The number 250 is being bandied about quite a bit, and the onslaught is just beginning. That’s all well and good. But don’t want to spend time talking about that particular number. We choose instead to focus on its component parts.
For some 45 years, OFF THE WALL and Dirty Franks, the legendary watering hole our gallery occupies, have been neighbors with WILLIAM WAY COMMUNITY CENTER. It dates to 1981, when our WayGay friends moved east from Society Hill to settle first on Camac Street. Sixteen years later, they found a new home on Spruce Street as their footprint and imprint on Philly’s queer community expanded. All the time, the bonds between our congruent communities, which could be expressed in an overlapping Venn diagram, grew stronger.
Still, we didn’t find an opportunity to work with WILLIAM WAY until 2019, even though the 13 combined art shows we mount each and every year have long offered plenty of common ground. Finally, with the inaugural BRICK BY BRICK, celebrating Stonewall at 50, we forged a partnership that continues to bear fruit. That’s the POWER OF TWO.
With BRICK BY BRICK 3, we have another LANDMARK 50 to toast. This show is one of many occasions in 2026 to toast a half century of vital programs, community engagement and individual empowerment at WILLIAM WAY, the preeminent LGBTQIA+ center in this city. The fact that our neighbors are staying on Spruce is reason to lift our glasses even higher.
Hey, we’re not far behind, with OFF THE WALL beginning to think about our own 50th, starting in December 2028. That’s what happens with old friends: we get to hit these milestones together. And that we do so with our community of artists and art lovers all around us is what matters most. Keep this context in mind when you visit and revisit this very special show.
TO VIEW, SHOP AND PURCHASE ARTWORK, please go to the menu and click on SHOP BRICK BY BRICK 3 and view the two videos projected in our 3D space at BRICK BY BRICK 3 VIDEO INSTALLATION.
NOTA BENE TO ONLINE BUYERS: While we requisition in-person purchases on an almost-daily basis, it is still possible that you may purchase something on this website that may have already sold in our Gallery. We will make every effort to avoid this circumstance.
