2010 (Fall) Intertwined

about leeway

Support for individual artists is at the core of Leeway’s mission. The Foundation serves as an important resource for women and transgender artists who often struggle to find funding for their work and hopes to grow the way its resources support social change through supporting art and culture.

Our grant programs, the Art and Change Grant and the Leeway Transformation Award, are open to women and transgender artists living in the Philadelphia region working in any medium of art, including traditional and non-traditional as well as multimedia and experimental forms. Creating change must be integral to the ideas, beliefs, and goals that are woven throughout the work and the process of creating and sharing the work.

For more information please visit www.leeway.org or call (215) 545-4078. cover image: Cover image: Bahia Brazil, 2008, by Toni Kersey (ACG ‘07).

Image below: Wolfie E. Rawk (ACG ‘09) sewing in his studio, 2010, by Clay Muwin River

Contact Information: The Philadelphia Building 1315 Walnut Street Suite 832 Philadelphia, PA 19107 p 215-545-4078 f 215-545-4021 e info@leeway.org

–Chief Seattle The exhibit is named ‘Intertwined’ not only because of the obvious reference to fiber and the artists choice of materials, but also because their choice of subject matter, approach to the work and ways of practicing are reflective of Leeway’s unique mission. These artists are using traditional forms and technique - quilting, embroidery, weaving - to create something fresh that speaks to questions of identity, community, and memory. Work that claims space at the intersection of arts, culture and social change and shows us the ways in which ‘all things connect’.

Intertwined, our second exhibit in conjunction with Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, features works by five amazing artists, all of whom are previous recipients of Leeway grant and award programs. We hope you enjoy the work as much as we do.

Intertwined opens October 2, 2010 and closes December 16, 2010 • • •

Opening Weekend: Saturday and Sunday October 9-10, 12:00pm to 6:00pm, as part of Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (POST).

Gallery Hours (by appointment): Mondays through Fridays 10:00am to 5:00pm.

Official Closing Reception on December 16, 2010 from 4:00pm to 6:00pm.

about the exhibit

“Humankind has not woven the web of life.

We are but one thread within it.

Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together.

All things connect.”

the artists

Betty Leacraft | ACG ’09, WOO ’99 Betty is a fiber artist, educator, lecturer, and curator and resides in Philadelphia. As an educator she has taught numerous workshops/residencies locally, in Allentown, New Jersey, and New York City. She has exhibited regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Selected group exhibition venues include: The Mint Museum of Craft and Design, American Folk Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Reginald F. Lewis Museum of “The inspiration for African American History, New York State Museum, much of my work reMuseo de Arte Moderna (Salvador de Bahia, Bravolves around themes zil). In 1992 she was a co-curator for “Speaking in of identity, cultural heri- Our Own Tongues: Latino and African American Arttage, nature, and things ists, A New Beginning” at Taller Puertorriqueño, Inc., unseen. I am influenced and guest curator of “Warm Spirits: Contemporary and informed by world African American Quilters” at the African Americultures, specifically can Museum of Philadelphia. Betty’s works were Africa and the African featured in three books authored by Dr. Carolyn L. Diaspora.”

Mazloomi, founder of the internationally recognized Women of Color Quilters Network.

left to right: “The Groove, Jazz Series” and “Cellular Migration” (both 2006) by Betty Leacraft

Christina is a recipient of a 2002 Independence Foundation Artist Fellowship which she used for a research trip to Ghana where she studied textile production, surface design methods and other techniques. After spending a month creating textile designs, she produced quilts from the cloth, which were featured in a solo exhibit. The 2004 exhibit “Voices in Cloth” took place at the Philadelphia Indepen“New experiences dence Visitor Center. Christina has been a teaching exposed me to groups artist, creating mural art quilts in the Philadelphia of women who walk public schools and has taught at the Philadelphia on the fringes of our Museum of Art. She created and contributed quilts society, seeking ways to and pillowcases for sickle cell anemia patients at give voice and credence Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She has also to their lives. Art for worked with cancer patients, HIV-infected women, social change forces me, a Jamaican women’s cooperative and is currently the artist, to question working with Alzheimer’s patients. what I can do to help others be more aware of issues.”

