Stalking Turtle Doves

Or perhaps it’s something else with wings. But this intent feline peering could well have a pounce at the end, don’t you think? Yesterday, I mentioned the three UNDER $100 artists who sold out sets of four. Well, HOLLY WYNN tied them with an equal number of red dots; the only difference is she had five pieces accepted into the show! Add to this bottom-line success a JURY PRIZE, dubbed “Sneak a Peek,” since all the work focuses on different species watching the world go by. (Or in the case of the pupper, clearly looking at his owner.) This series shows a new dimension of the artist’s work after a prize-winning debut — a painting about pandemic paranoia — last summer in REEMERGE. 2022 definitely marked Holly’s arrival to our community of artists and art lovers. BRAVA!

HOLLY WYNN
“Observing”
5 x 7
oil on canvas
70.

Three French Hen-nessy's?

For those who chimed in that we may have bagged out on the long-deserted Xmas Countdown, we are back for more during the last three days of our Mummers/New Year’s hiatus. In searching for a theme for THREE, the cognac has, alas, kicked...so we’ll turn to a certain French elderberry liqueur that was the subject of a painting from OFF THE WALL neophyte (no more!) LAUREN DOYLE. Joining fellow UNDER $100 stars Cyn Why, winner of the Mary-Rowe Memorial Jury Prize, and veteran Betty MacDonald as the artists to sell out sets of four works, Lauren enjoyed a smashing debut with her watercolors varnished onto wood backings. The artist often portrays branded beverages, but trust us: if you happen to be a gallery inside a bar, you just know this still life and a companion piece of a crushed can of PBR had fans galore!

LAUREN DOYLE
“St-Germain in Blue”
12 x 9 x 2
watercolor, ink and varnish
95.

A Different Kind of Tapestry

We grew up, once upon a time, hearing America described as a “melting pot” or a “tapestry” — the idea being that in this nation diverse, disparate elements come together to make up one vibrant whole. Now we live in a world of divisions, where nothing blends seamlessly and stark contrast is the order of the day. We invoke this topic of discussion on the second anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, amid the yahooism swirling around the House Speaker votes, which recklessly engender political wheeling and dealing aimed at undermining the basic workings of the Legislative Branch (just as 1/6/21 eroded the Executive Branch). Perhaps no artist in our community can speak to where we are and who we are with greater passion and persuasion than JIM BIGLAN. One of his three UNDER $100 pieces (all sold!) is this fabric artwork, incorporating collage. Most powerfully, the artist tells us, “I made this weaving experiment from bits of an actual American flag.”

JIM BIGLAN
“Merica”
16 x 10
loom weave and collage
90.

Four Forecasting Birds

Since it should technically go to the Epiphany, we'll continue our Xmas Countdown with CAROL TASHJIAN’s Weather Diary collages. (And, yes, UNDER $100 has come down from the Wall, but the show continues to be available for online shopping during our Mummers/New Year hiatus.) This head-turning new series, which the jury singled out with a BAROMETRIC BREAKTHROUGHS award, feels like a pandemic project of sorts but had its genesis just a couple of seasons ago. “During the July heat wave, I began saving the daily weather reports and loosely mimicking, in ink, the weather patterns depicted on the map,” reports the artist. “What’s come of it from there is technically collage, but my thinking process is closer to the geometric improvisation I use in quiltmaking.”

CAROL TASHJIAN
“Weather Diary 1403”
10 x 8
mixed-media collage (newspaper weather reports
on manila folder with ink and black paper cutouts,
sealed with PVA Size and mounted on panel of the
same dimensions)
80.

The Calm Before

We can check off the three-decade tradition of postering our beloved Wall before the Mummers march. We can also look forward to festivities galore as we welcome 2023 — well aware, too, that much of the world is already enjoying the New Year. Our best wishes and love to the artists and art lovers who comprise and sustain our wonderful and growing community. May your first marks on a tabula rasa be bold and exuberant, portending progress and growth ahead! #HAPPYNEWYEAR2023

1K...for Kringle!

Christmas is about the power of family. In this spirit, we’ll dedicate our 1,000th Insta post to one of the most beloved artists in our community, ELIZABETH H. MACDONALD, who is the hit of yet another show. The first artist to SELL OUT all four of her pieces, Betty, who will soon turn 96, continues to conduct a master class etching, engraving and lithography, skills passed on from her mother, Dorothy Wackerman Hutton. It was at Dorothy’s knee at our sister organization, The Plastic Club, that Betty first observed and began to gain her love and proficiency for these media, beginning in the 1930s. (At about the same time, the artist’s father, Hugh Hutton, launched a four-decade career as political cartoonist for The Philadelphia Inquier.) And did we mention Betty’s daughter, Peg, is an OFF THE WALL artist in her own right, who most recently showed her own print work in the 2019 edition of UNDER $100? We promised you a family story — and there you have it. Post #1,000 for Christmas 2022. Have a joyous end of the holiday!

ELIZABETH H. MACDONALD
“Shipwreck”
7 x 9 framed
lithograph
75.

