January 14–16, the Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO!) will perform Philadanco MinEvent, comprising excerpts from dances choreographed by Merce Cunningham and originally designed by Jasper Johns during his tenure as the artistic advisor for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (1967–80). PHILADANCO! dancers will perform in newly constructed costumes fashioned after an original design by Johns. Philadanco MinEvent will be performed with live music by John King and Leyya Mona Tawil.

January 21–23, world-renowned choreographer Pam Tanowitz will present Finally Unfinished (Solo for Melissa for Jasper). Commissioned by the museum and performed by Melissa Toogood, formerly a dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, this work opens on the museum’s first floor near Lenfest Hall and continues down the cantilevered staircase in the Williams Forum, in a powerful choreography that playfully evokes Walkaround Time, the dance that Cunningham created in 1968 as an homage to Marcel Duchamp, with a set by Johns.

Carlos Basualdo, the Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, said “Jasper Johns worked as the Artistic Advisor of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for over a decade. His friendship and admiration for Cunningham was long lasting and profoundly inspiring for them both. Many of the compositional strategies of Johns’s work find echoes in the beautifully complex dances of Cunningham. It is especially fitting to be able to present PHILADANCO! performing his work for the first time in an event staged by Patricia Lent with material from a selection of dances first choreographed by Cunningham while Johns was Artistic Advisor. The brilliant Pam Tanowitz joins that conversation with an extraordinary new solo for Melissa Toogood, one of the most talented dancers of her generation.”

Kim Bears-Bailey, Artistic Director of The Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO!), said, “It is an honor for PHILADANCO! to perform works by the modern icon Merce Cunningham. At this time PHILADANCO! is celebrating 51 years of existence and the many partnerships we have had throughout the decades. It is befitting and historic that this is now added to our roster of shared collaborations, which merges two Philadelphia treasures together to celebrate the amazing artistry of Jasper Johns presented through the art of dance.”

Choreographer Pam Tanowitz, said of her commissioned work, “Finally Unfinished is a dance always in process, a dance inventing itself as it goes. The museum creates the frame for the dance to live and Jasper Johns’s art is the inspiration…The dance usually tells me what it wants to be. Material happens out of necessity and sometimes by mistake. I like to find ways to incorporate these moments into the design of the dance—little glimpses of humanity within the abstractness of the choreography.”

Performance Schedule

Philadanco MinEvent

Williams Forum, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Duration 20 minutes; Free after museum admission (no reservation required)

• Friday, January 14, at 4:00, 6:00, and 7:00 p.m.

• Saturday, January 15, at 12:00, 1:00, and 3:30 p.m.

• Sunday, January 16, at 12:00, 1:00, and 3:30 p.m.

PHILADANCO! dancers will perform an arrangement of choreographic material drawn from four Cunningham/Johns collaborations: Canfield (1969), Landrover (1972), Un jour ou deux (1973), and Exchange (1978). The MinEvent will be arranged and staged in the Williams Forum by Patricia Lent expressly for the PHILADANCO! dancers.

Canfield (1969): The dance’s title refers to a game of solitaire. Using chance operations to determine the sequence of movements, Cunningham assigned a word indicating a particular movement to each card in the deck, with red and black suits denoting fast and slow movements, respectively. For the original production, Robert Morris designed the set, Jasper Johns designed the costumes, and Pauline Oliveros composed the music.

Landrover (1972): Cunningham said that his image for Landrover was, “people moving in different landscapes. American, perhaps in the sense that we move in our country—across varied spaces—with varied backgrounds.” Johns designed the costumes, which were leotards and tights in various solid colors. The music was a collaborative effort by Cage, David Tudor, and Gordon Mumma.

Un jour ou deux (1973): In 1973 the Paris Festival d’Automne and the Paris International Dance Festival commissioned a new work from Merce Cunningham, to be performed by the Paris Opera Ballet. One of his epic works, the dance consisted, Cunningham wrote, “of a number of separate dance events—solos, duets, trios, quintets, and larger groups.” The music was an orchestral work by John Cage. The costumes and set, both designed by Johns, shaded from dark to light gray

Exchange (1978): Divided into three parts, Exchange began with half of the company in the first part, the other half in the second, and the entire company closing out the third. When asked about the dance, Cunningham said, “I’ve often been struck by the idea of recurrence, ideas, movements, inflections coming back in different guises, never the same; it’s always a new space and a changed moment in time. So I decided to use it in Exchange.” Johns, who designed the set and costumes, said he wanted to use “polluted” colors. The backdrop was painted in gradations of gray; the costumes were in various shades of gray with highlights of green, yellow, pink, and purple.

Choreography by Merce Cunningham
Costumes after the original design by Jasper Johns for Landrover (1972). Costumes adapted and realized by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung, supported by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.
Music composed and performed by John King and Leyya Mona Tawil
Choreography arranged and staged by Patricia Lent
Production consultant Davison Scandrett
Performed by The Philadelphia Dance Company / PHILADANCO!
Dancers: Kaylah Arielle, Janine Beckles, William E. Burden, Mikaela Fenton, Clarricia Golden, Jameel M. Hendricks, Victor Lewis Jr, Floyd McLean Jr, Brandi Pinnix, and Lamar Rogers
Choreography by Merce Cunningham © Merce Cunningham Trust. All rights reserved.

Philadanco MinEvent performed by PHILADANCO! made possible with support from Jessica Berwind, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Additional support provided by the Merce Cunningham Trust. Support for the musical program provided by Anthony B. Creamer III.

Finally Unfinished (Solo for Melissa for Jasper)

Williams Forum, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Duration 20 minutes; Free after museum admission (no reservation required)

• Friday, January 21, at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.

• Saturday, January 22, at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.

• Sunday, January 23, at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.

Finally Unfinished (Solo for Melissa for Jasper) (2021): Choreographer Pam Tanowitz finds multiple parallels between her process and work and that of Jasper Johns. Just as Johns uses collage, Tanowitz makes dances as a hybrid of ballet and modern dance vocabularies, creating a link between beauty and inelegance within a focused and distinct structure. Where Johns uses mixed media, Tanowitz abstracts and combines movement from multiple and contrasting movement genres, layering and texturing until expression emerges. Like Johns, Tanowitz looks to her historical connections for inspiration and kinship. Like Johns, Tanowitz reworks and reorganizes ideas, returning to and re-presenting images and movement previously explored. Through the repeated abstraction, human connection arises.

“For this dance—together with Melissa [Toogood],” Tanowitz explains, “I try to balance the line of narrative and abstraction using form and gestures to express ideas of instability, unpredictability, beauty, struggle in relation to how the past can inform the future in function and effect.”

Choreography by Pam Tanowitz, 2021
Performed by Melissa Toogood
Music by Caroline Shaw originally commissioned for the Vail Dance Festival 2019.
Costumes by Harriet & Reid
Commissioned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Made possible with support from the Daniel W. Dietrich II Fund for Excellence in Contemporary Art, the Fisher Center at Bard courtesy of Jay Franke and David Herro, and The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

About PHILADANCO!

