Uwishunu.com

Gallery in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Photo by G. Widman for GPTM

On Tuesday, Jaunted wrote up an article directed towards you lucky Bank of America cardholders.

Have a Bank of America credit or debit card in your wallet? This weekend you can get free admission to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, National Constitution Center, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Please Touch Museum, and the African American Museum.

Please note that it’s just for the cardholder, so there’s no +1, but still, you save some money.

Thanks for the heads up, Jim!

[ via Jaunted ]

Photo by B. Krist for GPTMC

Remember the excitement the night of your high school prom? Ever wish you could relive that evening without the drama (and teenage anxiety) surrounding who will be Prom King and Queen? Well it’s time to dust off that ruffled powder blue tux and sequined hot pink number because the Philadelphia Museum of Art is hosting a Valentine’s Day Prom featuring jazz vocalist Joanna Pascale on Friday, February 12th during Art After 5.

The Penn Glee Club will kick off the love fest by performing their greatest hits and some special love songs from 5:00 – 5:45 p.m.. Besides slow-dancing to love songs, prom goers will enjoy love-themed tours of the galleries and special Valentine’s Day cocktails. And no prom would be complete without a photo booth, so be sure to capture the memories before you leave. Prom wear encouraged!

Valentine’s Day Prom @ Philadelphia Museum of Art
Friday, February 12th, 5:00 – 8:45 p.m.
Free after Museum admission

Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130
(215) 763-8100
www.philamuseum.org

Schuylkill River view of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Traditionally, museums are closed on Mondays. This gives these visitor-friendly institutions a chance to regroup after busy weekends, take care of maintenance and generally make sure that everything gets a good, deep cleaning once a week. The only problem that comes with Monday closings is that they mean that people can’t take advantage of their occasional Monday holidays to take in a new exhibition or display.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has determined to buck this tradition and is opening their doors to the public on holiday Mondays. This means that they’ll be open this coming Monday, January 18th (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day), as well as February 15 (Presidents’ Day), May 31 (Memorial Day), and September 6 (Labor Day).

The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, just across the street from the larger museum, is a 1927 Art Deco building housing: the museum’s user-friendly library; archives; the costumes and textiles collection; and “Collab,” a superb assemblage of modern and contemporary design. Stop in to view designs by Ruhlmann, van der Rohe, Breuer, Nelson and husband-and-wife team Charles and Ray Eames. (Photo by G. Widman)

Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building [gophila.com]

(Clockwise from bottom left) Seurat's Models, on view at The Barnes Foundation; Rodin's The Thinker outside the Rodin Museum; and the National Constitution Center. (Images: Georges Seurat, Models 1886-88, 78 1/4 x 98 3/8”, © The Barnes Foundation. Photograph reproduced with the permission of The Barnes Foundation, All Rights Reserved; by J. Smith; and by G. Widman)

It’s true what they say: Philadelphia has arts out the wazoo…not to mention museums, sculptures and theaters. We’re thankful to be able to view a Picasso in one direction, Italian sports cars the next and an avant-garde performance just a few blocks from home. A little culture? Please, and thank you.

Dear Culture Vultures,

Drop these facts next time you’re stretching your legs at intermission.

1.  Philly is the mural capital of the world, boasting more than 3,000 indoor and outdoor murals created by the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.

2.  The oldest continuously operating theater in the nation, the Walnut Street Theatre was the first theater to install gas footlights and air conditioning.

3.  The Rodin Museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway houses the largest collection of Rodin’s works outside of Paris.

4.  100 theater companies and even more museums reside in Philadelphia.

5.  Three generations of the Calder family left their mark on Philadelphia: Alexander Milne Calder created the William Penn statue perched on City Hall; his son Alexander Stirling Calder designed the Swann Fountain on Logan Circle; and grandson Alexander Calder’s mobiles grace the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

(From left) A larger-than-life mural of Frank Sinatra; and Swann Fountain in Logan Square. (Photos by G. Widman)

6.  Exhibitions, recordings and personal items pack the small Paul Robeson House, the home of the athlete, scholar, singer, actor and social activist.

7.  Founded in 1812 as the nation’s oldest natural history institution, The Academy of Natural Sciences displayed the first and most complete dinosaur skeleton ever discovered in 1858 — and it’s still on view today.

8.  In 1824, The Franklin Institute Science Museum was established as the first professional organization of mechanical engineers and professional draftsmen in the United States.

