Greetings!

You are invited to join us as we begin our week of National Prayer for the Healing of AIDS, sponsored by the Balm of Gilead organization.

We will begin our week on Sunday, March 7, 2010 with a Service of Word and Holy Communion. It will begin at 11:00 am.

We are located at St. Michael's Lutheran Church, 6671 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa 19119. (215)848-0199

Blessings!
Pastor Andrena Ingram

You may visit us on the web at St. Michael's Lutheran Church

you may also get more information at: *Living* With HIV

In the brotherly spirit of Philagraphika, Projects Gallery presents Gone Printin'. This is a collective showing of many of the Projects Gallery regulars mixed with a few surprises. Projects will be mounting a show co-curated by Helen Meyrick and Philadelphia Salon director Caryn Kunkle. The Philadelphia Salon is an edgy and energetic group of young artists that Caryn has conjoined over the past two years. Their Salon meets monthly in one of Philly’s finest former baron mansions on North Broad Street. Caryn and her group have been creating artistic community and consciousness of aesthetic by bringing many of Philadelphia’s brightest young artists together with some of Philly’s top art connoisseurs.

All work will be of various methods of printmaking. Artists from Projects Gallery will include Peter Gourfain, Brooke Holloway, Frank Hyder, Itsuki Ogihara, Florence Putterman, Bruce Wilhelm, and others. Varied members of the Philadelphia Salon will also feature work in this show, providing fresh names and works to the familiar. Gone Printin’ will be on display February 5th – 27th, 2010. There will also be an artist reception First Friday February 5th from 6 - 9 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

Projects Gallery is located at 629 N. 2nd St. in Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties section. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday Noon to 7 p.m. A preview of works may be viewed on the gallery’s website at www.projectsgallery.com. For more information and images, please contact Projects Gallery at 267-303-9652 or info@projectsgallery.com

Philagrafika's mission is to promote and sustain printmaking as a vital and valued art form by providing artistic, programmatic and administrative leadership for large-scale, cooperative initiatives with broad public exposure.

Christmas can be a painful time for some. It may be the first Christmas without a loved family member who has recently died; it may be a time that has always been difficult.

The constant refrain on the radio and television, in shopping malls and churches, about the happiness of the season, about getting together with family and friends, reminds many people of what they have lost or have never had. The anguish of broken relationships, the insecurity of unemployment, the weariness of ill health, the pain of isolation - all these can make us feel very alone in the midst of the celebrating and spending. We need the space and time to acknowledge our sadness and concern; we need to know that we are not alone.

Our spirits sink, as the days grow shorter. We feel the darkness growing deeper around us. We need encouragement to live the days ahead of us.

For these reasons, St Michael's Lutheran Church offers a special “Blue Christmas” service on December 18th at 7:00 pm. Come out, and join with us in sharing and hearing prayers, scripture, and music that acknowledge that God’s presence is for those who mourn, for those who struggle - and that God’s Word comes to shine light into our darkness. Everyone, regardless of church background (or lack of it) is welcome.

We are located at 6671 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa 19119, for more information, please call the church office: (215) 848-0199.

Albert Yee shares news that R. Bradley Maule has completed his move to Portland, OR. He managed the very significant phillyskyline for almost ten years. His knowledge and love of architecture, of place, of photography and Philadelphia inspired and informed thousands across the city.

From the phillyskyline about page:

Hello, I'm R. Bradley Maule, sometimes RBM, always B Love. This is my web site. It is made in honor of the city I live in and love, Philadelphia. It is to present an honest look—warts and all—at the city and its varied urban fabric.

I came here from Tyrone, Pennsylvania (Steelers Country) in 2000, and have spent all my 33 years at a PA address. I have no mission statement or goal with this site, but if I had one wish, it would be that Pennsylvanians could see past the nonsense and love one another, from Erie to Philly up to the Poconos back out to the Burgh and everywhere in between.