Founded in 1970 by Joan Meyers Brown, the Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO!), was created out a need to provide performance opportunities for Black dancers, who were then systematically denied entrance in many local dance schools and had even fewer professional performance outlets. PHILADANCO! has since grown into a professional dance company that is recognized across the nation and around the world for its artistic integrity, superbly trained dancers, and captivating performances. Established on principles of providing opportunity, inclusion, and hope, PHILADANCO! bridges cultural divides and consistently performs before sold-out audiences of people from diverse ethnicities and communities.

About Merce Cunningham

Merce Cunningham (1919–2009) is widely considered to be one of the most important choreographers of all time. Born in Centralia, Washington, Cunningham attended the Cornish School in Seattle, where he was introduced to the work of Martha Graham (he would later have a six-year tenure as a soloist with her company) and met John Cage, who would become the greatest influence on his practice, his closest collaborator, and his life partner until Cage’s death in 1992. In 1948, Cunningham and Cage began a relationship with the famed experimental institution Black Mountain College, where Cunningham first formed a dance company to explore his convention-breaking ideas. Across his 70-year career, Cunningham proposed a number of radical innovations to how movement and choreography are understood, and sought to find new ways to integrate technology and dance. With long-term collaborations with artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Charles Atlas, and Elliot Caplan, Cunningham’s sphere of influence also extended deep into the visual arts world. The Merce Cunningham Dance Company remained in continuous operation until 2011, with Cunningham as Artistic Director until his death in 2009. Over the course of his career, Cunningham choreographed 180 dances and over 700 Events.

About the Merce Cunningham Trust

The Merce Cunningham Trust preserves, enhances, and maintains the integrity of Cunningham’s artistic work and processes, and makes his works available to the public. Established by Cunningham in 2000, the Trust promotes and shares Cunningham’s artistic legacy by facilitating access to and experience of Cunningham’s work, training dancers in his technique, providing stagers with vital resources to develop their craft, supporting the development of audiences for his work, and fostering creativity directly connected to this legacy by a new generation of practicing artists.

For more, please visit mercecunningham.org

About John King

John King is an acclaimed composer, guitarist, and violist. From 1999 to 2003 he was the music curator at The Kitchen in New York. He then became the co-director of the Music Committee for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, until its closing in 2011. King’s compositions have been performed by the Kronos Quartet, Bang On A Can All-Stars, the New York City Ballet/Diamond Project, and the Stuttgart Ballet, among others. He has written 7 operas and released numerous recordings. In March 2020 he began an online performance series, “Sonic Gatherings,” in collaboration with the former MCDC dancer/choreographer Brandon Collwes. They have presented more than 50 "live” performances involving 70+ musicians and dancers from the global cultural community. Among his many accolades are a Rockefeller Foundation/Bellagio Center Fellow (2016), the Award for Sound/Music from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2014), and the Alpert Award in the Arts for Music (2009).

About Leyya Mona Tawil

Leyya Mona Tawil [Lime Rickey International] is an artist working with sound, performance, and hybrid transmissions. Tawil is a Syrian, Palestinian, American engaged in the world as such. Her work has been presented throughout the states, Europe and the Arab world. Tawil was the 2020 ISSUE Project Room Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow and a 2018 Saari Fellow (Finland). Her work Lime Rickey International’s Future Faith was nominated for a 2019 Bessie Award in Music. In 2021, Tawil was a resident artist with Wysing Art Centre/British Council (UK) and the Sharjah Art Foundation (UAE). She is director of TAC, a venue in Oakland; and Arab.AMP – a platform for experimental art and music from the SWANA diaspora.

About Patricia Lent

Patricia Lent was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1984 to 1993, dancing in more than forty complete works, including Pictures, Fabrications, August Pace, and CRWDSPCR. As a member of White Oak Dance Project (1994–1996) she performed work by Hanya Holm, Mark Morris, Tere O’Connor, and others. After earning a master’s degree from Bank Street College of Education, she taught second and third grade at P.S. 234 in Lower Manhattan (1998–2007). Lent began teaching technique and repertory workshops at the Merce Cunningham Studio in the late 1980s. She has staged Cunningham’s work for numerous schools and companies, including Fabrications for MCDC and Ballet de Lorraine, Scramble for Repertory Dance Theater, Duets for American Ballet Theatre, Channels/Inserts and Exchange for Lyon Opera Ballet, Beach Birds and Change of Address for North Carolina School of the Arts, Roaratorio for MCDC’s Legacy Tour, and most recently Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 2009, Lent was named a trustee of the Merce Cunningham Trust. She currently serves as the Trust’s Director of Licensing, in which capacity she initiates and supervises staging projects for professional companies, museums, conservatories, schools, and arts organizations worldwide.

About the Foundation for Contemporary Arts

In 1962 Jasper Johns, John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, and other painters and sculptors came together to help Merce Cunningham and his dance company finance a proposed season on Broadway by arranging for a sale of their artworks. Their fundraising efforts were so successful that there was money to spare, which Cunningham suggested could be used to support other artists.

Since its founding by John Cage and Jasper Johns in 1963, the mission of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA) has been to encourage, sponsor, and promote innovative work in the arts created and presented by individuals, groups, and organizations. FCA depends on artists to fund its programs; to date, over 1,000 artists have contributed paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, performances, and videos to help fund grant programs that directly support individual artists working in dance, music/sound, performance art/theater, poetry, and the visual arts.

For more, visit foundationforcontemporaryarts.org

About Pam Tanowitz

Pam Tanowitz is a critically acclaimed choreographer and founder of Pam Tanowitz Dance. The New York–based choreographer has steadily delineated her own dance language through decades of research and creation. She is the first-ever choreographer in residence at the Fisher Center at Bard in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Other honors include a 2020 Doris Duke Artist Award, 2019 Herb Alpert Award, 2017 BAC Cage Cunningham Fellowship, 2016 and 2009 Bessie Awards, 2010 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award, 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship, Hodder Fellowship, CBA Fellowship at New York University, and a New York City Center Choreography Fellowship. She has created for Australian Ballet, New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, the Royal Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Kennedy Center’s Ballet Across America, Juilliard Dance, Ballet Austin, and New York Theatre Ballet. Originally from New Rochelle, New York, Tanowitz holds degrees from Ohio State University and Sarah Lawrence College, and is a visiting guest artist at Rutgers University.

About Melissa Toogood

Melissa Toogood is a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie)–winning performer. She is Dancer, Rehearsal Director and Artistic Associate of Pam Tanowitz Dance. She has worked with Tanowitz on works for the Australian Ballet, Ballet Austin, Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, The Martha Graham Dance Company, the Juilliard School, Fall for Dance Festival, Vail Dance Festival and others. Toogood worked closely with Merce Cunningham first as an Understudy and then as a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 2005 through the company closure at the end of 2011. She has taught Cunningham Technique internationally since 2007 and is a 2013 and 2015 Merce Cunningham Fellow. She teaches for and is an official Stager for the Merce Cunningham Trust. Toogood has performed with Abraham.In.Motion, Kimberly Bartosik, Michelle Dorrance, Rosie Herrera Dance Theater, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, Stephen Petronio Company, Sally Silvers, Christopher Williams, Bill Young, The Bang Group: Tap Lab, Michael Uthoff Dance Theater, and many others. Her own work has been commissioned by Boston Ballet and New York Theater Ballet. She is a native of Sydney, Australia and holds a BFA in Dance Performance from New World School of the Arts, Miami, FL.

About Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror

Organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, Mind/ Mirror is the most comprehensive retrospective to date of the work of Jasper Johns. Structured around the principles of mirroring and doubling that have long been a focus of the artist’s work, this two-part exhibition presented simultaneously at both museums offers an innovative curatorial model for a monographic survey. Following a loose chronological order from the 1950s to the present, Mind/Mirror chronicles Johns’s accomplishments across many mediums—including paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, working proofs, and monotypes—and highlights the complex relationships among them. A single exhibition in two venues, this unprecedented collaboration runs concurrently in Philadelphia and in New York through February 13, 2022.

For more, please visit press.philamuseum.org

About the Curators

The organizing curators are Carlos Basualdo, Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Scott Rothkopf, Senior Deputy Director and Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, with Sarah B. Vogelman, Exhibition Assistant, in Philadelphia and Lauren Young, Curatorial Assistant, in New York.

Exhibition Support

This exhibition is organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Bank of America is the National Sponsor.

Generous support is provided by Constance Hess Williams and Sankey Williams and Matthew Marks, and through the museum's endowment with the Daniel W. Dietrich II Fund for Excellence in Contemporary Art, the Annenberg Foundation Fund for Major Exhibitions, the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Fund for Exhibitions, the Robert Montgomery Scott Endowment for Exhibitions, and the Kathleen C. and John J. F. Sherrerd Fund for Exhibitions.

Major support is provided by the museum's Contemporary Art Committee, The Davenport Family Foundation, Ellsworth Kelly Foundation and Jack Shear, Agnes Gund, Leonard and Judy Lauder, Ms. Jennifer S. Rice and Mr. Michael C. Forman, The Sachs Charitable Foundation, Helen and Charles Schwab, and the Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art—including special gifts from the estates of Patricia Sweet Clutz and Phyllys “Fifi” Fleming.

Significant support is provided by Constance R. Caplan, the Robert Lehman Foundation, Marsha and Jeffrey Perelman, and an anonymous donor.

Additional support is provided by Irma and Norman Braman, Clarissa Alcock Bronfman and Edgar Bronfman Jr., Isabel and Agustín Coppel, Roberta and Carl Dranoff, Jaimie and David Field, Kathy and Richard Fuld, Mrs. Ronnie F. Heyman, Linda and George Kelly, Sueyun and Gene Locks, Richard and Nancy Lubin, Susan and James Meyer, Leslie Miller and Richard Worley, Mitchell and Hilarie Morgan Family Foundation, Lyn M. Ross, Howard Sacks and Vesna Todorović Sacks, Katie and Tony Schaeffer, Karen Goodman Tarte, Robbi and Bruce Toll, and two anonymous donors.

The Lenders Lunch was sponsored by Christie's.

The accompanying publication was made possible by the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, The Davenport Family Foundation, Barbara Bertozzi Castelli, Jean-Christophe Castelli and Lisa Silver, and Craig F. Starr.

Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror benefited from a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

In New York, this exhibition is sponsored by Delta.

Credits as of September 20, 2021

Hashtag

#JasperJohns

Admission

Visitors who attend the exhibition at one venue will enjoy half-price adult admission at the other when presenting their ticket. And throughout the duration of the exhibition, members of each institution will receive free admission at both venues.

To redeem the reciprocal offer, visitors can reserve up to two $12 adult tickets and unlimited free tickets for children aged 18 & younger per visit between September 29, 2021–February 13, 2022, via an online ticketing link included on the ticket of full-priced admission tickets from the reciprocal museum. Visitors are encouraged to reserve tickets in advance of their visit.
 
Members of both museums will receive special access to reserve up to 2 free adult tickets and unlimited free tickets for children aged 18 & younger per visit to the reciprocal museum during the public dates of the exhibition, September 29, 2021–February 13, 2022. Members are encouraged to reserve in advance of their visit.

Tickets are now available for advance reservation at philamuseum.org and whitney.org.

About the Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is Philadelphia’s art museum. A place that welcomes everyone. A world-renowned collection. A landmark building. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

Social Media @philamuseum

For additional information, contact the Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art by phone at 215-684-7860, by fax at 215-235-0050, or by e-mail at pressroom@philamuseum.org. The Museum is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call 215-763-8100.

About the Whitney

The Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by the artist and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), houses the foremost collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Mrs. Whitney, an early and ardent supporter of modern American art, nurtured groundbreaking artists at a time when audiences were still largely preoccupied with the Old Masters. From her vision arose the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has been championing the most innovative art of the United States for ninety years. The core of the Whitney’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit American art of our time and serve a wide variety of audiences in celebration of the complexity and diversity of art and culture in the United States. Through this mission and a steadfast commitment to artists themselves, the Whitney has long been a powerful force in support of modern and contemporary art and continues to help define what is innovative and influential in American art today.

For additional information, contact the Whitney Museum Press Office at pressoffice@whitney.org or 212-570-3633.

Social Media @whitneymuseum

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Caitlin Deutsch, Manager of Family Programs, said: “As we finally return to hosting programs on-site at the museum this summer, we’re also meeting families where they are in terms of COVID comfort levels and offering a range of art-oriented opportunities to explore. We’ve designed activities that can be held in-person indoors, in-person outdoors, as well as virtual programs that families can join from the comfort of their homes. And we’re particularly excited to extend our reach in the community and provide art resources—thanks to CraftNow and PNC—to kids taking part in the City’s Summer Camp program so that they can experience Art Kids even if they’re not at the museum. Our offer is all encompassing this summer.” 

On-Site Programs

Art Kids Studio
South Vaulted Walkway, Ground Floor, Main Building 
June: Fridays through Sundays, 10:30 a.m.–3:00 p.m.; until 7:00 p.m. on Fridays
July and August: Thursday through Sundays, 10:30 a.m.–3:00 p.m.; until 7:00 p.m. on Fridays
The Art Kids Studio is where families can invent and experiment in a relaxed setting. Long tables with art-making supplies will aid artists of all ages to create work out of various materials, with works in the collection as their guiding inspiration. This summer, the activities will be centered on looking at works by contemporary female artists such as Lynda Benglis, Howardena Pindell, and Faith Ringgold. One colorful print by Ringgold titled The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles invites kids to think about composition and color, line, shape, and story. Art Kids Studio is open to all ages. Drop in and stay as long as you’d like. No reservations required. 