9.  Designed by Maxfield Parrish and produced by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Dream Garden, which includes more than 100,000 pieces of stained glass, is on display inside the Curtis Center near Independence Mall.

10.  The Brandywine River Museum features works by three generations of Wyeths, including N.C. Wyeth’s Treasure Island paintings, Andrew Wyeth’s Snow Hill and Jamie Wyeth’s Portrait of a Pig.

11.  The National Constitution Center holds the distinction of being the world’s only institution dedicated to the U.S. Constitution.

12.  Freedom Theater, founded in 1966, is one of the nation’s oldest and largest African-American theater companies.

13.  The Philadelphia Museum of Art holds — and occasionally displays — the wedding gown of Philadelphia-born Grace Kelly inside its 225,000-piece collection.

(Clockwise from bottom left) The new Perelman Building at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; a classic Alfa Romero at the Simeon Foundation Museum; and Taller Puertorriqueno. (Photos by G. Widman, courtesy of the Simeone Foundation and by R. Kennedy)

14.  Mummy fans can find one of the world’s great collections of Egyptian treasures at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, which houses the third-largest sphinx in the world and more than one million other objects.

15.  The Walk of Fame, comprising the 106 brass plaques embedded into the sidewalk along the Avenue of the Arts, honors musicians with a Philadelphia connection.

16.  Taller Puertorriqueño was the first Latino organization in the state to receive the Governor’s Award for the Arts.

17.  Albert Barnes’ internationally acclaimed art collection, displayed at The Barnes Foundation, is widely considered among the most extensive of French Impressionism — even compared to Paris. It houses 181 Renoir works, the largest amount of works by the Impressionist icon in the world.

18.  Philly music masters Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s smooth sound and socially conscious lyrics paid off with 175 gold and platinum albums and 80 number-one pop singles.

19. Opened in 2008, the Simeone Foundation Museum houses 60 classic and antique racecars, chronicling more than 100 years of automobile history in its world-class collection.

This Thanksgiving, We’re Thankful For… [uwishunu]

The Official Philly Brag Book [gophila.com]

Chef Marc Vetri at Osteria (Photo courtesy of the Chef)

Welcome back to our Q&A series on uwishunu called “With Love Letters,” in which our With Love Philadelphia campaign interviews notable Philadelphians in order to learn more about their relationship with the city and why they love it here.
 
Next up is Chef Marc Vetri.

Note: links were added to the interview during editing.

Introduction:

 
Marc Vetri is the James Beard Award-winning Chef and Owner of two of Philadelphia’s most highly regarded restaurants, Vetri and Osteria. This winter he will open his third restaurant, Amis, a Roman-style neighborhood trattoria in Washington Square West.

Chef Vetri knows Philadelphia — he grew up just outside the city in Abington, Montgomery County and spent many weekends as a child cooking with his Sicilian grandmother in her South Philadelphia home. He then spent four years in University City while attending Drexel before traveling to Italy to train as a chef.

When he returned to Philadelphia, he set about to open his own restaurant, which he did to rave reviews in 1998. By 1999, he was named one of ten “Best New Chefs” by Food & Wine Magazine. In 2005, Vetri won the prestigious James Beard Award for “Best Chef Mid-Atlantic.” In 2007, Chef Vetri opened his second restaurant, Osteria, also to rave reviews. And in 2008, he published his long-awaited debut cookbook, Il Viaggio Di Vetri.

Today, Chef Vetri is working on his latest venture, Amis, a restaurant that he promises will be lively, fun and inviting — the perfect place for “amis” or “friends” to get together.
 

The “With Love Letters” Q&A:

 
With Love: Hi Chef, Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us. Ok, let’s start with a few warm-up questions. Be honest: have you ever run up the Rocky Steps?

Marc Vetri: Of course.

With Love: Iconic Philly snack preference — a Philadelphia soft pretzel or a Tastykake?

Vetri: Tastycake… Butterscotch Krimpets to be exact.

With Love: How about the Philly cheesesteak vs. the roast pork sandwich vs. an authentic Philly hoagie — which do you prefer?

Vetri: Geno’s, wiz wit.

With Love: Wiz wit all the way…

Ok, You grew up just outside the city and went to college in University City, so you’ve been around Philadelphia for a while now. How have you seen it change and grow? And what excites you about Philadelphia as a restaurant/food town today?