But here on Philly Skyline, my friends and I are just sharing our experiences right here in Philadelphia with our fellow humans.

Albert points to his Farewell, Philadelphia slideshow on Flickr. Make sure to subscribe to Maule of America to follow his work in the future (some great shots already there!).

He left an imprintis going to be greatly missed. His impact will live on.

Thank you Brad.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Villanova football star Szczur to donate bone marrow:

Szczur, a wideout in football and outfielder/catcher in baseball, is preparing to become a bone-marrow donor. The junior learned three days ago that he was match for a 1-year-old girl who has leukemia. He did not comment; when and where the procedure will take place were not disclosed.

Philadelphia Inquirer: From Ardmore to Afghanistan, a mission of giving:

The goodwill gesture is called Operation Angel Wings, and it's the brainchild of an Ardmore shopkeeper and a Broomall trauma surgeon stationed in Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Kenneth Marx.

"Someday those kids will grow up to place their finger on a trigger," Marx said in an e-mail. "The moment when the target in their sights resembles the guys who once gave them a winter cap is that moment when reconciliation might hold violence at bay.

"Life in the mountains here is nasty, brutish, and utterly strange. Soft power and indirect means may be the winding path to an improvised solution, if there is a solution to be found."

Writing from Nangarhar province, where he is deployed with the National Guard's 108th Cavalry, Marx said the immediate aim was to get Americans and Afghans talking.

"We have asked for folks at home to send small gifts of winter clothing, which are excellent conversation-starters," he said.

When he arrived in Afghanistan on Oct. 12, Marx said, he saw a need for children's hats, gloves, sweaters, socks, scarves, fleece jackets, and small, lightweight toys that could go with soldiers on patrol.

On Nov. 9, Marx received an e-mail from Sherry Tillman, 6,824 miles away in Ardmore, inviting him to the holiday sale at her gift and art-gallery store. He wrote back, saying he couldn't attend and asking if she could send warm clothes for the Afghan children.

"He wrote me that the kids are barefoot and in rags, and it's winter," Tillman said. She said she recalled thinking, "Oh, my God, I have to do something."

Sponsored by First Friday Main Line, a nonprofit organization that promotes the Lancaster Avenue shopping district, Operation Angel Wings began immediately.

Tillman, director of First Friday Main Line, said she was determined to collect everything on Marx's wish list. The gifts will be stored at her shop, Past*Present*Future, and the Ardmore Initiative office, both on Lancaster Avenue.

Tillman has set Friday as the shipping date for the first donations.

"I'd like to be able to send several packages right away, and to be able to continue sending," Tillman said.

A couple of weeks ago, Carla J. Zambelli, publicist for First Friday Main Line, sent out an e-mail blast asking residents for donations. The donations have started trickling in, Tillman said.

Visit First Friday Main Line for more information.

Philadelphia Inquirer: How he rescued Boscov's: Al Boscov's work and goodwill saved the stores that bear the family name.:

The odds were against the Reading company when it went bankrupt just weeks before last fall's stock market crash.

There was, conventional wisdom said, no realistic way to rescue its thousands of regional employees, dozens of stores, or century-old legacy. No money. No banks willing to step into the economic meltdown with emergency loans. No hope.

But in crunching the numbers that spelled doom for the nation's largest family-owned department-store chain, the doubters underestimated the power of a pint-sized 79-year-old man.

Had their spreadsheets been able to tabulate big-time heart and brains, they would have predicted a different outcome. Because Al Boscov is no ordinary businessman.

"I can dance, I can sing," Boscov joked later in a Manhattan elevator, tap-dancing in a charcoal suit to an absurd ditty about saving the company. The vaudevillian flash ended as the doors opened. "That's what did it," he said, and hopped out.

It would, indeed, require an extraordinary businessman to pull off a Rocky-worthy win against an economy devouring itself: a savior who was beloved, not feared, but no-nonsense when needed; one with more friends than enemies; who preferred details and long hours over swagger and power lunches.

