Pentimenti Gallery

First Friday brings art exhibitions and events to Old City this Friday, March 4th!

Thinker Makers Society Muse Gallery Artists Pentimenti Gallery The Center for Art in Wood American Vegan Center Millésimé Philadelphia Arch Enemy Arts Cherry Street Pier

➡️ https://www.oldcitydistrict.org/first-friday

First Friday Previews are back! On March 3, at 7 p.m., join fellow creatives and art enthusiasts as we explore the latest events and exhibitions around Philadelphia.

In our first program of 2022, we will examine two new exhibitions on display at the Pentimenti Gallery and Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library . Later, NextFab's Anna Solomon and CraftNOW will preview the inaugural Tools of the Trades, a conference where creative entrepreneurs will have exclusive access to the experts, resources, and peers working in the Philadelphia region's innovative craft community.

Learn more and RSVP here: https://bit.ly/31dAIWg

Gesem, 2019 (Polymer & dispersed pigment on aluminum), 32 × 55 in (81.3 × 139.7 cm) - available from Pentimenti Gallery in

Starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow, CraftNOW will host the Environmental Effects Symposium at the Center / Architecture + Design! This hybrid event will feature presentations and short panel discussions centered on several exhibitions that exemplify this year's theme. Here's a brief overview of the exhibitions that will be discussed at this year's Symposium:

📍 "Wood + Body: Expressions of Contemporary Jewelry" at The Center for Art in Wood
📍 Roberta Massuch's Residency at the Wharton Esherick Museum
📍 "Cords & Kellum" at InLiquid
📍 "Making Place Matter" at The Clay Studio, featuring Ibrahim Said
📍 Lauren Mabry's "The Degree of Movement" at Pentimenti Gallery

Follow the link to register and learn more about the Environmental Effects Symposium! https://bit.ly/3d6KPjy

Starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow, CraftNOW will host the Environmental Effects Symposium at the Center / Architecture + Design! This hybrid event will feature presentations and short panel discussions centered on several exhibitions that exemplify this year's theme. Here's a brief overview of the exhibitions that will be discussed at this year's Symposium:

📍 "Wood + Body: Expressions of Contemporary Jewelry" at The Center for Art in Wood
📍 Roberta Massuch's Residency at the Wharton Esherick Museum
📍 "Cords & Kellum" at InLiquid
📍 "Making Place Matter" at The Clay Studio, featuring Ibraham Said
📍 Lauren Mabry's "The Degree of Movement" at Pentimenti Gallery

Follow the link to register and learn more about the Environmental Effects Symposium! https://bit.ly/3d6KPjy

A Saturday afternoon in some of Phila's galleries.

At Pentimenti Gallery with artost Kevin Finklea, Steven Baris, Kiki Gaffney, Michelle Benoit
At Muse Gallery Artists - Jean Plough
At Gross McCleaf Gallery - Rebekah Callaghan and Claire kincade

CraftNOW is hosting a walking tour to some of Old City's most renowned galleries and studio! The event is in collaboration with the City of Philadelphia's Arts and Culture Recovery Week.

Join us on Thursday, July 8, at 5:00 p.m. as we visit The Clay Studio, Pentimenti Gallery, Claudia Mills Rugs, and The Center for Art in Wood. Tours will begin at The Clay Studio located at 139 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia. Tours will be limited to ten participants and masks will be required.

Register to join the tour today: https://bit.ly/3pU1760

We’re continuing to highlight some of our favorite destinations for art & craft in Philadelphia in celebration of !

✅ Gravers Lane Gallery
✅ Paradigm Gallery + Studio
✅ Pentimenti Gallery
✅ Wexler Gallery

The is a key economic driver and job creator, helping communities thrive from coast-to-coast. Join us in recognizing this important industry and plan a trip to these wonderful galleries today!

The arts create dialogue and that is essential to a connected global community.

Christine Pfister, Pentimenti Gallery, gave a keynote address to the Russian delegation on the topic of Promoting Freedom of Expression and Visual Arts Management. Christine introduced an overview of cutting-edge trends in modern visual arts and arts management in the US, using her rich background in curating and collecting.

Aroutis Foster and Derek Gillman, Drexel University, shared the importance of creating a virtual reality to attract different audiences to visual arts, especially during the global Covid-19 crisis.

Thank you to Christine Pfister, Aroutis Foster, and Derek Gillman for speaking to the participants as they learned a lot about how museums and art galleries are connecting the visual arts with modern technology to help keep the cultural arts alive.” International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) Meridian International Center Global Ties U.S.

Center City pedestrians, working from home and the office, and tons of new listings. Fun (and safe) Philly activities to do this week are included as well.

https://cityblockteam.com/around-the-block-4-16-2021/

Featured Businesses: Billy Penn, Empanada Alley, Royal Boucherie, Art in the Age, Lola's Garden, Free Library of Philadelphia, Moore College of Art & Design, The Clay Studio, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Carpenters' Hall, Pentimenti Gallery, Mural Arts Philadelphia, Global Philadelphia Association, Stenton, Eastern State Penitentiary, Wagner Free Institute of Science

It feels good to be back at visiting gallery in Philadelphia.

