Good Wood x The Slingluff Gallery

BACK FOR MORE GOOD!
10.17.09

The Good Wood Exhibit is back and will exhibit in Philly this Fall at Slingluff Gallery. There will be a silent auction for the custom decks to benefit a great organization called Stay-True. Nir Sar started Stay True In 2005, as a Philadelphia public school teacher, struck by the utter helplessness his students expressed about the socioeconomic conditions they faced each day. While the students yearned for progress and change, they did not have the information, skills, or confidence needed to become actively engaged in a process of social advancement. These observations have led to the founding of STAY TRUE, an organization truly inspired by those students who, despite their environments, have decided to dedicate their lives to helping others.

So Jonathan Slingluff is more than happy to host the exhibit in his beautiful space so I'll be taking a trip out to Philly next month to make it happen. A few artists involved in the show:

Leo Espinosa / Mike Burdick / Don Kilpatrick / Mike Perry / Plastic Kid / Mike Daines / Justin Ward / Himanshu Sharma / Matt Gordon / Laura Borchert / Chris Reno / Colleen McGinn / Aubrey Stalnaker / Joe Schlaud / Nate Marcy / Jeff Mullin / Vince Troia / and more...

+ an Installation by AJ Fosik. Amazing artist originally from Southeast Michigan, who currently works and resides in Philly. Check him out! Such cool work!


View images of Slingluff Gallery here.

City Living

Here's a few observations I've had of city living since moving to Philly. I think within a year or two, these things won't be different or odd to me anymore. I'm sure there will be more soon but this is a good start.

It's ok to be pale. It's actually more accepted...

200 naked people on bikes might ride by...

There aren't many chain restaurants here...

Public transportation actually makes sense after the 2nd time riding it...

As long as you know the number streets you can figure out where you are...

You need to wear coats more...

You don't wonder why someone is walking instead of driving...

Always look for bicyclists when you're making a right turn, even if you know you haven't seen one in a while...

There's a lot of artists...

Expect there to be a stop sign at every intersection...

Even in the summer people wear pants and jeans...

The PPA doesn't regulate South Philly parking, but every where else they do...

There's some shady places under the "El"...

September 5th Opening

September 5th Opening , originally uploaded by Leigh Seddon-Slingluff.

The Slingluff Gallery presents Jason Adams and Vanna Weaver. First Saturday, September 5th from 6-9pm.

Raised in the sprawl of San Jose, CA, Jason came of age during a time when the holy trinity of skateboarding, punk rock and DIY art was still a dangerous combination, long before the slow air-conditioned death that is mall culture sank its fangs in. Becoming a professional skateboarder at the age of 17, Jason was given more platforms on which to stand/skate and be noticed, and he took the opportunity to begin unleashing his growing interest and talent in art. The hand-made aesthetic comprised of spray cans, stencils and bold lines that embodied his childhood days of skateboarding and punk. Jason began creating that were both intricately layered and immediately impactful; portraits of anti-heros and scenes of beautiful decay abounded, focusing on by-gone eras and rusting ethics still in place.

In just a few short years, Jason’s exposure as an artist grew- from logos on skate brand decks and t-shirts to international gallery shows. His work transitioned from hobby to craft to fine art, and these days find Jason Adams' artistic development in full swing. He's found his groove, and watch as he sprays the lines of his future all over the walls of the world.
Vanna Weaver from Pittsburg, PA specializes in documentary photography, attained her Bachelor's Degree in Photography as a Fine Art from Point Park University in conjunction with Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

"Meant for Each Other" is a romantic photo narrative comprised of lonely but alike antique objects. By applying the expression better off together, she combined ordinary, old fashioned subject matters; to form animated multiple exposure photographs. Each image pair works together and creates a more complex and overall complete photograph.

Heavy Rain

Last night was our 1st year anniversary. Crazy how fast time goes!

Jonathan booked a reservation in Media, PA for Iron Hill Brewery. It's about 35 min away, which isn't bad, but then neither of us knew it was supposed to rain. Well, let me rephrase that...down pour! The entire drive was extreme rain. So it took us a little longer to get there. We were really early anyway so it didn't matter.

We get there. We end up parking across the street from the restaurant/brewery, which wasn't far at all. It seemed extremely far though considering as soon as you opened the door you were drenched. So, Jonathan got out of the passenger's side since the river of rain water in the street was pretty deep. I was waiting in the car while he had a smoke. As I was waiting, it just kept raining harder. Which was unbelievable really.

