Opportunity is born...and reborn...at the end of each calendar year — for the artists and art lovers in our community. It's a process that has taken place here at OFF THE WALL every November and December (not counting the pandemic years) since 2017, and it can be summed up in two words...UNDER $100! Far and away our most popular and successful juried show — known for its diversity of voices, plentitude of sales (thanks, in part, to its conjunction with the holiday season!) and track record as a launching pad to future shows in our space — UNDER $100 also boasts our most prestigious award, the MARY-ROWE MEMORIAL JURY PRIZE, and at least $600 (probably closer to $700) in CASH PRIZES. These are funded through our $10 PER PIECE HANGING FEE for accepted artists, which also means there is NO ENTRY FEE! Check out the entry guidelines above, which are also available in Dirty Frank's and here on our website. We look forward to your entries and, to all our collectors, to your attendance, support and acquisitions!
62.62 Fahrenheit
The National Centers for Environmental Prediction announced that our planet experienced this past week the highest average global temperature in recorded history. First, Monday was the hottest day ever. Then it was the Fourth of July. The records will sadly keep tumbling. For the past year, KAREN STABENOW has been our community’s gadfly in regard to these alarming trends. While SUMMER SOLSTICE does not include her call-to-action melting Arctic landscapes, her three paintings do spotlight critical issues, from rising sea levels to Arctic drilling, The artist tells us, “I paint with oil to communicate the climate change in the North and South Poles.... These changes are caused by the use of coal, oil and methane, resulting in melting ice, sea rising, vanishing glaciers, fractured landscapes, extinction, and in the Antarctic, icebergs turn green from the warming iron-rich sea water and algae.”
KAREN STABENOW
“Arctic Drilling”
12.5 x 25
oil on panel
400.
Red, White and Few
Happy Fourth! But it's symbiosis, not independence -- FLOSS BARBER reminds us -- that is the key to all ecosystems. Making her debut in our space, Floss is among a coterie of SUMMER SOLSTICE artists whose work focuses on vulnerable fish and wildlife. "Fish and crabs are vital to our environment and the fishing communities of local Delaware Bay," says the artist. "They transfer energy up and down the food chain, fulfill important ecological roles and help stabilize our ecosystems. By employing the colors of the American flag, I can grab the attention of the community to draw attention to the need to preserve endangered species." Do your part. Conservation is patriotic!
FLOSS BARBER
“White Perch: Morone americana”
9 x 12
oil and acrylic
100.
Down the Shore
We’re going to use this week to spotlight our jury’s award winners. What better place to start than the work that took down ULTIMATE JERSEY VIBE? Over the past 15 months, ASYA LIVSHITS has been an ascendant force among painters in our community — beginning with a first appearance at Dirty’s as part of our pro-Ukraine pop-up show in May 2022, quickly followed by her head-turning OFF THE WALL debut in REEMERGE that summer. She hits another high-water mark with three oils in SUMMER SOLSTICE. Like many of her colleagues, Asya acknowledges that creating art in all four seasons may not last if we do not change. “A lot of my work is set in nature. Seasons and light consequently play major roles in my art,” she explains. “This makes me more aware of climate, and my work speaks to the crisis we face.”
ASYA LIVSHITS
“Ocean City”
11 x 14
oil on board
400.
