Winter 2011 Exhibition
January 27th to March 25th, 2011
Second Floor Galleries:
Kickin' Back: Design for Leisure
In collaboration with Andrew Dahlgren
First Floor Galleries:
En Route Solo Exhibitions
Dylan Beck and Diane Pepe
*Rescheduled Public Opening: Thursday, February 3rd
5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Kickin' Back: Design for Leisure
 Kickin’ Back is a juried and invitational exhibition at the Philadelphia Art Alliance in collaboration with Andrew Dahlgren. Designers and architects from the Mid-Atlantic region were selected based upon their interpretations of the concept of leisure that either complement and/or comment upon what constitutes contemporary states of rest or play. From public spaces such as retail environments and parks, to objects that provide comfort or promote interaction in private environments, the work featured in the exhibition provokes questions about what surrounds us in our daily lives, and elaborates on how design impacts our downtime.
 Based on four interpretations of the term leisure, the works featured in the exhibition reflect how we as a culture enjoy objects and spaces meant for enjoyment. From prototypes and one of kind or custom objects to small batch productions, the themes of play, entertainment, relaxation and leisurewear are featured throughout the second floor galleries.
Participating designers include: Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Patrick Barendt, Carrot Grant, Cutesy but not Cutesy, Design Circle, Inc., Fabric Horse, Friday Architects/Planners, Greenleaf Steel Rule Die Corporation, Haley Tricycles, Holgate Toys, International Design Clinic, La Colombe Torrefaction, le Corbeau, Michael J. Patterson, Paul K. Guillow, Inc., P.I.M.P. (Party in my Pocket Spandex Designs), R.E.Load Baggage, Inc. Shift Space Design, Something’s Hiding in Here, Tectonic Toys, and TrickGo.
Andrew Dalgren is involved with several design projects that are community based. For his local craft industry research and development, he received a Philadelphia Applied Research Laboratory (PARlab) Grant in partnership with Jennifer Goettner in 2010. In his own practice, he is focused on furniture design, industrial design, including woodworking and metal working fabrication; as well as graphic design, including concept illustrations, CAD drafting and modeling, and website building. He is also one of the organizers for Philly Works, which is a project begun in 2009 to highlight the still thriving communities of design, craft, and production within the City. The 2009 and 2010 exhibits included a wide range of local products, from furniture to clothing, and from house wares to motorcycles, produced by both companies and individuals. Philly Work is also comprised of an online database of regionally based designers and producers, making it easier to designers to build networks, to create new work, and to be part of the growing communities of design, craft, and production. In 2009, Dahlgren was co-creator of Urban Studio, which researched design project capabilities and project partners within the city, and developed original and custom designs for community based initiatives. |
En Route Solo Exhibitions
Yesterday’s Tomorrow: New works by Dylan Beck
 Dylan Beck’s mixed media sculptures incorporate the use of ceramics with materials common in construction, retail and home environments. Using iconic décor such as filigrees and other ornamentals found in architecture, his primary subject is the affects of suburban sprawl on the environment. Parallel to this, Beck is also aesthetically influenced by typography, using satellite and aerial images to form the basis of his final forms. As Beck notes, “Within this domain, my interests range from concepts of land use and automobile-centered planning to the psychological effects of living in the ‘non-places’ of a hypermodern world. Hypermodernity has created places that have no relation to the natural environment in which they reside. These places include airports, shopping malls, and various housing developments among others.“
Beck received his M.F.A. from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA Recent exhibitions include: Flux, Three Person Exhibition, Invitational, Naked City Gallery, Wichita, KS (2010) ; Rooted In Place, International Group Exhibition, Invitational, Steve Wilson Gallery, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY (2010); ILL COMMUNICATION, Solo exhibition, Thomas Hunter Project Space, Hunter College, New York, NY (2010); and Red Heat: Contemporary Work In Clay, National Group Exhibition, The University Of Tulsa, School of Art, Tulsa, OK (2010).
Connections: Sculptures and collages by Diane Pepe
 While Beck’s interests lie in the artifice of modern built environments and suburbia, Diane Pepe is influenced by untouched beauty of nature. Her structures, made primarily of wood and brass are combined with river stones that have been polished over time by their surroundings. Her work is a combination of what is organically beautiful as found in nature with a superimposed structure that represents a sense of order and containment. Initially influence by the people she met during a trip to Kochi, Japan, her works and installations become more widespread in their meaning. She states. “This concept has shifted to a more universal investigation of the dichotomy between the emotional/passionate side of human nature and the ordered/structured elements that we engage to control or order these emotions.” These are explored in larger works beyond the journey series in works such as Transition, Center and her most recent work Echo 12.
Diane Pepe received her MA from The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico and her BFA from Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in venues such as the Woodmere Art Museum, Chestnut Hill, PA; Brindle Gallery, Camden, ME; Marian Locks Gallery and Dolan-Maxwell Gallery in Philadelphia, PA; The Houston North Gallery, Lunenburgh, Nova Scotia, The Palmer Museum, State College, PA; and The Delaware Center For Contemporary Art, Wilmington, De. Pepe is currently Associate Professor of Art at The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA. She also designs the art curriculum for the ASEP at The Philadelphia School.
Support for exhibitions provided by the Independence Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and Members of the PAA.
Images:
S. Casey Gleason, Campfire Lite, 2010; luminaire, gypsum. Courtesy of the artist.
Paul K. Guillow, Inc. Jet Stream, balsa wood model plane.
Dylan Beck, Filigree Log, 2010; Porcelain, copper wash, walnut, Courtesy of the artist.
Diane Pepe, Takeda Walk, 2007; Basswood, brass, river stones, Courtesy of the artist.
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