Art Playdate in the Garden
Anne d’Harnoncourt Sculpture Garden
Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
Beginning on Thursday, July 8, kids can discover art in the Sculpture Garden and participate in looking and art-making activities. Best for ages 4–8. Capacity is set for twelve families. Pre-registration is required.

Kids Art Classes 
North Vaulted Walkway, Education Classrooms, Main Building
Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. for ages 5–6 and 7–9
Explore the galleries and get creative in the new studio classrooms. The classes are capped at twelve students. Pre-registration is required.

In the Galleries 
Third Floor galleries, Main Building
A printed “Time Travel” Family Guide takes families on self-guided tours of the Arms and Armor galleries, the Japanese Teahouse, and other favorite spaces on the third floor. 

Health & Safety Protocols
Children ages 12 and under must be always accompanied by an adult. All staff and visitors are required to wear a mask when participating in an Art Kids program at the museum. Visit the website for all the information needed to plan a safe visit to the museum. 

Virtual Programs

Art Playdate at Home
Fridays on Zoom at 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
This virtual program will continue to be held every other Friday. On screen, kids can engage in playful conversations, sketching challenges, and other hands-on activities from the comfort of home. Each month presents a new theme. In June, kids can learn about the Summer Solstice; in July, seascapes are front and center; and in August, fashion takes the stage. Art Playdate at Home is best for ages 4–7 and has a capacity of fifteen families. Pre-registration is required.

Art Club at Home
Fridays on Zoom at 3:30 p.m.
This virtual program takes place every other Friday and is best suited for ages 6–10. Kids create abstract works that explore line, shape, and color. The theme changes each month; in June, kids can learn about Op artist Bridget Riley; In July, they will experience the work of Howardena Pindell and learn about her process of making art using texture and color; In August, they can experiment with abstract shapes and patterns found in nature by looking at colorful compositions by the artist Alma Thomas. Pre-registration is required.

In the Community 

Summer Camp Program with the City and Free Family Pass 
Through the support of PNC Arts Alive, the museum is partnering with CraftNow to provide 3,000 art-making kits to Philadelphia Parks and Recreation camp sites. Inside the kits, campers will find a sketchbook inspired by works of art on view at the museum as well as colored pencils, collage materials and a glue stick as well as Family Pass to visit the museum. Participants can bring six family members to the museum for a free visit through the end of 2021. Passes can be redeemed online using the individualized code or at an admissions desk. For every six people, at least two people in the group must be 21 years old or older.

Accessibility
The museum offers accessible services to meet the needs of our visitors. For questions regarding accessible offerings or need assistance email accessprog@philamuseum.org.

Retail for Kids

New Children’s Books
The museum has recently co-published two children’s books with Princeton Architectural Press, the leading publisher of books on architecture, design, and visual culture. Under the series name Explore Art, two picture books: Armor & Animals and What Can Colors Do? draw on the museum’s collection and encourage young readers and their grown-ups to talk about what they see. Written by Liz Yohlin Baill, Collections Interpreter for Youth and Families at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the books are geared toward children ages 4–8. Both titles are available for purchase in the Main Store, the new Design Store, and online.

In the Stores
The museum stores offers a variety of fun and art-inspired items for kids including games, puzzles, books, and toys selected in conjunction with museum educators. The Design Store features favorite finds for modern kids, while the American Gallery Store has a selection of gifts inspired by the early American art galleries. An expanded assortment of books and art-making for kids can be found in our Main Store as well as online.

Admission
All Art Kids programs are included in the price of admission, and museum admission is always free for ages 18 and under. Admission will be Pay What You Wish on Sunday, July 4; Sunday, August 1. Art Kids summer programming will end on Saturday, September 4. 

Support
Art Kids is sponsored by

About PNC Arts Alive
PNC Arts Alive is a multi-year initiative of PNC and the PNC Foundation dedicated to supporting visual and performing arts groups with the goal of increasing arts access and engagement in new and innovative ways. The PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group, actively supports organizations that provide services for the benefit of communities in which it has a significant presence. The foundation focuses its philanthropic mission on early childhood education and community and economic development, which includes the arts and culture. For more information, visit www.pncartsalive.com.

Social Media @philamuseum

We are Philadelphia’s art museum. A world-renowned collection. A landmark building. A place that welcomes everyone. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

For additional information, contact the Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art by phone at 215-684-7860, by fax at 215-235-0050, or by e-mail at pressroom@philamuseum.org. The Museum is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call 215-763-8100.

During the first half of the twentieth century, Louise and Walter Arensberg carved out a unique place in the history of collecting. No one before them had made such audacious connections between modern painting, Renaissance literature, and pre-Columbian sculpture; and few, if any, used collecting more forcefully as a medium for artistic creation and intellectual exploration.

Much has been made of the significance of how the Arensbergs’ collection took shape in their Manhattan apartment following the Armory Show in 1913 and of their influential role as patrons in the New York Dada circle. Until now, less has been understood about how their collection expanded and changed in character after their move to Los Angeles in 1921, particularly after they purchased their Hollywood home and turned it into a house museum and research institute. For the next three decades, prior to the establishment of a public modern art museum in the region, the Arensbergs put the European avant-garde, the English Renaissance, and Mesoamerican civilizations into dialogue in dense and playful displays that shocked and inspired visitors—including some of the period’s leading artists, writers, and curators. In 1950, the couple gifted their collection of avant-garde and Pre-Columbian art to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. When Louise and Walter died in 1953 and 1954, respectively, their rare books, manuscripts and personal papers were gifted to California’s Francis Bacon Library (now housed at the Huntington Library).

In this two-part event, Mark Nelson, William H. Sherman, and Ellen Hoobler, authors of the recently published book Hollywood Arensberg: Avant-Garde Collecting in Midcentury L.A. (Getty Research Institute), discuss and illuminate the Arenbergs’ fascinating collection.

Part I: The Arensbergs’ Hollywood House-Museum: Tuesday, December 15, 2020, 6:00–7:30 p.m. EST. Arcadia Library Lecture.

Matthew Affron, the Philip and Muriel Berman Curator of Modern Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, will moderate a lively discussion with the authors as they share how they mined archival materials, including at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to uncover the unpublished history of the Arensberg collection on the West coast, and ultimately reconstruct how the works of art were displayed in their Hollywood home. Drawing from this new research, the discussion will also examine how this display reflected the collecting tastes and worldview of the Arensbergs.

Please visit Philadelphia Museum of Arts’ site to register in advance for this free online event: https://philamuseum.org/calendar/event/arensbergs-hollywood-house-museum

Part II: Hollywood Arensberg: Arriving at the House: Tuesday, March 9, 2021, 3:00–4:30 p.m. PST

In the second of two conversations, Mary Miller, director of the Getty Research Institute, and authors Mark Nelson, William H. Sherman, and Ellen Hoobler will explore how the context of the collection shaped how it was assembled, displayed, and interpreted.

Register in advance for this online event: https://getty.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gTiIjKdlS2qoVPl6jV6cQQ 

About the Participants

MATTHEW AFFRON is the Muriel and Philip Berman Curator of Modern Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

ELLEN HOOBLER is the William B. Ziff, Jr., Associate Curator of Art of the Americas at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

MARY MILLER is the director of the Getty Research Institute.