Jane Irish at Locks Gallery

Making Marks at Pentimenti Gallery

Mary Henderson and Sarah Zwerling at InLiquid

Deirdre Murphy Art, Rebecca Segall, Leigh Werrell at Gross McCleaf Gallery

Emily Selvin, Sharon Bartman at The Clay Studio

Julia Levitina, Patrick Lee at Stanek Gallery

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Raymond Saá

Color, line, pattern and shape are simple words that define Raymond Saa’s layered, stacked, and complex artwork. Raymond’s materials and tools are basic such as paper, canvas, paint, X-Acto knives and a sewing machine; his techniques intricate with cut-outs, sewn layers, and collages. His bold colors and large-scale format transform spaces.

“I often refer to my work as building a composition by stacking pattern and color on top of one another.”
— Raymond Saá

Born in New Orleans, Raymond was raised in Miami by his mother and grandparents, and for the last 12 years has lived in Maplewood, New Jersey with his wife and children. Raymond is in the process of moving his studio from Hoboken to Maplewood and looks forward to giving tours when the pandemic is past us.

“Maplewood has been our home for over a decade. We wouldn't want to live anywhere else. It is filled with talented artists and creatives, just on my block alone there are so many people who inspire me with their creativity every day.”
— Raymond Saá

When growing up in Miami, Raymond’s mom picked up extra work sewing, and as a result, he was always around a sewing machine. It’s no surprise that by being the son of a seamstress, he picked up this skill and incorporated into his modern-day techniques with an ode to old world practices.

Raymond’s Cuban roots inspire his bright colors and abstracts of tropical plants and fruit shapes transplanted into urban environments where juicy brights often contrasted with black and white.

Proto Gallery, Hoboken, New Jersey describes the 'Flip Ya Lid' large-scale exhibit: “Raymond Saá approaches his multi-media artistic practice as a builder of lines, shapes, and structures in sewn works on paper, paintings on canvas, and large installations. His work explores the chance tensions that arise between juxtaposed colors and shapes as they are constructed into compositions.”

Raymond’s work has been exhibited nationally from Florida to Puerto Rico, coast to coast from California to New York, as well as internationally. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Raymon's work was chosen as part of The S-Files (The Selected Files) exhibit through a collaboration with Museo de Barrio, New York, New York; at William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey, Raymond’s work was featured in the Court Gallery.

Raymond’s work has been found in collections around the world including the New York University Langone Hospital Art Collection, which integrates artwork of the highest quality into their healing environments; and the Tijuana American Consulate in Mexico, as part of the Art In Embassies program from the U.S. Department of State, created to promote public diplomacy and cultural understanding through visual arts. Additional collections include the Fidelity Corporate Art Collection in Massachusetts and Texas; and Delta Airlines in New Jersey and Los Angeles, California; among many others.

Raymond’s Philadelphia Debut, ‘Monstera Deliciosa’ at Pentimenti Gallery, showcased his process-oriented work of deconstructed and reconstructed elements.

“Much like the fruit of monstera deliciosa, Saá’s images present a complex, multilayered formal environment for the viewer to decipher. Elements both contrast and harmonize, drawing on ideas and imagery, and then creating something entirely new.”
— Christine Pfister, Owner/Director Pentimenti Gallery

In his solo exhibit ‘Millifluent’ with Margaret Thatcher Projects, Raymond’s work is described in Wall Street International Magazine as, “a visual melody of vibrantly colored postcards…each is a unique building block within a cyclical process of painting, cutting, and sewing…featuring beautiful stitching along exposed hemlines configured into bold narratives of color and form.” Millifluent is Latin for flowing with honey and typically used to describe musical melodies.

“On walking into his studio I was immediately enamored of his [Raymond's] work. I had never seen anything like it in a gallery or a museum. When I examined his pieces up close they were transfixing—the layered interplay of the forms and palettes, the precision and intricacy of the stitching, the subtlety of the brush strokes, and the sheer playfulness of the pieces instantly struck an emotional chord with me. It was effortless to be enthusiastic about capturing his work.” — Tim Townsend, Photographer

Photographer, Tim Townsend captured Raymond in action in a time lapsed video. See Video Link Button below. The final cut, is edited from approximately 50 hours of painting time over a week’s time during spring break in 2013. The camera was set to shoot a frame every two seconds and the finished product came out of an estimated 90,000 stills. The video was in collaboration with, and edited by Photographer Tim Townsend who remains friends with Raymond today.

