He was the youngest of five children of William Dale "Bill" Johnston (1922–2017) and Mabel Ruth Voyles Johnston (1923–2010). He began recording music in the late 1970s on a $59 Sanyo monaural boombox, singing and playing piano as well as the chord organ. Following graduation from Oak Glen High School, Johnston spent a few weeks at Abilene Christian University in West Texas before dropping out. He later attended the art program at Kent State University, East Liverpool, during which he recorded Songs of Pain and More Songs of Pain.

When Johnston moved to Austin, Texas, he began to attract the attention of the local press and gained a following augmented in numbers by his habit of handing out tapes to people he met. Live performances were well-attended and hotly anticipated. His local standing led to him being featured in a 1985 episode of the MTV program The Cutting Edge featuring performers from Austin's "New Sincerity" music scene.

In 1988, Johnston visited New York City and recorded 1990 with producer Mark Kramer at his Noise New York studio. This was Johnston's first experience in a professional recording environment after a decade of releasing home-made cassette recordings. His mental health further deteriorated during the making of 1990. In 1989, Johnston released the album It's Spooky in collaboration with singer Jad Fair of the band Half Japanese.

In 1990, Johnston played at a music festival in Austin, Texas. On the way back to West Virginia on a private two-seater plane piloted by his father Bill, Johnston had a manic psychotic episode; believing he was Casper the Friendly Ghost, Johnston removed the key from the plane's ignition and threw it outside. His father, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, managed to successfully crash-land the plane, even though "there was nothing down there but trees". Although the plane was destroyed, Johnston and his father emerged with only minor injuries. As a result of this episode, Johnston was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital.

Interest in Johnston increased when Kurt Cobain was frequently photographed wearing a T-shirt featuring the cover image of Johnston's album Hi, How Are You that music journalist Everett True gave him. Cobain listed Yip/Jump Music as one of his favorite albums in his journal in 1993. In spite of Johnston being resident in a mental hospital at the time, there was a bidding war to sign him. He refused to sign a multi-album deal with Elektra Records because Metallica was on the label's roster and he was convinced that they were Satanic and would hurt him, also dropping his longtime manager, Jeff Tartakov, in the process. Ultimately he signed with Atlantic Records in February 1994 and that September released Fun, produced by Paul Leary of Butthole Surfers. It was a commercial failure. In June 1996, Atlantic dropped Johnston from the label.

In 1993, the Sound Exchange record store in Austin, Texas, commissioned Johnston to paint a mural of the Hi, How Are You? frog (also known as "Jeremiah the Innocent") from the album's cover. After the record store closed in 2003, the building remained unoccupied until 2004 when the Mexican grill franchise Baja Fresh took ownership and decided that they would remove the wall that held the mural. A group of people who lived in the neighborhood convinced the managers and contractors to keep the mural intact. In 2018, the building housed a Thai restaurant called "Thai, How Are You". Thai How Are You permanently closed in January 2020. The building remains empty

In 2004, he released The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered, a two-disc compilation. The first disc featured covers of his songs by artists including Tom Waits, Beck, TV on the Radio, Jad Fair, Eels, Bright Eyes, Calvin Johnson, Death Cab for Cutie, Sparklehorse, Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lips and Starlight Mints, with the second disc featuring Johnston's original recordings of the songs. In 2005, Texas-based theater company Infernal Bridegroom Productions received a Multi-Arts Production/MAP Fund grant to work with Johnston to create a rock opera based on his music, titled Speeding Motorcycle.

In 2006, Jeff Feuerzeig released a documentary about Johnston, The Devil and Daniel Johnston; the film, four years in the making, collated some of the vast amount of recorded material Johnston (and in some case, others) had produced over the years to portray his life and music. The film won high praise, receiving the Director's Award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. The film also inspired more interest in Johnston's work, and increased his prestige as a touring artist. In 2006, Johnston's label, Eternal Yip Eye Music, released his first greatest-hits compilation, Welcome to My World.

Through the next few years Johnston toured extensively across the world, and continued to attract press attention. His artwork was shown in galleries such as in London's Aquarium Gallery, New York's Clementine Gallery and at the Liverpool Biennial in 2006 and 2008, and in 2009, his work was exhibited at "The Museum of Love" at Verge Gallery in Sacramento, California. In 2008, Dick Johnston, Johnston's brother and manager, revealed that "a movie deal based on the artist's life and music had been finalized with a tentative 2011 release." He also said that a deal had been struck with the Converse company for a "signature series" Daniel Johnston shoe. Later, it was revealed by Dick Johnston that Converse had dropped the plan. In early 2008, a Jeremiah the Innocent collectible figurine was released in limited runs of four different colors. Later in the year, Adjustable Productions released Johnston's first concert DVD, The Angel and Daniel Johnston – Live at the Union Chapel, featuring a 2007 appearance in Islington, London.