MARK NELSON is an author, design director, and partner at the book design firm McCall Associates in New York.

WILLIAM H. SHERMAN is director of the Warburg Institute in London.

Sponsor

The Arcadia Library Lecture at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is generously supported by the Arcadia Foundation.

About the Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection in Philadelphia

Louise and Walter Arensberg’s extraordinary gift to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1950, together with that of A. E. Gallatin, forms the cornerstone of the institution’s modern art collection. Their path to becoming collectors was set in 1913 after a visit to the legendary Armory Show in New York, where they encountered Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2), a painting they would later acquire. In 1915 they eagerly opened their home to Duchamp, inaugurating a forty-year friendship and collaboration between the artist and the collectors.

During their collecting career, the Arensbergs purchased works by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Salvador Dalí, Marc Chagall, and Vasily Kandinsky, among others, and assembled the largest collection of Constantin Brancusi’s sculpture outside Paris. As their interests extended well beyond Western art, their holdings of pre-Columbian art were displayed alongside contemporary works. The couple amassed the foremost collection of Duchamp’s work in the world, contributing to making the museum in Philadelphia a place of pilgrimage for generations of artists and lovers of the avant-garde.

About the Getty Research Institute

The Getty Research Institute is an operating program of the J. Paul Getty Trust. It serves education in the broadest sense by increasing knowledge and understanding about art and its history through advanced research. The Research Institute provides intellectual leadership through its research, exhibition, and publication programs and provides service to a wide range of scholars worldwide through residencies, fellowships, online resources, and a Research Library. The Research Library—housed in the 201,000-square-foot Research Institute building designed by Richard Meier—is one of the largest art and architecture libraries in the world. The general library collections (secondary sources) include almost 900,000 volumes of books, periodicals, and auction catalogues encompassing the history of Western art and related fields in the humanities. The Research Library’s special collections include rare books, artists’ journals, sketchbooks, architectural drawings and models, photographs, and archival materials.

About the Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is Philadelphia’s art museum. A place that welcomes everyone. A world-renowned collection. A landmark building. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

Social Media

Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Tumblr/YouTube: @philamuseum

Press Contacts

Getty Research Institute
Amy Hood, Getty Communications
ahood@getty.edu

Philadelphia Museum of Art
Justin Rubich, Media Relations Coordinator
Justin.rubich@philamuseum.org; pressroom@philamuseum.org

View Exhibition Press Release 

Futures Therapy Lab

Thinking about possible futures is both exhilarating and anxiety-making. The Futures Therapy Lab is a space for conversation, critique, and creativity for those considering the ideas set forth in Designs for Different Futures. Work it out in the Lab through reading reflection, and art making. Part of the exhibition experience, the lab is open to visitors of all ages and is free with museum admission. Drop-in daily during museum hours. Open late Wednesdays and Fridays, until 8:45 p.m.

In addition to daily drop-in activities, the Lab will host a series of weekly happenings:

Artists in the Lab
Artists and designers share their work through talks, demonstrations, and workshops. Wednesday Nights, 5:00–8:45 p.m.

The Designer is In
Talk it out. One-on-one sessions with local designers offer new perspectives on your everyday life. Thursdays & Saturdays, 2:00–4:00 p.m.

Sci-Fi Sundays
Drop-in readings that explore narratives of the future. Select Sundays, 2:00–3:00pm

Artists in the Lab

Artist in the Lab: Grace Duong and Wesley Flash on Tarot and Prophecy

October 23, 2019 | 6:00–8:00 p.m. | Futures Therapy Lab and Great Stair Hall

Get present, create, and dive deeper. Work with designer and illustrator Grace Duong to create your own tarot card, then learn more about the art of tarot with Wesley Flash. Tarot tells a story; it isn’t always about the future itself. Find out your own story and share stories with others. Drop-ins welcome.

Artist in the Lab: Simon Kim and Mark Yim on Quori

October 30, 2019 | 6:30 p.m. | Dorrance Galleries

Meet Simon Kim and Mark Yim, the creators of Quori, one of the robots on view in the exhibition, and hear about the design and engineering that informed this research robot. Drop-ins welcome.

Simon Kim, AIA, OAA, is Principal of Ibañez Kim Architects and an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Mark Yim is the Asa Whitney Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the GRASP lab. Mark and Simon work together as directors of Immersive Kinematics Lab , along with associate Mariana Ibañez.

Perspectives Gallery Talks: Gavin Kenneally on Ghost Minitaur

November 6 | 6:30 p.m. | Dorrance Galleries

Gavin Kenneally shares the process of designing Ghost Minitaur, a four-legged robot capable of exploring dangerous territory. His fifteen-minute talk is followed by a conversation in the gallery. ​Drop-ins welcome.

Kenneally is the chief product officer and mechatronics lead for Ghost Robotics, where he works to make legged robots a commercial reality. Perspectives Gallery Talks are conversations about art and design through a contemporary lens.

Artist in the Lab: The Tempestry Project on Climate Change and Fiber Art

November 13, 2019 | 6:00–8:00 p.m. | Futures Therapy Lab

Join The Tempestry Project as they weave together knitting and fiber arts with the study of climate, to visualize climate change data in a way that’s accurate, tangible, and beautiful. By building a bridge between hard data and our own softer experiences to take comfort in tackling this heated topic, through the act of making. Drop-ins welcome.

Artist in the Lab: Ane Crabtree on Costuming Dystopia

November 20, 2019 | 6:30 p.m. | The Eli Kirk Price Room

Ane Crabtree designed the iconic handmaid costume seen in the Emmy Award winning Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale and on view in the exhibition Design for Different Futures. Hear about the role costume design can play in creating alternate worlds in series such as The Handmaid’s Tale and Westworld as well as upcoming projects. Free ticket required.

Crabtree is a costume designer for film and television. Born to a white father and a mother of Okinawan descent, Crabtree grew up in Kentucky before studying fine arts and Shakespeare at Harlaxton College in Lincolnshire, England and fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She designed the costumes for Seasons One and Two for The Handmaid’s Tale starring Elizabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes, Samira Wiley, Max Minghella, Yvonne Strahovski, O-T Fagbenle, Alexis Bledel, Madeline Brewer, Ann Dowd, and Amanda Brugel. Her recent work includes the Dee Rees and Cassian Elwes follow up film to Mudbound, The Last Thing He Wanted, and the Scottfree/FOX pilot for The Passage. Crabtree has been nominated for a Costume Design Guild Award for PanAm (2012), Masters of Sex (2015), and Westworld (2016), and won for The Handmaid’s Tale (2018). She also received two Emmy nominations for The Handmaid’s Tale (2017 & 2018). She is currently working on the creative presentation of The Kyd’s Exquisite Follies, a futuristic afro-punk, steam funk musical with Dee Rees and Cassian Elwes.