CityPaper: A Voice For The Fallen: One man's quest to memorialize the 4,600 gay men who died of AIDS in Philadelphia.:

If Bartlett's wiki had a mission statement, it would probably go something like this: "To help those who lived through those dark years heal, and to connect that generation with those who came after."

"As I am gradually becoming an elder in the gay community, I'm trying to find that next way to connect these generations," Bartlett says. "This wiki is a tool to develop conversation between young generations of activists — gays, yes, but not just gays — also anyone who wants to start, live and sustain a movement."

In the summer of 1991, ACT UP Philadelphia converged with other LGBTQ, labor, women's rights and sundry liberal organizations in Kennebunkport, Maine, to protest then-President Bush's re-election campaign. They chartered a bus. Bartlett was riding. So, too, was a man named Harry Reed, a sanitation worker who came with a travel bar in tow, making martinis and handing out beers — which, as Bartlett mentions, is referenced on Reed's wiki entry.

"A lot of the people on that bus died that year or soon after, including Harry," Bartlett says. "I think we all knew he was sick then and that must have been scary." But they pressed ahead anyway. The movement was bigger, more important, than any individual, or any disease.

"That was a time when I realized I was born at a unique moment that allowed me to participate in a defining time in history," Bartlett says. "We can't possibly let all these stories disappear."

Link: Gay Networks in Philadelphia Wiki

CALL TO ARTISTS: “To Die For” Juried Exhibition
Projects Gallery announces a call to artists for its April 2010 juried art exhibition entitled “To Die For”. The exhibition will be co-curated by Judith Schwartz and Jack Thompson and will be on display from March 31 through May 1, 2010 at Projects Gallery in Philadelphia.

Eligibility:
Open to all artists 18 years and over. Work must be original and completed within the past 2 years. Works for consideration may be either pedestal or wall-mounted but must be ceramic, no larger than 4 feet, no heavier than 50 lbs. and in accordance with the theme “To Die For”. All work must be available for sale. Gallery commission on any sales is 50%. Artist is responsible for transportation of work to and from gallery.

To Die For Theme:
Whether in effigy pots, vase paintings, or offerings to the dead, ceramics has always been a significant material in the world of the rituals of death, spirituality, and transformation. Work should deal with the nature of mortality, issues of loss, hosts, ghosts, surrounding fears, and the meaning of life or afterlife.
Invited artists include: Mark Burns, Richard Cleaver, John De Fazio, David Furman, Peter Gourfain, Kathy King, Charles Kraft, Matt Nolen, Mel Rubin, Richard Shaw, Ehren Too, and Monica Van den Dool.

To Enter:
There is a non-refundable entry fee of $30.00 (U.S.) for up to 5 image entries and 3 detail shots. Submissions must be sent on a CD in digital format; images must be a minimum of 300 dpi, at least 8” at its narrowest dimension; jpg, gif or tiff. Do not send slides. Do not send original artwork. Please include an image list of entries with the following information: artist name, artist contact information, titles of images, media, dimensions in inches (HxWxD), date completed, and retail price of works submitted. Also include a resume or artist bio and an artist statement specifically pertaining to the images submitted. All documents should be in .doc or .pdf format. Do not submit .docx or paper print outs. CD will not be returned. All entries must be received no later than December 15, 2009. Make checks/money orders payable to: Projects Gallery. If any of these requirements are not met the submission will be deemed ineligible.

Mail CD, list of entries, entry fee and all other requested material to:
Projects Gallery
Attn: To Die For
629 N 2nd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19123, U.S.A.