left to right: “Experiencing Change with One Eye Wide Shut.” (2006) and “Dream Garden” (2009) by Christina E. Johnson.

the artists

Christina E. Johnson | LTA ’07

the artists

Kathryn Pannepacker | WOO ’04 Kathryn is a textile/visual artist living in Philadelphia. She graduated from Penn State University in the late 1980’s, and apprenticed at the Larochette/ Lurie tapestry studio in Berkeley for four years.

Kathryn then went to Aubusson, France to continue weaving as an artist-in-residence. She also had the opportunity to be an artist-in-residence in Hachioji, Japan, through the Japan Foundation. Though still “The series of small weaving pictorial tapestry, she also weaves with pieces is about me unusual materials. She was the lead artist with Josh getting into the studio Sarantitis, orchestrating weaving workshops at and using yarns as if I homeless shelters around Philadelphia for FINDING wanted to use them all HOME, a textile mural project located at 13th & up... exploring color and Ludlow Streets in Philadelphia’s Center City. Along texture...being out-ofwith colleagues, she’s continued the weaving studio control ‘messy/tangled’, that grew out of this project, now called “Arts Street and abstract with yarn, Textile Studio: handmade by the homeless”. Kathryn as if they were intensely was featured in the Spring 2009 issue of AMERIcolorful paintings.”

CAN CRAFT.

left to right: “Strike/Stripe” and “Sage Staircase” (both 2009) by Kathryn Pannepacker.

“My work is a conduit through which I channel my experience as a member of the African Diaspora and as a woman in the world.

Improvisation guides my inspiration through mixed media on textiles.”

left to right: “ Urban VooDoo3” (2009) and “ Soul on Ice” by Toni Kersey.

Toni is a mixed-media fiber artist whose background as a graphic designer informs her work. She began designing and making quilts in 2005. After studying fabric painting techniques, her creative focus shifted to fiber art and quilt making. Since that time, she has concentrated on developing a creative language that fuses quilt making with abstract painting, dyeing, beading, and printing techniques. Toni received her Bachelor of Arts/Graphic Design degree from the University of Illinois. She is an award-winning logo designer and her work has been published in American Corporate Identity 4. Toni taught for many years at the Art Institute of Philadelphia and has exhibited locally and nationally.

the artists

Toni Kersey | ACG ’07

the artists

Wolfie E. Rawk | ACG ’09 Wolfie was born in Teaneck, NJ to two German immigrants. He obtained a BA Degree in Studio Arts at Hampshire College where he organized a Queer Artists Caucus. He moved to Philadelphia, PA in 2008 and currently works for the Mural Arts Program as an art educator. In the spring of 2010 he worked with his students and other artists to create a by-youth for-youth resource guide in an edition of Wolfie’s work deals with 500 as well as street art and student videos revolvthemes of fragmentaing around the topic of safe space for youth. He is tion, repetition, anonym- currently facilitating a series of collaborative queer ity/erasure and commu- quilting bees with fellow queer, transgender and nion. He uses fabric and allied folks in West Philadelphia with the help of a embroidery to discuss Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant. He uses the body as a site of fabric and embroidery to discuss the body, transongoing trauma, a series gender identity, disability, trauma and healing in his of tenuous connections work. and a locus of earthly revelation.

left to right: “Body Mapping - They Call It A Whipped Chain” and “Cupid’s Old Arrows” (both 2010) by Wolfie E. Rawk.

Artist Talk #2

Hear the artists discuss their process and research for their artwork.

Hear the artists discuss their process and research for their artwork.

