Painted Bride Art Exhibit

Painted Bride in Philly:
45 years Old & Going Strong
The Painted Bride Art Center in the Olde City section of Philadelphia was founded in 1969 by a group of alternative artists. Today it still hosts art, music, theater and dance and is an integral part of the Philadelphia art scene.

Richard and I moved to Philadelphia in 1966. I had just graduated from college, and Richard was starting a job teaching at Tyler School of Art. After a couple of years in Germantown, we moved downtown to a 2-floor loft on 10th Street, a few blocks from Chinatown. Our rent was $40 a month, but before you get too excited, let me tell you that we did not have a proper bathtub or a shower. We bought a galvanized tub and filled it from the sink in the tiny bathroom, for baths. It was a lot of work, so sponge baths were more the order of the day. And I cooked on a hot plate. The Reading Terminal Market was near, and we did our shopping there at the great stalls for meat, fish, produce and Basset's ice cream.

Richard's parents came to visit, and his mother took me aside, and said, "Don't worry, someday you will have real appliances."

I got myself started on Philly because we were there recently.We are in a show at the Painted Bride. Our friend, Paul Santoleri, the world-renown muralist, curated the show and asked us to be in it. On the first Friday of November, we went down to Philly to see the show.

 Paul drawing on the wall at the Painted Bride.

Paul can usually be found drawing.

He's the drawing man.

My work on left is a drawing and collage

with marker and paint-chip samples from

Benjamin Moore. Richard's work is an automatic

drawing called "Police Bird."

 Christina May, who helped hang the show .

You know that guy in the green jacket.

Paul with an artist named Candy.

 Richard with Tyler grads Nancy Stroud and Matthew Turner.

 Richard looks like the guy with the pressure cooker on his head.

 Paul started drawing the pattern on Richard's shirt.

 I wore one of my hats! 

Clowning with Paul and Steve Garr.

 With our buddy, Sir Paul.

Steve Garr with his giant saw.

Very Fargo and a great work.

Steve is brother to our friend, Michael Garr, 

a Tyler grad who lives in Minneapolis with his lovely wife, Natalie.

 The Terrible Trio.

RC, Brian Cote and Charles Burwell.

Brian and Charles are great painters.

This is some story. We were walking in the door to our hotel in Philadelphia, and I see this guy on the right giving Richard the side-long glance. This can only mean one thing: a student of Richard's has recognized him. And he was trying to go incognito. Fat chance with the green jacket. This is Morgan Craig, Tyler class of 2000, who was having dinner at the hotel's Red Owl Tavern. I hope the name of the tavern is a tip of the hat to Temple: colors are red and white and their mascot is an Owl. But even if it's just a coincidence, it was great to have these two connect because Morgan was dining there.

He's a wonderful artist, and was in Richard's famous urban landscape class.

Painted Bride -- such memories!!

And new experiences too.

À Bientôt!