Artist in the Lab: Lucy Jones on Seated Design

January 8, 2020 | 6:30 p.m. | Futures Therapy Lab

Believing that designers should share, design, develop and listen to the needs of all individuals, Lucy Jones created “Seated Design,” fashion built specifically for the seated, instead of the standing, body. She is joined in conversation with Katie Samson, arts educator and disability rights advocate. Drop-ins welcome.

Artist in the Lab: Terraform ONE on Cricket Shelter, Adam Chad Brody and Jude Tallichet, Cricket Concert

Jan 15, 2020 | 6:30 p.m. | Futures Therapy Lab

Vivian Kuan and Nicolas Gervasi from Terreform ONE, an architecture and urban-design research group, discuss how their Cricket Shelter and other projects work to design against extinction.

Join farmer-artist-musicians Adam Chad Brody and Jude Tallichet as they perform alongside live crickets to explore how insects can become kin, housemates, collaborators and entertainers—in addition to being a source of nourishment. Drop-ins welcome.

Artist in the Lab: Ryan Strand Greenberg on The History of Now

Jan 22, 2020 | 6:00–8:00 p.m. | Futures Therapy Lab

Join photographer and curator of public art Ryan Strand Greenberg for an evening of investigation, creation, and reflection as we ask ourselves as individuals and as a community, “What about now should define the history we pass on to the future?” Drop-ins welcome.

Artist in the Lab: Mary Maggic on Housewives Making Drugs

Jan 29, 2020 | 6:30 p.m. | The Eli Kirk Price Room

Artist Mary Maggic explores body and gender politics and environmental toxicity through their artistic research in DIY hormone hacking, expanding on issues raised by their speculative video Housewives Making Drugs on view in the exhibition Designs for Different Futures. The event will include a urine-hormone micro-performance (Molecular Queering Agency). Free ticket required.

Artist in the Lab: Lin Yee Yuan on Mold Magazine

February 12, 2020 | 6:30 p.m. | Futures Therapy Lab

How will our relationship to food change in the future? LinYee Yuan, founder and editor of MOLD magazine, is joined in conversation with local food activists to consider how designers can address the coming international food crisis. Drop-ins welcome.

Artist in the Lab: Orkan Telhan on Breakfast Before Extinction

February 19, 2020 | 6:30 p.m. | The Eli Kirk Price Room

What possibilities do microorganisms offer in a time of climate crisis, food scarcity, and biodiversity loss? Artist and biological designer Orkan Telhan explores the different roles microorganisms can play for shaping the future of the human diet. Free ticket required.

Artist in the Lab: Adrienne / Swim Pony on The End

February 26, 2020 | 6:30 p.m. | Futures Therapy Lab

Swim Pony's Adrienne Mackey shares insights and hands-on experience gathered from creating THE END – a month-long immersive theatrical that helped audiences confront fears around life’s end, through daily, darkly playful interactions. Drop-ins welcome.

Artist in the Lab: Kate Cuffari on Experimental Materials in the Museum

March 4, 2020 | 6:30 p.m. | Dorrance Galleries

Perspectives Gallery Talk with Kate Cuffari on the challenges that materials such as sweat and seaweed in Designs for Different Futures offer in terms of museum presentation and conversation. Drop-ins welcome.

Kate Cuffari is the Associate Conservator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Perspectives Gallery Talks are conversations about art and design through a contemporary lens.

The Designer Is In

Thursdays & Saturdays | 2:00–4:00 p.m. | Futures Therapy Lab
Talk it out. One-on-one sessions with local designers offer new perspectives on your everyday life.

October 24 & 26, 2019
Maia Chao, Look at Art, Get Paid

November 7 & 9, 2019
Paul Farber, Monument Lab

November 14 & 16, 2019
Stephanie Carlisle, KieranTimberlake and Uncertain Terrain

November 21 & 23, 2019
Andrew Wit, WITO

December 5, 7, 12 & 14, 2019
Yadan Luo, OLIN

December 19 & 21, 2019
Paul Farber, Monument Lab

January 9, 11, 16, & 18, 2020
Michelle Johnson, University of Pennsylvania

January 23 & 25, 2020
Andrew Wit, WITO

January 30, February 1, 6, & 8, 2020
Scott Page, Interface Studios

February 13, 15, 20, & 22, 2020
Raja Schaar, Drexel University

February 27 & 29, March 5 & 7, 2020
Tiny WPA

Sci-Fi Sundays

Sundays | 2:00–3:00 p.m. | Meet in the Dorrance Galleries

Drop-in readings that explore narratives of the future. Artists and authors read their favorite passages from science fiction novels, comic books and literary magazines. Program free after museum admission.

October 27, 2019: Ariell Johnson, Amalgam Comics

November 10, 2019: Shivon Love

November 17, 2019: Blue Stoop

November 24, 2019: Wooden Shoe

December 8, 2019: Dr. Walter Greason

December 15, 2019: Li Sumpter, MythMedia Studios

December 22, 2019: Galactic Philadelphia

January 12, 2020: Free Library of Philadelphia

January 19, 2020: Liz Barr

January 26, 2020: Ulises

February 9, 2020: Chef Omar Tate

February 16, 2020: Jasmine Smith, Library Co. of Philadelphia

February 23, 2020: Little Berlin Zine Library

March 8, 2020: Maori Holmes, BlackStar Film Festival

Drink & Draw

Select Wednesdays | 6:00–8:00 p.m. | Great Stair Hall

Sip and sketch with local artists on the first Wednesday of each month. Drawing materials provided; bar drinks available for purchase. Included with Pay What You Wish admission.

Drink & Draw with Mary Kate McDevitt
November 6, 2019 | 6:00–8:00 p.m. | Great Stair Hall

Drink & Draw with Ladies Wine and Design
February 5, 2020 | 6:00–8:00 p.m. | Great Stair Hall

Drink & Draw with Jordan Sondler
March 4, 2020 | 6:00–8:00 p.m. | Great Stair Hall

Family Festival: Family Futures

November 3, 2019 | 10:00 a.m. | Main Building

How does design shape modern—and future—families? Visitors of all ages envision their future, from products and policies to art and activism with designer Alexis Hope. Included with Pay What You Wish admission.

Balcony Studio (All Ages)
10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Create and design for your future self.

Mini Tours (Best for Kids ages 3-10)
11:00 a.m. & 1:00 p.m.
Time travel through the galleries as a family.

Story Shares (Grown-up Conversations; Kids Welcome)
11:00 a.m. & 1:00 p.m.
Talk family leave and more with Alexis Hope, whose advocacy is featured in the exhibition.

Stroller Tour (Grown-ups with Babies)
10:30 a.m. & 2:00 p.m.
Tours for those with the newest generation of artists in tow.

BAE Café: Breastfeeding Awareness & Empowerment (Grown-ups with Babies)
12:00 p.m.
Bring your breast, chest, or bottle to BAE Café and chat with other caregivers and feeding advocates.

Talk

The Irma and Herbert Barness Endowed Lecture

Why is Artificial Intelligence a Woman?