Featuring: Kathryn Pannepacker Wolfie E. Rawk

Featuring: Betty Leacraft Christina E. Johnson Toni Kersey

Thursday October 21 5:30pm to 7:00pm

Sunday November 7 2:00pm to 4:00pm

PHILADELPHIA OPEN STUDIO TOURS (POST)

WINTER SOLSTICE PARTY AND CLOSING RECEPTION

Join us for the annual citywide studio crawl and meet our artists in person!

You’re invited to our annual end-of-year celebration and an opportunity to take a last look at the Intertwined exhibit!

Saturday and Sunday October 9-10 12:00pm to 6:00pm

Thursday December 16 4:00pm to 6:00pm Light refreshments provided

www.philaopenstudios.org

RSVP to rsvp@leeway.org

special events

Artist Talk #1

PRICE LIST

Betty Leacraft

Cellular Migration, 2006, fiber, handmade felt, 23 ½” x 20 ½”, $1,500 Crossroads Scroll, 2006, fiber, handmade felt, 17” x 50”, NFS The Groove (Jazz Series), 2006, fiber, handmade felt, 60” x 30”, $2,500 • Vocal Improvisations, In Memory of Abbey Lincoln (Jazz Series), 2007, fiber, handmade felt, 36” x 27”, $2,000

• • •

Christina E. Johnson • • • • • •

Grieving Piece Grieving Peace, 2007, cotton, suede cloth, machine-pieced fused appliqué quilted with metallic threads, 45” x 28.5”, NFS In to the Wild? II, 2008, cotton, machine-quilted with metallic thread, 37” x 38”, $450 Experiencing Change with One Eye Wide Shut, 2006, cotton, 34” x 34”, $450 African Rhythms, 2008, cotton African and African-inspired fabrics, machine-quilted with metallic thread, 23” x 23”, $325 Sankofa Bird (original watercolor design by Laneea), 2010, hand-painted batik, silk chiffon, and cotton textiles, hand-quilted with metallic thread, 16” x 20”, NFS Dream Garden, 2009, cotton, machine-pieced and quilted, 34” x 36”, NFS

• • • • •

Israel/Palestine (peep hole for peace), 2007, handwoven with jute, mixed fibers, aluminum foil and paper matches, 36” x 36”, $3,000 Sage Staircase Art Installation Revisited, 2009, handwoven with fabric, miscellaneous yarns and aluminum foil, 14” x 24”, $400 Strike/Stripe, 2009, hand-woven with mixed fibers and paper matches, 28” x 35”, $2000 Wiggle Weave, 2009, handwoven with jute, miscellaneous yarns and felt scraps, 36” x 7”, $400 Grouping, 2009, handwoven with miscellaneous yarns, each 14” x 8”, $200 each ($1200 for the set of 8)

Toni Kersey • • • • •

Invoking the Serpentine Fire, 2010, mixed-media fiber, 31” x 50”, $1,200 Soul On Ice, 2009, mixed-media fiber, 31” x 26”, $600 Dancing in the River of Yemenya, 2010, mixed-media fiber, 52” x 36”, NFS Bahia Brazil, 2008, mixed-media fiber, 32” x 33”, $1,000 Urban Voodoo 3, 2009, mixed-media fiber, 32” x 32”, $300

Wolfie E. Rawk • • • • •

Body Mapping - Never Give Up, 2008, embroidery-on-canvas, 66” x 30”, NFS Body Mapping - They Call It A Whipped Chain, 2010, embroidery, watercolor and pencil on canvas, 70” x 30”, $1,000 Stick With Your Kind, 2009, found lingerie, skirt and embroidery, 50” x 30”, $300 Shadow Twins, 2010, clothing and cotton batting, 56” x 48”, $400 Cupid’s Old Arrows, 2010, clothing and cotton batting, 53” x 43”, $400

PRICE LIST

Kathryn Pannepacker

Please note: Posters and limited edition prints of the works in this exhibition are available for sale. A price list is available upon request. As well full artist statements and bios are also available upon request.

curator denise m. brown | exhibit design + installation sean stoops Profits from works sold in this exhibit go directly to the artists.

Full artist statements and biographies are available upon request.

www.leeway.org