Is and Always Was was released on October 6, 2009, on Eternal Yip Eye Music. In 2009, it was announced that Matt Groening had chosen Johnston to perform at the edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that he curated in May 2010, in Minehead, England. Also that year, Dr. Fun Fun and Smashing Studios developed an iPhone platform game called Hi, How Are You. The game is similar to Frogger, but features Johnston's art and music. Johnston played it during its development and liked it, although he was not familiar with the iPhone.

On March 13, 2012, Johnston released his first comic book, Space Ducks – An Infinite Comic Book of Musical Greatness at SXSW, published by BOOM! Studios. The comic book ties-in with the Space Ducks album and an iOS app. Johnston collaborated with skateboarding and clothing company Supreme on numerous collections (consisting of clothing and various accessories) showcasing his artwork.

On March 1, 2012, Brooklyn-based photographer Jung Kim announced her photo book and traveling exhibition project with Johnston titled DANIEL JOHNSTON: here, a collaboration that began in 2008 when Kim first met Johnston and began photographing him on the road and at his home in Waller, Texas. On March 13, 2013, this photography book was published, featuring five years of documentation on Johnston. The opening exhibition at SXSW festival featured a special performance by Johnston along with tribute performances led by Jason Sebastian Russo formerly of Mercury Rev. The second exhibition ran in May and June 2013 in London, England, and featured a special performance by Johnston along with tribute performances by the UK band Charlie Boyer and the Voyeurs with Steffan Halperin of the Klaxons. On October 10, 2013, Jason Pierce of Spiritualized hosted the New York City opening of the exhibition, which included special tribute performances led by Pierce and Glen Hansard of The Swell Season and The Frames.

In November 2015, Hi, How Are You Daniel Johnston?, a short documentary about Johnston's life, was released featuring Johnston as his 2015 self and Gabriel Sunday of Archie's Final Project as Johnston's 1983 self. The executive producers for the film included Lana Del Rey and Mac Miller.

In July 2017, Johnston announced that he would be retiring from live performance and would embark on a final five-date tour that fall. Each stop on the tour featured Johnston backed by a group that had been influenced by his music: The Preservation All-Stars in New Orleans, The Districts and Modern Baseball in Philadelphia, Jeff Tweedy in Chicago, and Built to Spill for the final two dates in Portland and Vancouver.

On September 11, 2019, Johnston was found dead from a suspected heart attack at his home in Waller, Texas, a day after he was released from the hospital for unspecified kidney problems. It is believed that he died overnight.

[notbecauseofvictories]

I'm thinking about applying to colleges in Philadelphia, so I'd like to know what your favorite places were in the city.

Philly is a cluttered antique store of a city and I cannot overstate the importance of just sort of...wandering through it sometimes. I discovered an entire alley of Zagar mosaics and murals and graffiti just by ducking around a corner one day. If you meander through Center City in spring, it’s like a pop-up botanical garden: so many flowers, so much green. One Saturday I went from river to river---Delaware to Schuylkill, camera in hand---and it was genuinely one of the best experiences I had in the city.

(Another time, a friend and I were sitting outside a bar on South Street, talking and nursing our drinks when a pair of black men on horseback cantered past. I think I gasped. Yeah, my friend said nonchalantly, Philly is famous for its Black cowboys, who ride out from the African-American-owned and operated stables on the South Side. 

Personally, I thought she was not appreciative enough of how obviously magical that moment was: the yellowed street light, the night air, and the sight of them like something out of time.)

But if you’re asking for specific places, these are my favorites: 

The Schuylkill Banks---Any park that’s long and skinny and runs parallel to a body of water is just...automatically very important to me. (If I ever went too far from Chicago’s Lakeshore, I think I’d die.) I biked up and down the Schuylkill plenty of times and it wends past public parks, boat houses, museums, nature preserves, statuary and cliffsides and cemeteries, the zoo...It truly was one of my favorite places to kill a Saturday. Especially because it was basically a constant ‘choose your own adventure’ book in terms of what you could see or explore.

Rittenhouse Square---To be fair, this is also a tourist destination, and an area so thick with gentrification that you could choke. But for people-watching and farmers markets, art sales and just hanging out, I never found anything to compare. Say hello to the greyhounds for me, I miss them.