“As I got to know Raymond I came to respect not only his formidable artistic talent but his work ethic. He was a mad scientist, constantly and continuously experimenting with new ideas and techniques. The amount of time and care that went into each piece was obviously significant.” — Tim Townsend

From home exteriors in Miami, Florida with ‘Si las Casas Pudiesen Hablar' to the interior 4th floor lobby of PS 357 Young Voices Academy in the Bronx, New York, Raymond’s work is bold, brilliant, inspiring and mood changing.

In 2016 Raymond was commissioned by Public Art for Public Schools (PAPS), a unit of the New York City School Construction Authority (NYCSCA), the only public art program dedicated to schools in the country. Established in 1989, PAPS commissions permanent site-specific projects for new school buildings through two programs: Percent for Art Program, in collaboration with the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and Sites for Students which includes artist directed workshops as part of the commission. PAPS oversees the maintenance and preservation of 2000+ existing artworks in the New York City Department of Education’s collection throughout all five boroughs.

Through the Sites for Students program, school children are actively involved in the creation of permanent artwork for their school buildings. Artists teach workshops and collaborate with students in the conceptualization and creation of the projects. Raymond worked with two 2nd grade classes for 12 sessions in the Library of PS 357. The young students learned about the entire process from concept and proposal to installation of the finished pieces. Raymond’s students had the opportunity to work directly with him to create the permanent installation including technical aspects and techniques, a unique experience which cannot be acquired from a regular art class or visiting artists program. The kids worked on the general principles important to Raymond’s creative process: collage, color, shape and form.

“The mural Raymond created for the 4th floor lobby features bright, bold colors and large-scale abstract shapes that completely transform the space into something vibrant and exciting for students, parents, faculty and staff. The way Raymond incorporated the children’s work as the mural’s foundation was particularly distinctive and clever.” — Tania Duvergne, Director of Public Art for Public Schools at New York City School Construction Authority

Tania pointed out that Raymond’s artwork works well in an otherwise challenging location as there are doors, windows, signage, fire extinguishers, etc. It’s not a gallery, but now it looks like one. Raymond adjusted proportions of initial visuals and brought then up to in scale to dramatically fill the space.

An additional piece – a framed collage comprised of student artwork hangs in the 1st floor main lobby. “The entire project was exceptional because of the way Raymond used the student artwork while maintaining his aesthetic. He didn’t curate the students’ work, he incorporated their work into his artistic practice.” — Tania Duvergne, Director of Public Art for Public Schools at New York City School Construction Authority

Tania acknowledges what a tremendous challenge it is to work with such young students, however Raymond developed fun and age appropriate workshops. Students embraced it and were engaged in the permanent artwork in their school. “This entire project remains one of the most unique in the Sites for Students program and the Public Art for Public Schools permanent collection,” says Tania Duvergne, PAPS.

PAPS has an open arts registry where artists may join to be considered for a project; 10 are commissioned each year. To participate click here: http://www.nycsca.org/Community/Public-Art-for-Public-Schools/How-To-Participate

Some time into the project, Raymond and and Tania ran into each other in Maplewood; it’s no wonder that these two creatives reside in Maplewood’s art-loving community.

An art professor of Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, Raymond teaches a class on collage, and a senior studio class for art majors that he describes as “building their portfolios and discovering their own visual language.” In 2019 Raymond earned a Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for works on paper.

Raymond received his Masters of Fine Art from Parsons School of Design in New York; his Bachelors Degree of Fine art from Maryland Institute College of Art, and studied at Kunstakademie, the Arts Academy in Dusseldorf, Germany, and New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida.

To see Raymond Saá’s extensive works visit his website at www.raymondsaa.com. Instagram:

Raymond Saá is a member of SOMA Arts Registry, a free online hub serving Maplewood, South Orange and neighboring towns. It focuses on artists, arts professionals and arts organizations, with the goal to extend their local, regional and national market reach. SOMA Arts Registry was created by the Township of Maplewood and Maplewood Division of Arts & Culture to support the local arts community.

Wall Drawings - Time Lapse Drawings by Raymond Saá | Video by Tim Townsend: https://vimeo.com/116718676

Reference Links:
https://www.proto-gallery.com/
https://nyulangone.org/our-story/campus-transformation/art-program
https://art.state.gov/
https://www.pentimenti.com/
https://www.thatcherprojects.com/
https://wsimag.com/art/50865-raymond-saa
https://www.elmuseo.org/
https://www.wpunj.edu/coac/gallery/about/galleries.html
http://www.nycsca.org/Community/Public-Art-for-Public-Schools/About-Us
http://www.nycsca.org/
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dclapercentforart/index.page
http://www.nycsca.org/Community/Public-Art-for-Public-Schools/Programs#Sites-For-Students-205
https://www.drew.edu/stories/2019/04/22/drew-art-professors-earn-fellowships/
https://www.state.nj.us/state/njsca/dos_njsca_grants-artists.html
https://www.raymondsaa.com/
https://soma-artsregistry.com/