BIG UPS: "Nose to Tail" @ the Green Line

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BIG UPS: "Nose to Tail" @ the Green Line

POSTED: Thursday, March 3, 2011, 6:30 PM

Filed Under: Arts | Big Ups | Critical Mass | Arts Events | Arts News Arts Preview

While everyone else is drawing adorable fawns and ubiquitous owls, City Paper designer Alyssa Grenning is tackling the mystique of the coyote in her first solo show. Each piece tells two stories (hence the show's title, "Nose to Tail"). Sure, that phrase can mean a rigid measuring from one end to the other yet it also implies a softer image of a curled-up animal, asleep and vulnerable. Grenning's is a world of paradoxes, right down to the sheer fact that the drawings of coyotes typically countryside dwellers are hanging out at a coffee shop in West Philadelphia.

Through meticulous detail, Grenning brings to life expressive mammal faces. She uses minimal color and faint lines that never get lost against bold punches of red. Bone structure is something she clearly understands and respects, made evident in perfectly drawn paws and muscles in movement. The dogs are at times playful tricksters yet alternately pensive or nervous. Individually the drawings are strong, solid depictions, but as a unit they murmur back and forth. "It's a conversation between coyotes," says our talented co-worker "and the viewer can weave their own tale."

Opening reception Fri., March 4, 7-10 p.m., free, Green Line Café, 4239 Baltimore Ave., 215-222-3431, greenlinecafe.com.

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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