November 16, 2019 | 2:00 p.m. | Perelman Auditorium

Even as gender is increasingly debated as fluid rather than binary, designers of future-oriented technologies often represent artificial intelligence through feminine stereotypes. This panel examines the gendered ways that AI and robotics are designed and the impacts that has on our futures. Research scientist Julie Carpenter will discuss her work on Q, a gender-neutral voice for use in voice assistive technologies that offers an alternative to the familiar voices of Siri and Alexa. Bruce Duncan of the Terasem Movement Foundation will present the android BINA48, which is included in a work in Designs for Different Futures and whose form is unusually modelled on a real person. Art historian Jennifer Robertson will share her research on Japan’s advanced robotics industry and the design of human-robot interfaces. Moderated by Michelle Millar Fisher, co-curator of Designs for Different Futures.

Ticket required. $10 (members $8); does not include museum admission.

Part of Untold Stories, a lecture series that asks questions about works of art we think we know.

Friday Remix

January 31, 2020 | 6:00–10:00 p.m. | Main Building

A unique late-night experience designed in collaboration with local creatives. Get ready for music, dancing, Detours, gallery interventions, art-making, performances, and more. Collaborators include The Sun Ra Arkestra, Mary Maggic, Annie Wilson, and Zornitsa Stoyanova.

Ticket required. $28 (members $22; Young Friends and Student members $14).

MLK Day: Dreams of Different Futures

January 20, 2020 | 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. | Main Building

How do we engage community in the design of our city now and for the future? Inspired by the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., spend the day of service imagining possibilities for a future Philadelphia through community conversations, a teach-in, and an all-ages activity with Tiny WPA. Drop-ins welcome.

Teach-in: A Case for Action

How can we create change? Learn from community organizers, activists and designers what steps they take to positively impact the future.

Community Conversation: Return and Go Get It

How does the past shape our future? Employing the West African concept of Sankofa, where one looks to the past for guidance for the future, participants will discuss how Dr. King’s legacy continues to inspire dreams for the future.

Design Competition for Schools

On display March 8, 2020 | Futures Therapy Lab

Stop by and see student posters that answer the question, “What would you design that supports and empowers people to bridge a divide?”

Public Exhibition Tours

Tuesdays & Thursdays |1:00 p.m. | Dorrance Galleries
Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays | 11:00 a.m. & 1:00 p.m. | Dorrance Galleries

The future is wild! Don’t go it alone. Drop in for a tour of Designs for Different Futures and cap off your visit in the Futures Therapy Lab.

Support

Designs for Different Futures is organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

In Philadelphia, this exhibition is generously supported by the Annenberg Foundation Fund for Major Exhibitions, the Robert Montgomery Scott Endowment for Exhibitions, the Kathleen C. and John J.F. Sherrerd Fund for Exhibitions, Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer in Honor of Collab's 50th Anniversary, the Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Laura and William C. Buck Endowment for Exhibitions, the Harriet and Ronald Lassin Fund for Special Exhibitions, the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Exhibition Fund, and an anonymous donor.

Credits as of August 29, 2019

Note: Images illustrate programs affiliated with the exhibition, though not all of them reflect works represented in the exhibition. Please contact the Press Office to verify.

Social Media @philamuseum

We are Philadelphia’s art museum. A world-renowned collection. A landmark building. A place that welcomes everyone. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

For additional information, contact the Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art by phone at 215-684-7860, by fax at 215-235-0050, or by e-mail at pressroom@philamuseum.org. The Museum is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call 215-763-8100.

Art Splash explores the two related exhibitions with a focus on the inspiration artists find in everyday objects and the stories that they tell about community, memory, and identity. Families can connect with local artists whose own works contain themes that relate to those explored in Souls Grown Deep. Each artist will engage families during a two-week residency, creating works in the Splash Studio ranging from found object sculpture to papermaking, textile work, and storytelling. The Splash Studio is the hub of creativity for kids and the featured artists will be onsite Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 1:00 until 4:00 p.m. Families can make art and learn about the artists’ work during all Art Splash hours. The first art projects are based on the theme of collecting and transforming found treasures into something new.

Elizabeth Yohlin Baill, Manager of Family Programs, said: “Our programs are grounded in community and seek to bring families together through unique art experiences. This summer, we hope to highlight the creative process and draw upon how visually accessible the art of collage and assemblage is for kids, with lots of recognizable objects and interesting materials, patterns, and textures to explore and create with. At the same time, we can use art as entry points for conversation and empathy-building, and as a way to think critically about our world.”

Joe Meterchick, PNC regional president for Philadelphia, Delaware, and Southern Jersey, said: “We are pleased to support the Philadelphia Museum of Art in its seventh year of Art Splash—a wonderful community program that brings more than 40,000 families to the museum each year. What makes Art Splash so unique this year is its collaboration with local artists. What better way to support our local arts community than to bring together museum educators, artists, and kids and families under one roof to create and talk about art together.”

Programs
Meet the Artists: Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
July 5 through July 21
Artist Brian Bazemore will create an evolving assemblage in the Splash Studio, using found materials to create a mixed media artwork. He will speak with families about his work and they can create their own found object sculptures alongside him. “As a visual storyteller my work is rooted in the physical and emotional environment of life, family, and my community,” Bazemore commented.

July 23 through August 4
Themed projects during “Art, Papers, Scissors” will spotlight the paper creations of Nicole Donnelly and the many ways one can create art from paper and natural materials. Donnelly is known for her work as a painter, hand papermaker, and installation artist. She said: “I plan to show kids and caretakers at Art Splash how an everyday object like paper can be used to create a spectacular work of art.”

August 6 through August 18
Wearing elaborate costumes inspired by the exhibitions, Misty Sol will tell stories and encourage families to share their own memories. Sol remarked: “These word images can help create space to celebrate the magic and diversity of childhood.” During Sol’s residency, families will participate in a printmaking project using found objects inspired by their own personal stories.

August 20 through September 2
Textile artist and designer Joy O. Ude will work with families to create fiber artwork inspired by the multicolored quilts made by the women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. Ude said: “My art explores Black culture as a part of American culture.” Ude is also creating an interactive environment for the Splash Studio, including a quilted dome created from found fabrics and stitched in patterns based on the Gee’s Bend quilts on view in the Souls Grown Deep.

Community Conversation
Wednesday, July 24, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
This year Art Splash offers Talking with Children about Social Justice. Families can join an intergenerational conversation with counselor Shesheena Bray, exploring themes in Souls Grown Deep as a point of departure.

Wednesday Nights in July and August, Art Splash is open until 7:00 p.m. In July, families can enjoy food demonstrations by chef-in-residence Nia D. Minard, who will cook and develop recipes inspired by traditional foods of the Black American South. Minard said: “I identify as a Black woman from the Mississippi Delta. I employ Black Southern foodways as a tool for processing trauma, reconciling history, and building community. This summer at the museum, I want to demonstrate the value of Black food that is in Southern culture. Bring your appetite!” Additional programs led by Chef Minard will take place on June 22 from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. “Breaking Bread;” and on July 27 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. “From the Kitchen: Okra Is/Okra Ain’t.” In August 14 and August 21 during Wednesday Nights, Art Splash will feature dolls of the American South from the Philadelphia Doll Museum.

