Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
If your last trip to a museum consisted of a class lecture at Penn’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, it may be time to expand your artistic horizons, which is what the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (aka PAFA) is all about. Located in Center City (a less than 10-minute walk away from unlimited breadsticks at the Olive Garden), PAFA is the first and oldest art school in the United States.
The school offers its students degrees in painting, sculpture, and printmaking, as well as a joint degree program with our very own Franklin-founded university. PAFA grads include Cecilia Beaux, Mary Cassatt, Maxfield Parrish, Charles Sheeler, John Sloan, Charles Demuth, Arthur B. Carles, architect Louis I. Kahn and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker David Lynch.
Adding to the school’s cool factor is PAFA’s internationally renowned museum, in which its students can exhibit their art. The museum also showcases the works of prominent 19th and 20th century American artists in its exhibitions and permanent collection.
Now on display through April 5 is “George Tooker: A Retrospective,” which showcases 60 works spanning across the Brooklyn native’s career as an influential figure painter. Also running now through July 28 is a screening of contemporary video art, and on permanent display is “Robert Ryman: Philadelphia Prototype, 2002,” a collection of Minimalist paintings.
—Gabrielle Olya
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts 118 and 128 N. Broad St. (215) 972-7600
Ink Not Ink @ Drexel
Thanks to Drexel’s "Ink Not Ink" exhibition, we no longer need to associate ink only with tattooed bikers or indie rockers. The first ever contemporary Chinese Art exhibition in the greater Philadelphia area, the exhibition features over 40 videos, paintings, prints and sculptures by some of Chinese Contemporary Art’s most renowned artists, "Ink Not Ink" explores the memories traditional ink art evokes.
As the fervor of traditional Chinese culture diminishes and lines between the West and East blur, Contemporary Chinese Art follows suit. Wenda Gu and the other featured artists combine classic Chinese ink with other modern technologies and mediums to create an amalgamation of traditional and contemporary. Even if body art is not your thing, everyone can appreciate this ink.
—Jessica White
Where: Bossone Research Center 3128 Market St. Paul Peck Alumni Center 3142 Market St. Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, Nesbitt Hall, 3215 Market St.
When: April 2-May 9, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Exhibition and Symposium are FREE and open to the public (215) 895-2548 www.drexel.edu/inknotink
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
The Bridge’s selection of Jonas Brothers 3D and The Haunting in Connecticut just isn’t cutting it. So where can a film buff go to get some legit cinematic showings? The Bryn Mawr Film Institute, located in the Main Line suburb of Bryn Mawr (about 25 minutes outside of Philly), is committed to showing the best in art house, independent, international and documentary cinema.
Operating from a historic movie theater in Bryn Mawr, this non-profit organization shows different movies each week, ranging from romantic drama Two Lovers to children’s favorite Surf’s Up. (For a complete list of showings, see brynmawrfilm.org).
In addition to operating as a movie theater, The Bryn Mawr Film Institute offers a Cinematheque Series, where you can register to see a series of films tailored to your interests. Coming up, the Film Education Series features Superman II and Rebel Without A Cause, and the Opera at the Bryn Mawr Series includes L’Incoronazione Di Poppea and Giulio Cesare. Joe Jonas is so last week.
—Courtney Guth
Bryn Mawr Film Institute 824 W. Lancaster Ave. Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 (610) 527-9898
The Cider House Rules @ University of the Arts
If the only performing arts you’ve witnessed lately are pledging antics on the Green, step off of Locust and into the wide world of visual, performing and communication art that is the University of the Arts. You’ve surely heard UArts’ name thrown around, but we Penn-ites all too often neglect our artsy peers to the east when planning our weekends.
The University has a constantly changing calendar of exhibitions and events that are just a few stops down the Market-Frankford line, and this weekend is no exception. In collaboration with a number of noted Philly theater artists, UArts students are performing an on-stage adaptation of the novel-turned-film The Cider House Rules. The subject matter is not exactly light-hearted (Michael Caine plays an orphanage director who performs illegal abortions), but the film is moving.
The play is broken up into two parts over two different days; Part I will be performed on April 3 and 4, while Part II will be performed on April 4th and 5th. Though you do have to shell out $18 for each night, rest assured that the performance will be more than worth the equivalent of a dinner at Pod.
—Annette D'Onofrio
The Cider House Rules Merriam Theater 250 S. Broad St. Thursday, April 3 through Saturday, April 5 Call (215) 717-6449 or visit http://uarts-theater.ticketleap.com for times and reservations