Calendar
December 15, 2009 deadline for entries
January 5, 2010 entrants notified
March 22, 2010 accepted works due in gallery
March 31, 2010 exhibition opens
April 2, 2010 First Friday reception 6-9 p.m.
May 1, 2010 exhibition closes
May 2-4, 2010 pick-up work or prepaid shipping returned

Announcement cards will be produced, press releases will be sent out and exhibition will be highlighted on gallery website and in NCECA pr.
Work will be juried by Judith Schwartz and Jack Thompson.
Full prospectus available at http://www.projectsgallery.com/prospectus.html
Questions? Contact: info@projectsgallery.com

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Join us as we come together as people of God, to worship and lift up those infected and/or affected by the HIV/AIDS virus.

The global theme for 2009 and 2010 World AIDS Day is "Universal Access and Human Rights".

Service of Word and Holy Communion on November 29, 2009 @ 11:00 a.m.

St. Michael's Lutheran Church
6671 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, Pa 19119
(215)848-0199

All are welcome.

Pastor Andrena Ingram
visit us on the web: http://stmichaelsgermantown.org

Philadelphia, PA - The Brandywine Workshop, in cooperation with Projects Gallery, is pleased to present “Print Out”, a two-part, two-month exhibition of prints by culturally diverse artists. For the month of December the main gallery will display original prints by established artists such as Samella Lewis, Tomie Arai, Juan Sanchez, Yung Soon Min, Jules Olitski, Kenneth Noland, and Paul F. Keene, Jr. In January focus will be on recent prints by African American artists such as Hank Willis Thomas, Deborah Willis, John E. Dowell, Jr., Allan L. Edmunds, Larry Walker, Maya Freelon Asante, and William T. Williams. For both months there will also be a special interactive installation of quality, affordable original prints from Brandywine Workshop artists featured in the rear gallery. Prints by national and international artists will be available at deep discounts to raise funds to benefit Brandywine's capital campaign and gallery operations.

As part of the exhibition’s mission to promote printmaking and its potential as an expressive medium, “Print Out” will present a series of free children’s workshops and family days. Families are encouraged to introduce their children to the media of print though the exhibition and hands-on learning activities. Volunteer printmaking majors from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts will lead children (3-12 years of age) in relief printmaking. In addition to creating art to take home, examples of the children’s prints will be displayed at the gallery during “Print Out”. The experience of creating and exhibiting original prints in an established art gallery will be one to be enjoyed by the entire family. Each free session is limited to 6 children, and pre-registration by phone (215.546.3675) is required.

The following schedule of activities is planned:

Family Day, Saturday, December 5, 2009 from 12 noon to 4:00 PM
First Session 12 Noon
Second Session 1:30 PM
Third Session 3:00 PM

Family Day, Saturday, January 16, 2010 from 12 noon to 4:00 PM
First Session 12 Noon
Second Session 1:30 PM
Third Session 3:00 PM

There will also be a First Friday Opening Reception, December 4, 2009, from 6-9 PM, and a Third Friday Closing Reception, January 15, 2010, from 6-9 PM. Both receptions are free and open to the public.

About Brandywine Workshop

Founded in 1972, Brandywine Workshop has been dedicated to creating opportunities for culturally diverse people to develop their creative potential whether as a student, artist, historian or educator. The Workshop’s creative focus has been fine art printmaking and related media technologies. It has achieved worldwide recognition for its visiting artist residency program, exhibitions and cultural exchange programs, as well as amassing over the years a major collection of contemporary prints. Brandywine Workshop is a tax–exempt institution currently undergoing a significant capital campaign to restore its historic firehouse headquarters on the Avenue of the Arts in Philadelphia’s downtown.

About Projects Gallery

Projects Gallery represents some of today's finest contemporary artists. Located in the edgy artistic community of Philadelphia's Northern Liberties, Projects focuses on artists who practice a personal form of figurative expressionism. Most of our artists have years of experience in both the crafting of images and the honing of a distinctive approach to their medium, although we are also dedicated to fostering awareness for emerging artists. In a variety of styles and media, Projects has a commitment to each artist's individual vision and mastery of material. Whether internationally known or emerging, each artist displays a personal language that provides a unique dialog.