Sensory-Friendly Mornings
July 24, July 27, August 21, and August 24 from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.
Art Splash will host four Sensory-Friendly Mornings for families with children on the autism spectrum or with sensory sensitivities. These sessions will be led by specially-trained museum staff. Space is limited and advance registration is required. Pre-visit materials and sensory-friendly kits are available; email accessprog@philamuseum.org for more information.

Beyond the Splash Studio, specially-curated family experiences include gallery tours designed for kids, family art workshops, a self-guided gallery hunt through the exhibitions, and special performances on Pay What You Wish days throughout the summer. See dancer Lela Aisha Jones and musicians Alex Shaw and Papa Ed Stokes create music inspired by the African diaspora on Sunday, August 4, (performances at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.).

Art Splash Hours
Tuesday through Sunday; drop-in between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.; open until 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday Nights (with Pay What You Wish admission after 5:00 p.m.). Art Splash runs through Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 2019.

Admission
Art Splash opens with three full days of Pay What You Wish admission, from Friday, July 5 through Sunday, July 7, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. All Art Splash programs are included in the price of admission and kids 12 and under are always free. Admission will be Pay What You Wish on Sunday, August 4, and Sunday, September 1.

Accessibility
We offer a wide variety of accessible services to meet the needs of our visitors. If you have questions regarding accessible offerings or need assistance for your next visit call 215-684-7602 or email accessprog@philamuseum.org.

Support
Art Splash is presented by PNC Arts Alive. Additional support is provided by the Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Lyn M. Ross, Ellyn C. Phillips, Ellen and Ron Caplan, and other generous donors. (Credits as of May 7, 2019)

Family programs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art are generously supported by Harriet and Larry Weiss and Steve and Gretchen Burke.

Souls Grown Deep has been made possible by PNC, with additional generous support from Emily and Mike Cavanagh, Mr. and Mrs. Albert F. Gordon, and Leslie Miller and Richard Worley. (Credits as of April 15, 2019)

About PNC Arts Alive
PNC Arts Alive is a multi-year, multi-million dollar grant initiative of the PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. Now in its ninth year, PNC Arts Alive challenges visual and performing arts organizations to put forth their best, most original thinking in expanding audience participation and engagement. This is a very prestigious grant, with only twenty arts organizations in the Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey region selected. For more information on PNC Arts Alive and the grant recipients visit www.PNCARTSALIVE.com.

Social Media @philamuseum

We are Philadelphia’s art museum. A world-renowned collection. A landmark building. A place that welcomes everyone. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

For additional information, contact the Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art by phone at 215-684-7860, by fax at 215-235-0050, or by e-mail at pressroom@philamuseum.org. The Museum is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call 215-763-8100.

Offered in conjunction with the special exhibition, Modern Times: American Art 1910–1950, Art Splash will open on June 30, offering families a summer of fun and learning through unique hands-on activities in a comfortable, playful, and imaginative setting. This year’s theme is Bright Lights, Little City, inspired by the modern metropolis, a subject that inspired the work of many artists in the exhibition. The headquarters for Art Splash—the Splash Studio where families can create art together—will be located on the Great Stair Balcony on the second floor of the main building, with a great window that provides a dramatic view of Philadelphia’s dazzling skyline. Art Splash is presented through PNC Arts Alive, an initiative of the PNC Foundation that is designed to support the visual and performing arts.

Art projects in the Splash Studio will explore a range of themes and media reflected in Modern Times, including sculpture, portraiture, and landscape, using high-quality, artist-grade supplies. The first two weeks of studio projects and gallery tours are based on the theme “CurioCities” (June 30–July 15), which will provide families with the opportunity to build their own mini modern cities inspired by urban scenes in the exhibition, such as Francis Criss’s painting titled Words and Music of Two Hemispheres. Next, “Color Me Modern” projects (July 17–29) will explore color mixing and how artists use color to evoke emotion, with the painting Red and Orange Streak by Georgia O’Keeffe as an inspiration. Themed projects during “Face Time” (July 31–August 12) will focus on aspects of portraiture, and “Sound Off” projects (August 14–26), will ask kids “What if you could see sounds?” as they experience Alexander Calder’s sculpture, The Water Lily. For the final weeks of Art Splash, “LandShapes” (August 28–September 3) will capture nature through shape and pattern, and will highlight landscapes by American modernists such as O’Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, and Morton Livingston Schamberg.

The Splash Studio will also feature a new LEGO model of the Museum, created especially for Art Splash by LEGOLAND Discovery Center Philadelphia. Families can build on to the existing LEGO model and create their own vision of the city. Other interactive elements that can be found in the Splash Studio include a magnet wall, a book nook, and a whimsical art installation evoking a city skyline.

Beyond the Splash Studio, specially-curated family experiences include gallery and stroller tours, art workshops, interactive kiosks, a “Modern Art for Modern Kids” family guide, and special performances on Pay What You Wish days throughout the summer, including a performance by Grammy-nominated singer Brady Rymer on Sunday, August 5 (11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.).

Art Splash will also offer four sensory friendly mornings designed for families with children on the autism spectrum or with sensory sensitivities. These activities will be led by specially-trained Museum staff. For family-friendly dining options the Museum Café is open throughout the week.

Elizabeth Yohlin Baill, Manager of Family Programs, said: “Here at the Museum, we understand the needs of families and how important it is to engage even our youngest children through a variety of playful, hands-on activities. By making art and exploring together, we welcome families to extend their experience and relate the exhibition’s modern themes to their own lives.”

Joe Meterchick, PNC regional president for Philadelphia, Delaware and Southern New Jersey, said: “Through PNC Arts Alive, we continue to help invigorate local arts organizations while bringing new and exciting programs to our community. The creativity and collaboration demonstrated by the local arts community is evident in the programs that will be introduced, while enabling new visitors and residents alike to experience a diverse range of exhibits and performances.”

Art Splash Hours
Tuesday–Sunday; drop-in between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.; open until 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday Nights (with Pay What You Wish admission after 5:00 p.m.).

Cost
All Art Splash programs are drop-in and free with Museum admission unless otherwise noted. Admission for kids ages 12 and under is always free.

Support
Art Splash is presented through PNC Arts Alive, with support from The Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, PECO, Ellyn C. Phillips, the Center for American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and other generous donors. Family programs are generously supported by Harriet and Larry Weiss and Steve and Gretchen Burke.

Social Media 
Share your experience @philamuseum #ArtSplash

We are Philadelphia’s art museum. A world-renowned collection. A landmark building. A place that welcomes everyone. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

For additional information, contact the Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art by phone at 215-684-7860, by fax at 215-235-0050, or by e-mail at pressroom@philamuseum.org. The Museum is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call 215-763-8100.