There’s an Ethiopian restaurant in Philly (I’m sorry, I do not remember the name) with a bar on the second floor. My friend went to the bathroom and I leaned over (slightly tipsy) and tapped our neighbor on the shoulder, because she was wearing a jean jacket with a giant applique of Truth Coming Out of Her Well and I thought it was cool. We ended up combining tables, drinking too much, and having a fantastic night.

Cemeteries! I love cemeteries always in any context, but Philly had so many of them in close proximity, and they were always so cool. Laurel Hill had the best programming, but the Woodlands was always my favorite in the fall. You could sit and listen to a horror podcast for hours, with no interruption but the occasional polite nod to a jogger.

I have come around to Independence Mall. It’s obviously even more of a tourist destination than Center City, but it’s also a massive public park flanked by museums, and worth checking out. They also offer a lot of great programming, including the Opera on the Mall.

There is no thing I love in Philly more than Bartram’s Garden. If I had a million dollars to spend, I would give...well, a lot of it, to them. Not only is it a beautiful place, combining a historical site with rambling paths and gardens on the banks of the Schuylkill (with canoe rentals!) but they are passionate advocates for West/Southwest Philly. They run so many phenomenal education programs, collaborating with local artists and businesses to do it. They recently welcomed urban cowboy Malik Divers to build stables beside the property. If you have the chance to volunteer, or help with outreach...they are doing amazing work.

Mütter Museum: Philly has a lot of museums and a lot of them are wonderful, but this one is the weirdest, focuses on the history of medicine, and is therefore my favorite.

There’s more I haven’t mentioned here. But Philly really is a---well, “antique store” is the cruder way of saying “jewel box.” Say what you like about it, but there always seems to be something more to catch your eye.

[madbomr]

The History of Graffiti and New York’s Influence on Graffiti Art Around the World

Graffiti is one of the oldest art forms, and has quite an influence on the world. Let’s go over the history of graffiti and how it transformed the world of art as we know it today.

The History of Graffiti and New York’s Influence on Graffiti Art Around the World

Graffiti is a form of ancient art that dates back to prehistoric times. For centuries, famous street art was in the form of inscriptions or figure sketches found in caves and walls of old buildings. More modernly, New York seems to be a pull for graffiti artists with murals on almost every surface you see. In this article, we’re going to talk a little more about New York’s influence on graffiti art.

A few known facts about graffiti:

●        The first discovery of graffiti was in Roman Architecture

●        Street art emerged in Philadelphia in the late 1960s

●        The first known graffiti artist was known as Cornbread, real name Daryl McCray

●        The bombing concept started in 1970 during the Style Wars.

 Art or Vandalism

 People view graffiti as a form of contemporary art where taggers use spray paint to depict a social situation or prompt a conversation. However, the discussion on whether the act is art or vandalism is quite expansive.

Speaking from both sides, you wouldn't take it kindly if you found your property painted without your consent. But, on the other hand, if you have an artistic side, you can assume it’s the artist’s way to express their freedom of expression.

Unknown to most, carefully and well-presented graffiti murals can significantly improve the aesthetic appeal of a place. Such an area would have a high influx of artists, consequently increasing the area's cultural value.

Graffiti artists use signatures and specific art to depict their work. Most individuals treat artful areas as tourist attraction centers. For example, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Mural in New York City is a great attraction owing to the former justice's contribution to the USA legal process.

 New York’s Influence on Graffiti Art

 New York's influence on graffiti art is highly profound. In 1970, plain-colored walls characterized the city. Today the town has graffiti from the subways to different building walls. You wouldn't miss out on seeing graffiti art as you go about your business in the city.

The art originally started in Philadelphia in 1960 with two famous artists, ' Cool Earl' and 'CornBread,’ using graffiti to display their art publicly.

The death of Charlie Parker, a famous jazz artist, sparked the widespread use of graffiti in the city, with the words' “Bird Lives Crafted'' on building walls.

 Graffiti Bombing

 A decade later, bombing became a standard method of spray paint used by the artists. The bombing technique is where you paint multiple surfaces of one area with visual art. In addition, artists would often use a name conversion method to add to their pseudonyms.

The subway marked the first area with graffiti bombing. Bubble letters later succeeded the bombing technique.

 Attack on Graffiti

 Due to the vandalism nature of graffiti, the Clean Car Program was initiated in 1984 to combat the growing throw-ups and tags. In addition, the use of dog protection safeguarded subway cars. Finally, in 1989, the organization's mission was successful, and all trains were clean from graffiti.