Founded in 2004, Projects has received both local and national critical attention for its high caliber of artists and exhibitions. In its bi-level, multi-exhibition space, Projects has the flexibility to display diverse, contemporary works on a rotating basis and mounts more than a dozen solo and group exhibitions in any given year.

Projects Gallery is located at 629 N. 2nd St. in Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties section. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday noon to 7 p.m. Projects will be closed December 20 - January 6. For further information please contact or info@projectsgallery.com. To register for the children’s print workshop sessions, please call 215.546.32675.

It’s time for the Basel Miami Art Fairs! Time for fun in the sun, drinks with tiny umbrellas, and of course art, art, art! We always look forward to the vibrant atmosphere of the Miami Art Week, and anticipate returning to our sunny home away from home, connecting once again with our cherished Miami clientele.

Celebrating its 18th art fair in the past 5 years (!!!), including venues in Caracas, Toronto, and London, Projects has participated in the Miami Art fairs since the gallery’s inception. We are pleased and excited to be exhibiting at the Red Dot Art Fair in Miami’s Wynwood Design District. This will be our fifth partnering with Red Dot. Starting earlier than ever, we begin with the grand opening Wednesday, December 2 and run through Sunday, December 6, 2009. Projects will be featuring popular works by many of our established artists, including Ross Bonfanti’s concreatures, mixed media paintings by Frank Hyder and Florence Putterman, Alex Queral’s carved phone book portraits, Tim Tate’s glass and video reliquaries, as well as works by some new names to the Projects Gallery roster.

Projects Gallery invites you to join us in booth #D100 during this the largest art event in the United States. If you would like complementary ticket to Red Dot Miami, please contact the gallery, as tickets are very limited. For more information about our artists, as well as images of work, please visit www.projectsgallery.com. For more information about the Red Dot art fair, such as general admission hours and passes, please visit www.reddotfair.com.

Projects Gallery & Red Dot Miami Art Fair
Midtown Miami Complex, booth #D100
3011 NE 1 Ave at NW 31 St, Miami, FL 33137
December 2 – 6, 2009

Political Scientist Michael Parenti catalogued seven generalizations about the way the news media create anti-union messaging--from painting workers as greedy, to omitting the salary of management or depicting public officials (like Mayor Nutter) as neutral. Using this lens to dissect the coverage of the SEPTA strike, it becomes clear that local media like the Inquirer and Daily News have a dangerous anti-union bias, once again making the case that to build our own movement we need our own media.

Building on Nutter, FOX News, and the SEPTA Strike, it is vital that we look at the atrocious coverage of The Inquirer and in particular the work of staff writers Melissa Dribben, Jim Moran and Kia Gregory in the article Another Infuriating Day for Commuters. Basically the journalists utilized every metaphor and trick possible to make workers seem greedy and divide transit workers from other Philadelphians, explicitly taking the side of SEPTA management at a critical juncture in the contract struggle.

How was this done? Principally through using the voice of everyday Philadelphians to put forward an anti-union, pro-management message. In Michael Parenti's book, Inventing Reality: The Politics of Mass Media, he looks at seven basic generalizations of mass media's mistreatment of labor struggles. Those mistreatments are:
1) Portrayal of labors struggles as senseless, avoidable contests created by unions' unwillingness to negotiate in good faith,
2) Focus on Company wage "offers" omitting or underplaying reference to takebacks, and employee grievances, making the workers appear irrational, greedy and self-destructive
3) No coverage given to management salaries, bonuses or compensation and how they are inconsistent with concessions demanded by workers
4) Emphasis on the impact rather than the causes of strikes, laying the blame for the strike totally on the union and detailing the damage the strike does to the economy and public weal
5) Failure to consider the harm caused to the workers' interests if they were to give up the strike
6) Unwillingness or inability to cover stories of union solidarity and mutual support
7) Portrayal of the government (including the courts and police) as a neutral arbiter upholding the public interests when it is rather protecting corporate properties and bodyguarding strike-breakers.

