First Friday Focus

First Person Arts gets personal; Albo Jeavons Get[s] Art Off Our Backs.

by Carolyn Huckabay

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Published: Nov 3, 2010

Shadow's Space Torre Apponale Rooftops, by Gregor Louden, hand-drawn in black ink and digitally colored in Photoshop.

Painted Bride

No matter where you fall on the scale of sentimentality — from purger to pack rat — objects provide a direct route to memory. Embracing the idea that tangible items, no matter how silly or everyday, hold strong emotional connections, the First Person Museum features 16 Philadelphians and the things that mean the most to them. (One woman keeps her ring from a failed marriage on her bedside table, while another walks around in the boxer shorts of her incarcerated son — so it seems, sentimental objects can be cheap and invaluable.) Incorporating locally produced audio, text, film and photography, the exhibit serves as the centerpiece of the First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art, an apt reminder that art can be anything with meaning attached. Might make you think twice about recycling grandma's tchotchkes. Opening reception Fri., Nov. 5, 5-7 p.m., free, ends Dec. 18, Painted Bride, 230 Vine St., 267-402-2055, firstpersonmuseum.org.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Why isn't Albo Jeavons' public gathering, Get Art Off Our Backs, coinciding with First Friday? "I don't want the [Philadelphia Museum of Art]'s admission price to be a bar for potential participants," says the Philly artist, who, in 2002, brought us the corporate-slamming DisneyHole and in 2007, the Barnes-mocking ArtJail, "so I've scheduled the event for pay what you wish' day." Jeavons invites Philadelphians to converge on the steps of the Art Museum, adorned with wearable art. "[I'm expecting] everything from hand-painted clothing to full-body costumes," says Jeavons, who'll encourage participants to check out — and interact with — the museum's indoor exhibits after showing off and swapping their art outside. "I'm approaching this as an open, celebratory, free event in a public, city-owned space — so your guess is as good as mine as to how [museum staff] will react," he says. "My main concern once we're inside is that it not make the jobs of the guards any more difficult. ... I'd like to see them getting some pleasure out of [it], not aggravation." Sun., Nov. 7, 2 p.m., free, Art Museum steps, 2600 Ben Franklin Parkway, 215-546-8556, getartoffourbacks.com.

Shadow's Space

Like the global exhibitions that inspired it, Concetta Barbera and Patch's group show " World's Fair " brings together local and international artists focusing on "world culture, discovery, innovation and nostalgic ephemera." Philadelphia talent includes the two curators, plus Melissa Lomax, James and Sam Heimer, Rog Peterson and Jeff Kilpatrick, co-founder of the Philadelphia Cartoonist Society; from across the pond, watch for Gregor Louden, who could have designed Up were it set in a bustling metropolis. Opening reception Fri., Nov. 5, 6-10 p.m., free, through Dec. 31, Shadow's Space Gallery, 1248 N. Front St., 215-291-4919, worldsfairartshow.wordpress.com.

(carolyn.huckabay@citypaper.net)

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