However, New York’s influence on graffiti art led to its popular spread across the globe. Legal graffiti made it possible for artist’s work to feature in museums.

 Modern Graffiti

 Contemporary graffiti art has led to the rise of various artists visually displaying their art on the streets of New York City. The commercialization of graffiti provides novice artists with the necessary supplies for their work. A graffiti subscription box can get you the essential supplies to set you off on your first mural.

To date, people view graffiti as art and a form of social expression. Globally, the murals are also in use as a way of passing information and creating awareness. The Covid-19 pandemic has primarily influenced graffiti, with major towns embodying art on various aspects of the virus.

[spotlight-on-black-women]

Black Women in Visual Media

Like the previous blog, this blog will highlight multiple Black Women in Visual Media. Not to be considered just painters or collage makers or sculptors, these women are held highly as innovators and visionaries in the art community. In no particular order, this blog will bring a quick glimpse into just a few of these Black Women creators in modern world visual media.

Delita Martin, born in 1972 in Conroe, Texas, received her BFA in drawing at Texas Southern University in Huston, Texas in 2002. In 2009, she then later earned her MFA in printmaking at Purdue University. Knowing that she wanted to pursue art since the age of five, she became a multidisciplinary artist and has worked across various mediums such as printmaking, painting, and stitching, the latter incorporating indigenous and modern art-making. Martin actively uses storytelling to provide a platform for marginalized Black women and frequently uses various forms of symbolism to represent women in her artwork. Much of her work contains West African masks, similar to Loïs Mailou Jones from a previous blog, which highlight the connection between the mortal and spiritual world. Martin's influences include Elizabeth Catlett after she was exposed to her work as an undergraduate student.

In 2008, Martin founded her own studio called Black Box Press while also working as a lecturer at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 2008 to 2012. She is also a founding member of Black Women of Print, founded in 2018 which acts as a printmaking collective for Black Women, as well as a ROUX artist collective member.

Her work has appeared in the Havana Biennial and in Art Basel Miami and she has permanent collections held by many museums including the following; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Salamander Resort, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Bradbury Art Museum, C.N. Gorman Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, David C. Driskill Center, Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American-Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, Thrivent Financial, William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, the US Embassy (Mauritania) and more.

Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze, born in 1982 in Nigeria, is a Nigerian-British Brooklyn based artist. Having been raised in the United Kingdom until the age of 13, she moved to America in 2004. She received a B.F.A. summa cum laude from the Tyler School of Art at Philadelphia's Temple University and received her M.F.A from Cranbrook Academy of Art, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, majoring in photography and textiles even though her favorite and most used medium is drawing. She currently resides in Brooklyn, New York where she continues to work with graphite, ink, and pigment drawings, often combining them with photo transfers, with many of her mixed-media drawings centering on the concept of cultural hybridity and displacement. She draws much of her inspiration from Nigerian artists and the Nigerian history of drawing.

Amanze was an Artist-in-Residence at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York, NY in 2011, in 2012 she earned a Fulbright Fellowship, and later received the Fulbright Scholars Award for Teaching/Research at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka the following year. She then became an Artist-in-Residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in 2014 and at the Fountainhead Residency in Miami, Florida in 2015. Amanze also participated in Opens Sessions at the Drawing Center, New York from 2015 to 2016 and was an Artist-in-Residence yet again at the Queens Museum in Queens, New York, from 2016 to 2017.

April Bey grew up in New Providence, The Bahamas, and earned her BFA from Ball State University in 2009 and her MFA in painting at California State University in 2014. Bey’s work has been exhibited at Band of Vices Gallery, Coagula Curatorial, Liquid Courage Gallery, and Barnsdall Art Park’s Municipal Art Gallery and she currently teaches in the department of Studio Arts at Glendale Community College.

Bey is best known for her mixed media work which mostly includes collage work that intertwines various materials such as caulking, resin, wood, and fabric. She uses her work to create commentary on contemporary Black Female rhetoric and attempts to capture strength, power, passion, and sensuality. Her work also explores the resilience of women as well as the hypocrisy of societal expectations towards women. Bey commonly uses photographs of Black Female figures such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Solange, Issa Rae, and Michaela Coel and adds text which speaks of the narratives Black Women are creating regarding their identity in modern times.