Vetri: Philly has really become a destination place. When I went to Drexel, it was just that city between Washington and New York. Over the last 20 years, it has become an epicenter for culture, the arts and food and wine. The restaurant scene has exploded within the last 10 years. We have so many great chefs and restaurants popping up in all areas. I love that there are so many neighborhoods and that the scene keeps growing.

With Love: Speaking of neighborhoods, we know you spent some quality time as a youth in South Philadelphia learning to cook with your Sicilian grandmother — are there specific influences from those early days in South Philly that you retain in your cooking today?

Vetri: I would say those influences are more about the philosophy of my cooking than any specific style. For me, an evening out revolves around family and friends, that’s what sticks with me about those days. Sitting around a big table, laughing, talking and eating great food.

With Love: We’ve also read that you try to use local ingredients in your kitchen as much as possible. Why are local ingredients so important to your cooking philosophy?

Vetri: I think it’s important to make the most use of the land around you and support the efforts of farmers in the area. It keeps the cycle going. Anytime you can substitute a locally farmed product from an industrial farmed product, you’re doing the environment a favor, you’re creating jobs and you’re assisting your community. It’s really that simple.

With Love: Your next project, Amis, is going to be a Roman-style neighborhood trattoria in Washington Square West. Will simplicity and local ingredients be prevalent themes there as well?

Vetri: Absolutely, great Italian food is always about ingredients and simplicity, it’s really the definition of it.

With Love: Sounds delicious. Ok, when you’re not working on your next project or at your own restaurants, where are some of your other favorite places to eat in Philadelphia? Any under-the-radar neighborhood gems?

Vetri: I always love to go Amada in old city. Morimoto is a favorite when we’re in the mood for sushi. Zahav is so original and always great. There are so many great places I wouldn’t know when to stop listing. Meme, Bibou, Xochitl, Blackfish… I mean the list could just go on forever!

With Love: You’re right, the list could go on and on… but that’s a problem that we’re happy to have.

Below we find out where Chef Vetri likes to picnic, where he goes to satisfy a pho craving, and what new addition at Osteria will give you front-row access to all the action in the kitchen… (more…)

Photo courtesy the Philadelphia Museum of Art

If you have kids and are in the market for a fun way to get the out of the house tomorrow night (it’s supposed to be gloomy all weekend long, so you maybe going stir-crazy by Saturday afternoon and ready for an indoor adventure), consider fancying it up a bit at the Every Family Party at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Guests are invited to experience “A World of Discovery” from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Inspired by knights in the Armory, fountains trickling in the French Cloisters, and carved granite pillars in the Indian Temple hall, children will have the opportunity to explore faraway destinations and travel around the globe, all without leaving Philadelphia.

There will also be music, dancing, food and performances in the Museum’s Main Building. The only thing to be aware of is that tickets are $25, so this event isn’t for the skint of wallet. However, proceeds from the event benefit the Museum’s Division of Education, so the cause is good. And children age 2 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased by calling (215) 235-SHOW (7469).

Tomorrow, the 33rd annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show will open its doors at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Founded in 1977 by a group of civic-minded volunteers, it was the first retail craft event of its kind. This year, the show will play host to 195 of the nation’s finest craftspeople, who were selected to participate through a highly competitive jury process.

Of all the craft shows held in Philadelphia in anticipation of the holiday season, this one is the most upscale you’ll find. Many of the items presented at the show are pieces that the museum itself might consider for inclusion in their collection. That makes it an incredible chance to view work done by artists at the top of their game and a potentially interact with them as well.

Tickets for the craft show are $15 for a single day, or $20 for a two-day pass. Children under 12 are $5. Tickets can either be bought at the door for cash, or online here (tickets purchased online receive a $1 discount, however, there are no refunds). The museum always uses a portion of the proceeds to purchase a piece directly from the craft fair floor for their permanent collection.

Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show
Pennsylvania Convention Center
November 12 – 15, 2009

Celebrate Philadelphia icon Rocky Balboa while enjoying a delicious Tony Luke's sandwich. (Left photo by M. Kennedy)

Listen up Rocky fans! This weekend, to mark the release of the new Blu-ray box set, Benjamin Franklin Parkway is hosting a Rocky celebration like you’ve never seen (we promise).

On Sunday, November 8th, 1,000 Rocky Balboas, decked in gold and black “Itallian Stallion” robes, will flood the Parkway as part of the aptly-named “Parade of 1,000 Rockys”. The parade departs from LOVE Park at 10am and marches toward the Philadelphia Museum of Art in a procession that promises to be quite the sight.

