Philly Art: Spector, Represent & Vitra

"Keep the Home Fires Burning" is a show after my heart with objects and sculptures made out of thrift store junk: old furniture, wooden bowls, baskets, clothing and wooden tchotchkes such as Russian nesting dolls or an elephant from India. It is in the Perelman Building, an annex to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Shelley Spector, a Philadelphia artist and gallery owner, was invited to use the museum's textile collection to create this installation. Many pieces, such as the towers made from bentwood chair frames, use fabric in their construction.









Here is my friend Tara looking at a sculpture made up of bird-shaped baskets and a nest of fabric eggs on a simple woos dowel tree. Odd, one doesn't usually see ducks in trees.

This elephant balancing on the wooden bowl supports various bibelots, while the two birds in the sculpture on the right sip blue, wooden water.

detail from Village

What may be the meaning of the long green serpent hanging from the ceiling, and does it matter?  Is it the thing itself that is interesting, just for its shape, color, texture, size? It dwarfs the puffy pincushion-like bundles clustered below.

Yet, if I were to interpret this sculpture, just for fun, I would say that if these bundles are a village, then the green shape is a cyclone passing through their midst. I think that's probably the first thing that comes to mind for many of us.

Village

In the art museum's main building you will find the exhibit: Represent: 200 Years of African American Art. This is  an exhibit of African-American Art from the museum's collection. It was an excellent show with some familiar pieces and some that I've never seen before. I'll share just a few clay and stone sculptures from the exhibit.

Squirrel, by William Edmondson, limestone

Face Pots, Unknown Artists

Here are two views of the stunning Mother and Child, by Catlett. The artist's work reminds me of the German expressionist, Kathe Kollwitz, who also depicted women and their sorrows and their joys. It's beautiful and sensitive work.

Elizabeth Catlett

Mother and Child, clay

Also in the Perelman building was an exhibit of all kinds of products from the European design firm, Vitra. I loved all the chairs and was dying to sit in one to test it out, or take a lovely nap in one of the easy chairs. Here's a selection.

I would say the heart-shaped chair was my favorite with it's pointed base and red felted surface. I am always a fool for anything heart-shaped. They were all very creative, but to sit in? I can only guess how that would be.



One last sculpture to end this post. This sweet, life-sized sculpture was found in European Art at the main building. I include it here in honor of the approaching season, at last making itself known with some milder temperatures.

Figure of Spring, 1912
designed by Michael Powolony,
made by Wiener Keramik