Based on these seven generalizations let's take a look at the coverage of the strike in the story: Another Infuriating Day for Commuters. It is clear from the title that the authors are focused on the inconvenience the strike presents to commuters with no focus on the reason the strike began or the fact that 5,500 workers have been laboring for 8-9 months without a contract or job security.

However, in the fifth paragraph the fun begins as the authors use a commuter to voice the message: "The union is a monopoly... and people hate monopolies. One hundred years ago, corporations were the wolves. Now unions are the wolves." While this is a nonsensical point because it misapprehends the point of collective bargaining, the message is clear, everyday workers are greedy, irrational and un-American. Moreover workers, some which make 28K a year, are selfish, while there is not so much as a peep on the salaries of management—who get 100% of their healthcare paid for and receive up to $195,000 per year in salary—which is almost 7x more than some SEPTA bus drivers. But why should journalists allow an inconvenient fact to get in the way of their story.

The article goes on to focus on the difficulty of commuting during the strike, tacitly painting TWU workers as the culprits. However the article ends once again voicing the concerns of another commuter that says that this is a bad economy and the union has to accept the reality of the economic crisis like everyone else and basically end the strike and accept whatever contract the noble management offers.

What this article and most of the reporting of the SEPTA strike illustrates is the anti-union bent of our local mass-media. In this article, the journalists decide not to quote one member of TWU local 234 nor offer one positive portrait of these hard working transit workers, while quoting several anti-union commuters. In looking at the overall reporting of the Inquirer, Daily News, and our local TV affiliates, each of Parenti's gross anti-union generalizations have been core themes of the reporting

Make workers look greedy and irrational
Do not examine management salaries,
Avoid focusing on the cause of the strike
Attempt to make public officials like Mayor Nutter and Governor Rendell look neutral

Clearly the mass media has a vested stake in the outcome of this strike. How long are we gonna allow our media to be so explicitly anti-union. It is time we created our own media!

For November Projects Gallery will feature Philadelphia artist Jim Brossy’s second solo show “Left Behind”. Known for his wildly expressive figurative mixed media assemblages, Brossy focuses on the frequently overlooked for his subject matter. With his signature use of a sophisticated hodgepodge, Brossy crafts figures from debris, construction material, as well as traditional paint. Modest blue-collar workers, barflies, the homeless, children, and the detritus of society are depicted in material reflective of their social status. Cheeky political references imbue the work with a dual seriousness and humor. Brossy’s work asks the viewer to consider grand social issues but to never take themselves, or the work, too seriously.

The holder of a M.F.A. from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Brossy eschews traditionalism embodied by a personal artistic manifesto known as “Crackpot Realism.” According to the artist, “In Crackpot Realism there is no distinction between living and making art. The painting is not a representation of life, but a real thing, an object in a real space, that can be experienced as a picture.” Featuring stenciled messages, globs of tar and paint, found clothing, reconstructed objects, his material choices echo the subject matter, embedding his figures in a palpable world of excess and refuse. This solo show brings to the forefront those working class who would otherwise be Left Behind.

Jim Brossy - Left Behind will be on display November 6 - 28, 2009. There will also be an artist reception First Friday November 6th from 6 - 9 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public. Projects Gallery is located at 629 N. 2nd St. in Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties section. Gallery hours are Wednesday & Thursday 4 -7 p.m. and Friday & Saturday noon to 7 p.m. A preview of works may be viewed on the gallery’s website at www.projectsgallery.com.

In honor of St. Francis Assisi,which is on October 4th, there will be a short service of The Blessing of the Animals at St. Michael's Lutheran Church...6671 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa 19119. Weather permitting the service will be outside. Please bring your furry companions, or scaly companions or feathery companions for a blessing for being such a blessing in our lives.

for more information: 215-848-0199