Dana King was born on March 7th, 1960, in Cleveland, Ohio, and served as a news anchor for San Francisco CBS Affiliate KPIX and a co-anchor on ABC's Good Morning America Sunday in the early ’90s before moving to CBS's CBS Morning News during the mid-’90s as well as other CBS News programs. King was well recognized for her career in journalism, even receiving a local Emmy for her reporting in Honduras in 1998 and 2000 and an RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award in March 2005. Eventually, King ended up leaving her anchoring job in 2012 to pursue an art career and follow her passion for sculpting.

King's mediums include charcoal drawing and oil painting but she is best known for her sculptures as well as many community projects that revolve around portraying political messages, stemming from her career as a journalist. One of her best-known sculptures is an outdoor sculpture dedicated to the memory of the women who led and sustained the Montgomery bus boycott which is currently on display at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, as of 2018. Not just an artist and ex-news anchor, King is also an entrepreneur, owning a thriving artists’ enclave located in Oakland, California. She also donated space from the building she owns at East 12th Street and 13th Avenue in Oakland, California to the Oakland community to paint a mural with the theme of “Oakland for all of us.” King donated the wall in hopes of bringing the community together and bringing awareness to political change.

There are so many other artists and influential Black Female visual creators out there making a mark on the world through innovative means and consisting of important messages. It’s a common theme among these artists that portraying the beauty of Black Women and women, in general, can be done elegantly and gracefully. There are powerful messages held in all of their work and their craft acts as an inspiration to women across the globe.

[k00244990]

James “Yaya” Hough

As the inaugural Artist-in-Residence at the Office of the District Attorney of Philadelphia, artist James “Yaya” Hough worked to humanize people living and working within systems of criminal justice by cultivating relationships and connections through his artmaking.

Hough is a renowned painter who developed and augmented his artistic talents while serving a once-life sentence at Philadelphia’s Graterford State Correctional Institution. Incarcerated in 1992 at age 17, he took art classes and contributed to over 50 murals installed outside of the walls of the prison through Mural Arts’ Restorative Justice program. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life in prison in 2012, and that the ruling would be applied retroactively, he was resentenced and released in 2019. Since his release and return to his native Pittsburgh, Hough’s work has been featured in museum exhibitions at MoMAPS1 and the African American Museum.

[lboogie1906]

Laura Wheeler Waring May 26, 1887 – February 3, 1948) a painter and educator was born in Hartford, Connecticut. The fourth child of six was born to Reverend Robert Foster and Mary Wheeler.

She graduated from Hartford High School with honors and went on to study for another six years at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She received the A. William Emlen Cresson Memorial Travel Scholarship allowed her to continue her studies of arts in major cities of Europe.

She worked at Cheyney Training School for Teachers in Philadelphia, where she established both art and music programs, which she directed for over thirty years. She traveled to Europe for a short visit. She produced her first paintings, some of which would be exhibited in Paris art galleries. One piece, Houses at Semur, which she painted in France, would receive wide acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Her work was now in demand in American galleries as well including the Corcoran Gallery, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Her most remembered work was her portraiture, which was largely of upper-class Negroes and whites including James Weldon Johnson, W.E.B. DuBois, Mary White Ovington, and Leslie Pinckney Hill. Her other works such as The Co-Ed, Mother and Daughter, and The Magician all pursue themes that challenge the elitist label.

She painted murals and landscapes of both America and Europe, which gained her wide acclaim. She traveled to Luxembourg to study the paintings of Claude Monet. She traveled to London, Dublin, Rome, Paris, and North Africa.

She married Walter E. Waring (1927) who was a professor at Lincoln University. They had no children. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphakappaapha

[scenefromthesidewalk]

"76ERS: BEYOND THE COURT"

by Ernel Martinez

Inspired by the winning design contest submission by 5th-grader Brendan Dougherty, Ernel Martinez led a community effort to create this 2017 mural at Broad and Federal Streets in Philadelphia. Working with the city's Mural Arts program Martinez continued their longstanding tradition of highlighting the history and local heroes of Philadelphia with a composition featuring the actions of @JuliusErving , aka Dr. J, and many other iconic @Sixers basketball stars—not only on the court, but in service to the community. Born in Belize and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Martinez installed this mural 10 years after moving to Philadelphia to study at UPenn—where as fate would have it he took a class with Mural Arts Executive Director, Jane Golden. Since that meeting Martinez has worked on approximately 30 mural projects across the city.  @muralarts/

[ts-56]

[ohdarlingplease]

Socially Engaged Artist Report

Michelle Angela Ortiz is a visual artist, muralist, community arts educator, and a filmmaker who uses her art to provoke a different perspective toward people and communities of color who are often misrepresented in history and current events. Her works can be viewed through paintings, documentaries, public art displays and community art projects. Her  work has created a space for conversations regarding critical issues in said communities. Ortiz has created over 50 large-scale public works around the United States and internationally. She has also led public arts projects centralized around community building and social change.

