Summer 2011 Exhibition

Third Floor Gallery:
allTURNatives: Form + Spirit 2011
International Turning Exchange (ITE) exhibition
presented in partnership with The Center for Art In Wood

August 5 to August 31, 2011

Public Opening: Friday, August 5
5:30 - 7:30 PM

Artist Talk/Gallery Tour: Saturday August 6
2:00 - 4:00 PM

Second Floor Galleries:
Robert Baines: A Treasury of Evidence
Courtesy of Helen Drutt: Philadelphia

First Floor Galleries:
En route Solo Exhibitions:
Matthew Alden Price and Chad Curtis

May 20 to August 21, 2011

allTURNatives: Form + Spirit 2011

The Philadelphia Art Alliance, in partnership with the Center for Art in Wood (formerly the Wood Turning Center) present a special exhibition showcasing the work of the 2011 International Turning Exchange Fellows. Due to the impending of of the Center for Art In Wood , this exhibition will be staged on the third floor of PAA for the month of August. An opening reception will be held on Friday, August 5, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM, with a subsequent gallery talk/tour on Saturday, August 6 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM.

The International Turning Exchange resident artists' travel, and work independently and collaboratively from June until the last week of July. The allTURNatives exhibit is the grand finale to the 2011 ITE program. This multi-disciplinary exhibit reflects the residents' experiences including objects produced before and during the residency. Three-dimensional work will be accompanied by photos and/or films depicting the summer experience and the artists' statements about their experiences and work process.

2011 ITE Fellows:
Noah Addis, PA, US Photojournalist
Michael de Forest, OR, US, Artist
Daniel Forrest Hoffman, PA, US, Artist
Beth Ireland, MA, US, Artist
Carl Pittman, NC, US, Artist
Kimberly Winkle, TN, US, Artist
Jennifer Zwilling, PA, US, Scholar

Robert Baines: A Treasury of Evidence

The Philadelphia Art Alliance will be presenting the first solo exhibition of the work of Australian goldsmith and jewelry artist Robert Baines in the United States. This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of Helen Drutt: Philadelphia.

In addition to a comprehensive survey of his jewelry works as presented in the traveling exhibition, The Schatzkammer: A Treasury of Evidence, a highlight of the exhibition will be the Philadelphia Centerpiece. Suggested by curator Helen Drutt English, Baines took the opportunity to build a group of three pieces incorporating wire construction, which he had developed in 1994. This was the commencement of A. Redevent with his first group of A Table, A Crown, and A Trumpet, which were his first substantial wire pieces. The "Centerpiece" series includes a Candlestand, a Vase and a Tray, all created out of powder-coated silver. Given that the inspiration for this piece is derived from the city in which it will be exhibited, the Philadelphia Art Alliance is ideal for the debut of these objects to the public.

Robert Baines’ multi-disciplinary research concentrates on three main areas: archaeometallurgy, art goldsmithing and publishing text and commentary. To Baines, jewelry is much more than mere adornment. It is a cultural, archaeological and technical document. Materials and methods are but a means of reaching different worlds. His interest in the archaic has lead to his mastering, for the purposes of reproduction, of ancient fabrication techniques. His pieces are conceptually complex and often question current and historical events with a narrative of their own, conveying both a contemporary visual relevance and a restatement of history. Baines states: "Complex new jewelry objects in precious metal will extend my modernist view of questioning the relevance of an authentic material cultural history. My art making develops a strategy of making fictitious or bogus jewelry objects under the guise of ‘games a goldsmith can play’ which draws the viewer into a spectacle of wonder.

Baines is postgraduate coordinator of RMIT Gold and Silversmithing Department and Deputy Head of the School of Art. In 1979, he received a Winston Churchill Study Grant, which followed by a Senior Fulbright Study (1996) and two Senior Andrew Mellon Conservation Fellowships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1999, 2002). In 2007, Robert Baines received a senior research scholarship in The Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Matthew Alden Price: Stills

Although trained in ceramics, the work of Matthew Alden Price has increasingly delved into painting, combining elements of each medium in his final pieces. His painting technique is informed by is knowledge of the application of glazes, providing a trompe l'oeil finish that mimics the texture of ceramics on the two dimensional structure. This is superimposed by actual ceramic vessels and vases, further blending what is usually the very distinct mediums of painting and craft. The surfaces and sculptures Price creates are directly influenced by his travels.

Having moved over 15 times, as well as living between the United States and Korea, his works are like tactile memories of place and time. As Price states, “The memories of each place are forever present though the details often escape me. Recalling the textures and surfaces of each place is like scrolling through a collection of wallpaper samples. It is a vocabulary that forms the sentences of my stories while nurturing the desire to continually look, question, and want more.”

Matthew Alden Price received a MFA in Ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Chad Curtis: Speculative Landscapes

Chad Curtis will be presenting his newest body of work, reconfigured specifically for the gallery space, entitled Speculative Landscapes. This multimedia construction incorporates ceramics with found objects, live plants and a digitally designed support system of shelving. Live moss encased in terrariums, referencing the Industrial Revolution when these miniature garden landscapes became popular, alludes to Curtis’ interest in the shift in the relationship between humankind and nature that occurred so rapidly in the 19th century. This is combined with multiple clay evergreen trees signifying the artificiality of the ideal landscape, both in the past as well as today. As Curtis states “these miniature landscapes, coupled with iconic trees made of raw clay, are situated on a complex system of shelving (both digitally designed and milled) that creates multiple, dislocated horizon lines, which becomes a literal intersection of design, landscape, and technology. Not unlike the Industrial Revolution, the Digital Revolution has further distanced the human relationship to the natural world, ushering in an era of mediated experiences removed from the world of tactility and the physical nature of the body.”

Curtis received an M.F.A. from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY. He is an Assistant Professor at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. Previously, Curtis taught at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, and Pomona College, Claremont, CA.

For more information about Philadelphia Art Alliance Exhibitions, contact Melissa Caldwell at 215-545-4302 or mcaldwell@philartalliance.org.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Admission Fee:
$5 for adults
$3 for students and seniors
Pay what you wish on Fridays.