Toasting Our Award Winners
Summer is officially underway...and so is SUMMER SOLSTICE, the show, which opened last Thursday evening to acclaim, enthusiastic crowds and continuing sales! Please visit in person and also look for us to feature works from the show in our posts over the next seven weeks. We'll start at the top, as critiqued by OUR JURY. The five members of our panel — IRVING XCHEL CHAN GOMEZ, JON LAIDACKER, NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD, KAREN RODEWALD and JODY SWEITZER — elevated eight of our artists with their JURY CITATIONS. In this lofty company, HOLLY WYNN took BEST OF SHOW for her captivating take on iconic imagery, speaking both to climate change and to the artist in every season. “Living in a place with four seasons does affect my creative process,” says Holly, “particularly in the winter, when bouts of seasonal depression make it hard to put my energy and care into my art. This piece captures the isolation and loneliness that come in and leave me feeling uninspired and unsure what to do.” Please lift your glasses to Holly and her heralded colleagues:
BEST OF SHOW: Holly Wynn’s “My Own Little Iceberg” (PICTURED HERE)
SOLSTICE AWARD (from Druid Society of Dirty Frank’s): Joseph Eggleston’s “Samsara”
ULTIMATE JERSEY VIBE: Asya Livshits’ “Ocean City”
MOST SUBMERSIVE: Maryanne Buschini’s “Floating”
MOST NOSTALGIC: David Helwer’s “Gathering Eggs”
MOST SUSTAINABLE: Jennifer Barrile’s “Salem Harbor”
BIGGEST REALITY CHECK: Robin Brownfield’s “Say Goodbye”
MOST PROMISING DEBUT: Som-Mai Nguyen’s “Flood 2”
Today in Every Way
TODAY IN EVERY WAY: We haven’t even wrapped the kickoff to our summer juried show, but we will swivel the spotlight this afternoon so it shines on FRANK SHERLOCK, our resident bard of DIRTY FRANK’S and past Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, who is releasing his new poetry chapbook, TOMORROW SOMEHOW, today (6/25) with a 5-7 PM RELEASE PARTY. So please join us for your favorite drinks, poured by the incomparable HEATHER RAQUEL PHILLIPS...a nice spread of food, courtesy of JEANNE PHILLIPS...the opportunity to PURCHASE Frank's new collection, which is all too happy to sign and inscribe...a FREE BROADSIDE for the first 25 buyers...and, to top it all, an OUTDOOR READING at 6:00. If you’re in town or on your way back, we can think of no better way to cap a lovely weekend. See you soon!
Solstice Now...and Tomorrow
Summer solstice just officially happened — at 10:57 AM EDT, to be exact — so HAPPY SOLSTICE! (And, yes, the days get shorter from here.) But we have a way you can extend this nature-embracing celebration right through tomorrow night. Why not join us for the OPENING RECEPTION for SUMMER SOLSTICE, THE SHOW? Our 7-10 PM reception will mark Off the Wall’s 17th Annual Summer Juried Show as we welcome 38 amazing artists, eight of them new to our space. Their art does more than lift up a single day or season. Many of the 70 works on display signal a dire warning that if we do not quickly make inroads on climate change, we will lose the privilege of enjoying four distinct seasons. But it’s not all ominous tidings. Tomorrow evening (and every day through August 18) you can experience inspiring artwork that will feed your soul and spur you to action, while also enjoying your favorite drinks, energizing conservation and the delectable light hors d’oeuvres that are the order of the day. Plus, we will announce the jury’s eight award winners. We look forward to seeing you soon!
End of Our Show
We have not shined a bright enough or wide enough spotlight on the artists of MARY LIZ MEMORIAL MASTERS EXHIBITION 18 (MLMME18). Nevertheless, we bid a fond farewell to these immense talents, fully confident that we will see and show their art again soon. In some cases, very soon; Karen Stabenow, in fact, will be back with several pieces in our SUMMER SOLSTICE juried show, which goes up Saturday and opens next Thursday. But what better way to start saying goodbye than with a coda painting of sorts from Serge Krupnov, who made a tour de force debut in our space with 15 sales. Serge is a master of evoking a sense of time and place in his canvases, which resonated deeply with our audiences. In this case, he chooses the end of summer — even, ironically, as we officially greet that season with the theme and timing of our next outing.
SERGE KRUPNOV
“End of Summer”
oil on panel
500.
Welcome to the Longest Day
We certainly honor D-Day, 79 years on, and those who gave so much for freedom. But in this case, we’re talking about the longest day of the year — and proudly introducing the 38 artists of SUMMER SOLSTICE. While our 17th annual summer juried show deals with creating art in all four seasons, the existential crisis that is climate change clearly rose to the top as the urgent theme of many of the 70 works chosen. We cordially invite you to meet our artists, including a talented octet making their Off the Wall debuts, and see what they have to say at our OPENING RECEPTION: 7-10 PM on THURSDAY, JUNE 22 (incidentally the day after the actual Solstice). In the meantime, enjoy the extra sun and, above all, CONGRATS to those listed above!