Golden (and Lunar) Rings

Over the years, we have shown a range of work from esteemed artist-educator ROBERT REINHARDT, beginning with his paintings: stunning landscapes of, and inspired by, the American West. (The artist has also produced a series of Scotland vistas, which have not yet appeared at Off the Wall.) More recently -- and again for this year's UNDER $100 -- Bob's focus has shifted to patterned monoprints, which he overlays, one on another, to elicit dynamic interplay and marvelously intricate details. While there often is a starting point for these newer pieces -- in this case, the phases of the moon -- the results are not so constrained, as viewers are transported through unexpected convergences of form and color.

ROBERT REINHARDT
"Lunar Cycles #2"
14 x 11 framed
mixed-media collage of
hand-printed monoprints
95.

No Maids Here

We are a gallery with proud feminist roots, from our very first show 44 years ago this month, HER NAME IS NOT ANONYMOUS ANYMORE — one of the first all-women art shows in Philadelphia...outside, of course, our sister organization, The Plastic Club. So continuing our Xmas Countdown, you’re not going to find, among our self-made artists, Maids A-Milkin...or a-doing anything else. HEATHER RAQUEL PHILLIPS is a strong advocate along these lines, an interdisciplinary artist who celebrates and creates disruptions of norms and convenes and promotes “conversations about power, sexuality, deviance, freedom, failure and desire.” Her three fabric works in UNDER $100 all fit this framework and build off the artist’s innovative, message-driven large-banner series, which she installed in front of her house during the pandemic. Heather’s is a voice that is never silent.

HEATHER RAQUELPHILLIPS
“Never Enough Hanky”
screen-printed scarf with fringe
66.

Nine Bananas Dancing

Embroidery, in its full majesty, does not make its way onto our Wall often enough. In 2009, we devoted an entire show to fabric art, but in the years since, we can probably count on one hand the artists showcasing the medium, from the venerable Elizabeth H. MacDonald to Leonard Hollinger, who often uses stitching within his paintings, to Rae McLaughlin, whose “Hot Bits” collections have made recent appearances. KELLY KOZMA, a true master of embroidery, has not shown multiple pieces since our 2014 MIDSUMMER INVITATIONAL. That happily changed with UNDER $100, when our jury enthusiastically accepted her two submissions. An artist who relishes “the meditative process of hand embroidery as a way of healing,” Kelly has an ulterior motive that shines through in these life-affirming new pieces. “My goal is to interject joy into my work through bright palettes, fun imagery and movement,” she confides, “so rainbow bananas felt like the perfect subject matter.” BRAVA! (And, yes, if you’re counting, it’s really 10 bananas...but we’ll try to slip by for the sake of our Xmas Countdown....)

KELLY KOZMA
“Kickline”
8.75” x 10.75” framed
hand embroidery on paper
95.

Landlords A-Leapin'?

The last time ERICA HARNEY was part of an OFF THE WALL show, she contributed two works to SAVE DIRTY FRANK’S, including a stunning banner that employed small watercolor paintings to grid the ever-gentrifying neighborhood of Fishtown — creating a veritable jewel box of a map. Now the artist, always remarkable in her creativity and output, returns with a new series of doors, mainly front…and strictly Philly. Explains Erica, “My studio work, primarily featuring landscapes and architecture, is inspired and informed by my work as a professional scenic painter: painting backdrops and scenery for Philadelphia-area theatre and production companies.”

ERICA HARNEY
“309 E. Girard”
11 x 9 framed (8 x 6 image)
watercolor, pencil and ink on paper
90.

Half-Pipers Piping

For 11 in our UNDER $100 Xmas Countdown, we'll turn to the hand-cut collage of the marvelous ROBB SPATH, one of the first masters of the X-ACTO to frequent our Wall and, to be sure, a participant in our inaugural GLUE PAPER SCISSORS Invitational, which kicked off '22. Incidentally, 11 is numerically somewhat of a muse to the artist, in his ninth OFF THE WALL show. Robb's work runs a wide gamut from iconographic portraiture to, at turns, humorous and exuberant celebrations of life. Through them all, pop culture -- in this case, specifically skate culture -- propels and colors his intricate worlds.

ROBB SPATH
"Catalina"
8 x 10 framed (5 x 7 collage)
hand-cut collage
75.

12 Days and Counting

12 DAYS AND COUNTING: With UNDER $100 closing on December 29 (12/28 is the last full day), it’s well worth doing our own Twelve Days of Christmas, counting down to the Big Day...rather than up to the Epiphany. We already had drummers drumming in the recent Phil Sumpter extravaganza...so how about 12 BOXES A-BOOMING?!? That’s one of three works from the inimitable JIM BIGLAN, perhaps the most versatile of OFF THE WALL artists who earned from the jury the MOST PROGRESSIVE USE OF MEDIA accolade. The award reflects not just this sculpture combined but also two head-turning works that call on his newfound love of loom weave, embroidery and fabric art in general, an epiphany emerging from a Kutztown weaving class taken last summer. Is there a medium remaining that Jim has not yet tackled, both with passion and aplomb?

JIM BIGLAN
“Boombox”
raku-fired stoneware
95.