Once the Balboa impersonators reach the Rocky Statue (located at the base of those famous Art Museum stairs), it’s party time! The “Celebration of Rocky” is open to all and includes:

- a meet and greet with 94 WYSP’s Danny Bonaduce

- Rocky and Adrian look-a-like contests

- boxing glove and athletic headband giveaways (coutersy of Everlast)

- free Snapple, Tastykakes and pretzels from Philly Soft Pretzel

And the main event:

- a Tony Luke’s cheesesteak-eating contest with contestants donning boxing gloves, and a free sampling of Tony Luke’s Pronto® sandwich.

For more information on the event or questions about participating, email rockyparade@gmail.com.

Parade of 1,000 Rockys
Philadelphia Museum of Art (2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway)
10am to 1pm

Cumbri, Photo courtesy the Philadelphia Museum of Art

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage month, there will be a little twist to this Friday, October 30th’s “Art After 5″ at the Philadelphia Museum of Art… A “Day of the Dead” Dance Party!

Starting at 5 p.m., Brooklyn-based party band Cumbiagra, whose music celebrates the lively cumbia form of music that started in Colombia in the 50’s, will be performing the classic cumbias of Colombia and Mexico.

Add to the mix spooky art tours and tarot card readings, and you’re in for a special treat. Don’t forget the kids at home as there will be face painting and costume contests to round out this special pre-Halloween spectacle!

“Day of the Dead” Dance Party & Art After 5
5:00 p.m.- 8:45 p.m.
Free after Museum admission!

Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th Street & Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130
(215) 684-7860
www.philamuseum.org

The crowd enjoying a band during Art After 5 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Photo by B. Krist for GPTMC)

Hispanic Heritage Month may be over, but Philly has much more to offer throughout the year.

The Day of the Dead (observed on November 1st) is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and by Latinos living in the United States. Though it’s not the most upbeat holiday, the day focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have passed away, often with elaborate feasts.

On Friday, October 30, the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Art After 5 presents a special evening of music in celebration of Hispanic heritage. The Day of the Dead Dance Party will feature Brooklyn-based party band Cumbiagra, whose music celebrates the lively cumbia form of music that started in Colombia in the 50’s, slowly spreading to Mexico, Peru and Argentina and eventually worldwide.

While you’re enjoying the vibrant sounds of the band, the Day of the Dead event will also include spooky art tours, face painting, costume contest and fortune tellers.

If you wake up the next day feeling inspired, make sure to stop by Xochitl’s and try their Dia de los Muertos menu. The four-course prix-fixe dinner for just $35 per person has become an annual tradition thanks to Chef Dionicio Jimenez.

Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Art After 5 [Official Site]

A selection from David Lebe's "Scribble" series, courtesy the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Anyone who tells you that photography isn’t art probably hasn’t been to an exhibition. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is currently hosting two incredible photography exhibitions: Frederick Sommer Photographs and Common Ground: Eight Philadelphia Photographers in the 1960s and 1970s . Frederick Sommer (1905-1999), a surrealist photographer throughout the ’40s and well into the ’70s, is probably best known for his series of jarring yet sometimes hilarious images of rearranged chicken bits, aptly named “Chicken Parts”, which are on display.

Common Ground: Eight Philadelphia Photographers in the 1960s and 1970s should hit closer to home for many of you, as it features some of Philadelphia’s best unsung photographers. The exhibit displays the work of students, faculty and founders of Philadelphia’s burgeoning photography schools such as the Philadelphia College of Art (now known as The University of the Arts ) as well as Temple University’s Tyler School of Art (1968), which is now housed within Temple’s Main Campus.

The exhibit features the work of artists like Ray Metzker, Sol Mednick and Will Larson who explored time-lapse exposure. Most visually striking, however, is David Lebe’s “Scribble” series (featured above) in which he experimented with light drawing, outlining figures with a flashlight during the development process. Overall, Common Ground is an exhibition about experimentation and variety within the photographic community and is successful at displaying Philadelphia’s lesser known artists of the time.

Frederick Sommer Photographs will be hosted until January 3rd, 2010 in the Main Building while Common Ground is on display until January 31st, 2010 in the Perelman Building. In other words, you have a lot of time to check them out, so get to it. Also, be sure to check out the museum’s website for future events featuring the work of both exhibitions.

Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130
(215) 684-7860
www.philamuseum.org