Come Celebrate!
Today in particular and all month long, we will shine a spotlight on PRIDE at DIRTY FRANK’S and OFF THE WALL — not to mention, up and down 13TH STREET, the Main Street of our Gayborhood. If you are dropping by after the parade and amid the many festivities, please make the NE Corner of 13th and Pine a destination. The amazing HEATHER RAQUEL PHILLIPS is behind the bar...proceeds of Strawberry Blonde by Evil Genius will benefit The Trevor Project...and Off the Wall artist M.K. KOMINS is set up just outside doing caricatures en plein air. We look forward to lifting our glasses with you this afternoon and throughout June. CHEERS!
Last Call for Your Art
Today represents your final chance to enter this summer's OFF THE WALL juried show...and to share with our jury how your art celebrates summer itself — and speaks to making art in all the seasons. Since enjoying four distinctive seasons may quickly become a thing of the past, many entrants are also choosing to speak to climate change, which makes perfect sense. Your point of view matters. So if you have not entered and want to, please look at your body of work to find the connection you want to make. You can submit up to five works that meet our size requirements (48” or less in combined dimensions: height + width) to offthewallgallery@gmail.com by 11:59 PM TONIGHT (Thursday, May 25). You should also send questions our way, including requests for a brief extension, which we may be able to accommodate. SUMMER SOLSTICE runs from June 18 to August 18, and accepted, ready-to-hang work must be dropped off on Saturday, June 17. We look forward to considering your outstanding art!
30 Days to Enter
Between now and May 25, our summer juried show, aptly entitled SUMMER SOLSTICE, seeks outstanding art in all media that celebrates the opportunity to create in a climate that experiences all four seasons. And acknowledging that our climate is changing — along with every other one on earth — we also invite artists to speak to this change and to advocate for ways to slow climate change. As always, the summer version of OFF THE WALL’s popular juried shows has no entry fee and no hanging fee. The only stipulations are SIZE — 2D work must be less than 48" in combined dimensions (height+width) — and, in the jury’s eyes, PRICE. We connect artwork accepted into our shows with many buyers, but we have the greatest success when your work is competitively priced. Email images to offthewallgallery@gmail.com, along with all required information. Details are above and, for an easier-to-read version, at offthewallgallery.org/call-for-entries. We look forward to considering your art!
So Nice...
It’s redux time for MLMME17 just 24 hours from now — SUNDAY, MAY 22, 3-6 PM — as this year’s lone Mary Liz Fellow, JEAN PLOUGH, takes center stage again with a SECOND RECEPTION. Though billed as a “Closing Party,” rest assured if you cannot join us tomorrow, you will have plenty of additional opportunities, through Friday, June 3, to catch up with the second half of this show, which you may recall is the first show we have rotated since 2003, due to its popularity and sales. Put another way, this show is as hot as this weekend’s weather! Heather Raquel Phillips will of course be pouring your favorite drinks and Jean is excited to have a fresh chance to meet followers and collectors and discuss her powerhouse paintings. We look forward to seeing you there!
First and Last
The outpouring of entries to our first summer juried show since 2019 has been nothing short of inspiring and gratifying. If you're part of this enthusiastic response, thank you! If you haven't yet submitted your artwork, procrastinate no more...TODAY IS THE FINAL DAY TO ENTER. You have from now until 11:59 PM, and remember: the reason for the absence of a summer show is the impetus of this call for art. Our 16th Annual Community Juried Show, REEMERGE, seeks outstanding art that examines the pandemic and art that reflects the pandemic's direct impact on your creative perspective and/or process. Please join us. There is NO ENTRY FEE. You'll find out the jury's decisions the week of May 23 and you will need to be ready to deliver accepted work on June 4.