I finally get out and we discussed our plan of attack. We decided it was just as "good" to cross the street in front of us than anywhere else, since we were in the middle of the block and the intersections were probably worse. Jonathan gave me his rain coat because I couldn't find mine and he asked "Ready?" I nodded my head yes. Then he said "1, 2, 3...GO!" He jumps out before me and I saw his shoed foot sink into the rushing river of rain. I jump right in after him and BAM....I lose my sandal. The river tore off my shoe, granted it was a dressy flip flop.

Instead of stopping, I kept running towards the other side of the street. But then I turned back realizing I probably needed my shoe. I started looking for it in the pouring rain, after I screamed across the street to Jonathan. Jonathan came back over, called and canceled our reservation and we were both looking for it now. After 15-20 minute search, I was looking at tires still hoping my shoe would be there. I saw on one tire that there were weeds stuck to it, and I thought that it was weird weeds could get stuck to a tire in this gushing river and my shoe wasn't anywhere to be found. I moved to the next car, about six cars from where I lost my shoe, and looked at the tire again. It looked like the water was moving differently around the front passenger tire than any other tire. I moved in closer and pulled out my shoe! Jonathan was around the corner, I think checking for my shoe in sewer grates, I yelled down to him and he made his way back to me. He couldn't believe I found it.

We walked back to the car sopping wet, and went back home. We changed, made a reservation at The London in Philly, about 10 min from us, and had a wonderful rest of the night. Nice and dry!

August 8th Opening

August 8th Opening, originally uploaded by Leigh Seddon-Slingluff.

Peter Oravetz will be at the Gallery August 8th....along with his artwork.

"Since humans aren't perfect, robots will never be perfect either. We can program them to perform tasks perfectly but once a hurdle is present, like a wall placed in their path, everything comes to a halt. I suppose that robots with AI (Artificial Intelligence) will eventually show glorious moments of humanity, especially when they make mistakes. These moments, depicted ‘Robots!’, are truly the purist display of the mimicry of humanity, revealing the curiosity, love, and humor that we as humans hold so dear. My images reflect the robots’ utter stupidity and their wonderfully endearing attributes as they attempt to become human in their own way." - Peter Oravetz

Peter Oravetz, from Pennsylvania graduate from Montserrat College of art in Beverly Massachusetts with honors and a bachelors degree in fine art. The 'Robots!' were born in 2005 and have been slowly developed ever since. He currently devotes his time to his art, family and work at a local live music venue; his aspirations include earning a graduate degree and ultimately teaching.

The Greenest City in America

This is a follow up to my last post, more or less to give you better stats on Philadelphia's initiative to be green.

"The Greenest City in America.

That’s the ambitious goal that Mayor Michael A. Nutter has set for Philadelphia."
http://www.phila.gov/green/greenworks/index.html

You can read the entire plan as well as see a little video. They show horseback riding..and yes, I have seen that with my own eyes here on Girard. Very out of place looking. The video is pretty cool!

The Good Stuff

So, it's been entirely way too long since I've blogged. I think it's time to start up again. Maybe once a week so that I'm not bogged down like I am with the rest of life!

Ever since I've moved to the city, Philadelphia that is, I slowly started realizing how "uneducated" I was when it came to organic and local "good stuff". Or maybe naive is a better word. I just didn't pay attention to it before. Sure I knew organic was better but I didn't really know why....and buying local. Maybe I would.

Now, it almost seems impossible for me not to buy organic at the grocery stores. Unless I go to a chain that was in S. Jersey up here. Organic is priced so much higher in those chains or you have to go to a specialty grocery store to get anything organic. I'm really shocked at the options we have here in the city. Along with that, I believe the city has a plan to increase tree coverings and "go green". I never heard of S. Jersey doing anything like that.

There's a free mag that I picked up at Whole Foods, Grid, and just reading the editor's note is inspiring to do better things for the world. Even if it's just one thing that I do, that is passed on to someone else. (Funny Jonathan said basically the same thing a week ago that the editor says here.) "We might not bike across country, but we might bike to work. We might not start a farm, but we might do a little gardening, and buy more food from local farmers. And we might not start an education center in our neighborhood, but we might talk to our friends and family about what we're learning."

So with that said, I'm sharing what I'm learning. I try to buy at the local farm markets, or buy organic. We don't have a dishwasher, so I'm turning off the water while I'm scrubbing things. (thanks to Jonathan on that one.) And I've also started taking public transportation. More so out of necessity, but it makes more sense to do so. I'm not patting myself on the back, just telling you what I'm learning and I hope that whomever reads this might get an idea to do something different.

P.S. The gallery is moving in less than a month, and it's being gutted out. The cool thing about the company who is doing this, they reuse as much as possible from the gutting process. Refinishing old floors etc. And with our name change, we have a new website but you can still get there from the old one. www.SlingluffGallery.com