June 3- 9, 2004

first friday focus

Rebecca Reeves, Compromise (2004), 41 inches by 31 inches, C-print, at Pentimenti Gallery.

by Lori Hill

Artists' House

From Carolyn Pyfrom's intimate portrait The Blue Shawl to Mark H. Brown's wonderfully shiny, sticky-looking Honey Bees, Artists' House's June calendar is full of talent. Work your way to the back, though, for "teenie weenie," where David McShane, an artist best known for large-scale works, will show "pocket-size murals." The artist who brought Philly some of its most well-known outdoor art (the wall of Franks at Dirty Frank's, Larry Fine at Third and South), plays it a little more low-key. Images of a giggling baby and a smiling older man will share space with a bright-red toy truck and a dog's-eye view of blades of grass — all rendered with McShane's amazing ability to make acrylic paint look digitized, and all under a foot square.

Receptions Fri., June 4, 5-8:30 p.m. and Sun., June 6, 1-4 p.m., 57 N. Second St., 215-923-8440.

Moore College of Art and Design

Philadelphia Sculptors, an advocacy organization of sculptors 200 strong, presents its fifth "5 Into 1" collaborative exhibition. "5 Into 1" is a show of works by graduating students from five local arts schools: Penn, UArts, Moore, PAFA and Tyler. Juried by sculptor Paul Hubbard and ceramicist/Fleisher instructor Lucartha Kohler (a Moore alumna), the show will also feature a "best of show" award, presented by Philadelphia International Airport's exhibitions director, Leah Douglas. (Keep an eye out for horticulture-inspired work by Moore's Becky Staples.)

Reception Sun., June 6, 4-6 p.m., through June 20, Wilson Lobby at Moore, 20th St. and the Parkway, 215-568-4515, ext. 4086.

Pentimenti Gallery

Jon Coffelt's "wallets," made from cut-and-folded duct tape in wild, often fluorescent colors, take up a wall at Pentimenti this month, along with paintings by Amanda Knowles and Sandra Milner and photography and sculpture by Rebecca Reeves. The show, "Introduction '01: Bits 'n' Pieces," is the result of gallery director Christine Pfister's mining of local and national talent. Knowles' mixed-media-on-paper works look like engineer's drawings, filled with tubular shapes in cool blues and yellows in hand-sewn sections. Milner makes little echoes of people, dark shadows that remind Pfister of Albert Giacometti's sketches. Rebecca Reeves will have a 6-foot-long installation consisting of Plexiglas shelves holding dram bottles filled with dryer lint, sorted and labeled accordingly. (Pfister says the artist is "obsessed with cleanliness.") Reeves also makes miniscule chairs and domestic interiors, meticulously crafting the tiny furniture and appliances, then photographing them — it's impossible to tell it's a scene in miniature. But take special note of those bright wallets. Coffelt, who was inspired to work with duct tape after all the post-Sept. 11 calls for home protection, sure has a way of making industrial materials look fashionable.

Reception Fri., June 4, 7-9 p.m., through July 10, 145 N. Second St., 215-625-9990.

And Then There's …

Qbix Gallery has its third show in June, featuring the work of Philly native and multimedia artist Joshua Gabriel. Art director Sheron Niv, who's a photographer and furniture designer himself, hopes to create a balance between the work of local and international artists at his new gallery. Reception Fri., June 4, 5-9 p.m., through June 27, 211 Arch St., 215-625-2521. … Check out the wall mosaic at the Michener Art Museum's new annex in New Hope; it's a permanent, interactive exhibit chronicling the history and work of the creative classes in the New Hope area. (Look for a great Jack Rosen photo of Stephen Sondheim lounging on an inflatable raft.) Permanent exhibit, Union Square, New Hope, 215-340-9800. … Ashley Gallery kicks off its summer season with "Summer Phantasm II," a group show that will include the work of Phil Blank, Anthony Palumbo, R Horsebutt and Alyssa Dennis, among others. Reception Fri., June 4, 6-9 p.m., 718 N. Third St., 215-888-4813. … The summer shows at the Philadelphia Art Alliance are similarly diverse — on different floors you'll find: more than 60 photogravures and prints that once appeared in the esteemed Alfred Stieglitz magazine Camera Work, photos and light boxes by Ahmed Salvador, classic cinema-inspired video installations by Vox Populi member Matthew Suib, landscape painting by Julie Cardillo, and drawings by Rob Matthews that were inspired by the first man to circumnavigate the globe in a hot-air balloon. (Matthews' work is also now on view at Gallery Joe.) Through Aug. 8, 251 S. 18th St., 215-545-4302.

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