In response to ICE deportations that have taken place in 2013, Michelle Angela Ortiz created a project entitled Familias Separadas (Separated Families). This project focused on the countless families that have been affected by deportations and detention centers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The goal of this project was to shift the focus from the negative and statistical references of these families and show that they people; mothers, fathers, and children, that have been ripped aways from their families.

There are three phases to this project. Phase one of the Familias Separadas was displayed in 2015 around the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ortiz conducted workshops and interviews that told the story of five families affected by ICE detention and deportation in the city. Each story  was depicted in different, temporary locations around Philadelphia that included City Hall, Love Park, 9th Street Market, 6th and Tasker, and the Immigration Customs Enforcements Building (ICE).

The first installment of this series is depicted in picture R1 is taken outside of the ICE building, this is the first in the deportation process that families are taken to. On October 12, 2015, Indigenous People’s Day, a group of volunteers and undocumented families painted the words from Ana, an undocumented mother. The words were printed at an exit of the facility where families are taken to other prisons to process their deportation. The second installment of the Familia Separadas series was at City Hall (R2). “Eres Mi Todo” showed a picture of another undocumented mother, Maria, and her daughter painted ontop of a Compass Rose by Edmund Bacon. Maria’s story serves as a symbol of migration, because the constant search for a better life and navigating through the different systems with little to no direction can seem almost impossible.

The second phase of Familia Separadas was developed between 2017- 2019, spread across the state of Pennsylvania, and brought recognition to the stories of fourteen mothers that were detained at the Berks County Residential Center for two years. Berks is a county run facility that detains children and has a long list of human rights violations. Ortiz spent five months visiting families that were detained and created eight large-scale public art installations and a documentary “Las Madres de Berks.” The first installment was a temporary mural (R3) created from a vinyl reproduction of a painting. The painting depicted Karen and her son’s eyes and was installed on the steps of the Capitol building. Karen and her six year-old son were detained for 651 days at Berks, then deported to El Salvador. Picture R4 comes from a statement Karen made to Ortiz, “What would you tell your son if he asked, ‘Why can’t I be free?” This sign was strategically placed under another sign on Capitol Hill that says, “There is a time to pray and a time to fight.” Phase Three of the Familia Separadas series is currently in the works.

Michelle Angela Ortiz's work aligns with my my practice, because not only am I a first generation Xhicanx, but my major is Psychology. The people depicted in Ortiz’s art installments have gone through so much turmoil in search of a better future. There is no doubt in my mind that after being held in a detention center for two years, at age six, and sent back through the grueling process of deportation, that there will be some major psychological trauma going on. These are mothers, fathers, and children, that we all are familiar with and they need help from people that can connect with them. The entire concept of deportation is running rabid in the USA and art installments put in public places, such as Philadelphia's City Hall (R2) or at Capitol Hill (R3 & R4), make it so people cannot look away. The issue is here in everyone’s face, so what are we going to do about it?

R1.”We Are human Beings” Installed at ICE, Photo by Steve Weinik

R2. “Eres Mi Todo” (You Are My Everything) Installed at the Compass Rose in Philadelphia City Hall

R3. Karen, Capitol Steps, Harrisburg, Photo Credit Colibri Workshop

R4. Karen, Capitol Steps, Harrisburg, Photo Credit Colibri Workshop

Works Cited

About 1. (n.d.). Retrieved September 01, 2020, from https://www.michelleangela.com/bio/cv

Michelle Angela Ortiz. (2019, September 26). Retrieved September 01, 2020, from https://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org/programs/grants/ArtistasActivistFellows_2017_michelle-ortiz

Ortiz, M. (2020, August 26). Essay: Stories of detained immigrant families and the fight to shutter Berks. Retrieved September 02, 2020, from https://whyy.org/articles/las-madres-de-berks-stories-of-detained-immigrant-families-and-the-fight-to-shutter-pa-s-oldest-family-prison/

Phase One: Philadelphia. (n.d.). Retrieved September 02, 2020, from https://www.familiasseparadas.com/phaseshome/phaseone

Phase Two: Harrisburg. (n.d.). Retrieved September 02, 2020, from https://www.familiasseparadas.com/phaseshome/phasetwo