First Friday Focus

Lori Hill's First Friday Hit List

by Lori Hill

Locks Gallery

Harbor by Joy Feasley, vinyl paint on MDO (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

The first thing you notice when you look at Joy Feasley's painting Harbor is the delicate patterning and intense colors — a saturated, psychedelic background to a woman looking through coin-op binoculars. Then you notice the exquisite detailing: individual pieces of fur on the coat, the chipping black polish on the thumbnail and the chubby whale on the knit cap. Suddenly you think, is this girl looking through binoculars or a kaleidoscope? With a similar sense of mystery, Clare Rojas paints a raven-haired woman in a long white frock, head tilted back, mouth in a strange rictus. Her pointed feet and furrowed brow only make it more sinister, yet the painting is otherwise bright and the geometric patterns cheerful. Suddenly you think, is she laughing at us or with us? A new Locks show, titled "Pow-Wows or the Long Lost Friend," is a reunion of sorts for Feasley and Rojas, who previously showed together at the ICA's 2001 "East Meets West: Folk and Fantasy from the Coasts" exhibition. At the time, both were Philadelphia artists; now, Rojas lives in San Francisco, making this another East meets West collaboration. Both artists weave patterning and folk imagery into their work. Feasley reappropriates the Moravian star, while Rojas incorporates Pennsylvania Dutch quilting patterns and hex signs. Each approaches her subjects with an utterly original open-mindedness and an appreciation for the intersections of man, nature and beast. "Pow-Wow" is a must-see, as these kindred spirits may not align again for a while.

First Friday reception June 1, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Artists' reception, Fri., June 22, 5:30-7:30 p.m., through July 27, Locks Gallery, 600 Washington Square South, 215-629-1000, www.locksgallery.com.

Fabric Workshop at PAFA

Senga Nengudi collects ordinary found materials and uses everyday objects (pantyhose, seedpods, newspaper, gravel) to find the extraordinary and the special in each of them. While studying the history of textile production, she came across what's known as the Jacquard punch card, which dictated the sequence of patterns in mechanical looms and were an early stepping stone to computer programming — not to mention the perfect base material for her new work in collaboration with the Fabric Workshop. Hundreds of the punch cards appear in Warp Trance, Nengudi's sound and video installation to be unveiled in PAFA's Morris Gallery. The cards serve as a scrim for video footage of textile mills in action. The repetitive motion and sound were also inspiring for composer Butch Morris, whom Nengudi asked to create an original ambient composition. Nengudi's background in movement and performance, the region's history with the textile industry and FWM's forward-thinking ways should make for a moving installation. (But don't forget, it's at PAFA this time around while FWM remains a nomad.)

Opening reception Fri., June 8, 5:30-8:30 p.m., artist lecture 6 p.m., through August 26, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 118 N. Broad St., 215-568-1111, www.fabricworkshop.org.

Temple Gallery

Jesse Goldstein, curator of Temple's multipronged exhibition "Manybody," expresses a disdain for the postmodern, for the ironic — frankly, for what's come in the wake of those radical aesthetes, the dadaists and the surrealists. Instead, he's issued a call to return to "the radical imagination." In his curatorial statement, he says the artists in this endeavor aim "to go beyond producing aestheticized politics and to instead politicize aesthetic production." The impressive groups he's assembled for "Manybody" likely won't disappoint. Take A/WAY, for example. This activist extension of Space 1026 concerns itself with sustainability and its Recycle Action Taskforce or REACT, seeks accountability for corporate waste. On June 9, they'll Print the Shirt Off Your Back, and on July 14, they'll run a Solar Cooker Cook-Off. In another project, a series of posters will go up around the city celebrating "people's history," documenting those who devoted their lives to social justice and reform. Photographs from Project Hello, an international effort to engage the world with homeless men and women, will also be on display. Photographers asked the men and women to share their names on "Hello My Name is ..." stickers, a pointed reminder of this population's humanity and dignity. Kicking things off is a show organized by Paige Gratland and Ginger Brooks-Takahashi called "Tit Pin," where gallery visitors step into a photo booth and have their bare chests photographed and turned into wearable buttons. If that's not a return to the radical imagination, I don't know what is.

"Tit Pin" event, Fri., June 1, 6-9 p.m., all events at Temple Gallery through July 21, see Web site for details, 259 N. Third St., 215-925-7379, www.manybodyshow.org.

And Then There's ...

Local photojournalists, including CP's own Michael T. Regan, take over the salon at Sande Webster Gallery for "Storytellers: An Exploration of Photojournalism." Besides Rego, you'll see the work of Ron Tarver, James VanDerZee, Arlene Love, Andrea Baldeck and more. Opening reception, Fri., June 1, 6-8 p.m., through June 26, 2006 Walnut St., 215-636-9003, www.sande-webstergallery.com. ... If you're looking for a road trip, you can catch Baldeck's work again by making a stop in Collegeville at Ursinus' Berman Museum for "Presence Passing," a show of her evocative landscape work. Opening reception Sun., June 3, 2-4 p.m., artist lecture June 20, 7 p.m., exhibit runs through Aug. 19, 601 E. Main St., Collegeville, 610-409-3500, www.ursinus.edu. ... Artists express ideas about human and nonhuman homes in "Inside/Outside: Habitat" at the Abington Art Center's Sculpture Park. Runs June 9-Nov. 21, 515 Meetinghouse Road, Jenkintown, 215-887-4882, www.abingtonartcenter.org.