— unpredictable thoughts

Bohemian South Street comeback thanks to our lovely economy

South Street has avoided for the most part, being taken over by the chain stores more often seen in sub­ur­ban malls or so called lifestyle cen­ters. The econ­omy is kick­ing the butts of small busi­nesses and it is hit­ting Philadel­phia hard enough that land­lords are look­ing for ways to fill empty store­fronts. This has opened con­sid­er­able oppor­tu­ni­ties for artists espe­cially on South Street.

South Street is using the down­turn to its advan­tage expand­ing arts oppor­tu­ni­ties on what has always been known as the bohemian street in Philly. Four gal­leries will kick­start the plan.

More thoughts and pho­tos soon.

Going down South from Eighth to Head­house Square here are the offer­ings in the first galleries:

DUMPSTER DIVERS @ 734 SOUTH
A col­lec­tive of artists who work won­ders with found art Among the Dumpser Divers is South Street pio­neer Joel Spi­vak.
space donated by Howard Lan­der & Richard H. Roth­man

TYLER STUDENTS ART SHOWCASE @ 504 SOUTH
For­mer home of leg­endary Grendel’s Lair. Work includes fine arts, pho­tog­ra­phy and sculp­ture.
space donated by Michael Axelrod

SAINT MARCH @ 406 SOUTH
Two dozen artists have cre­ated a “Saint” com­plete with relics of her body parts. A por­tion of the mod­er­ate price for the art pieces will go toward an organ donor pro­gram.
Curated by Lucy Pis­tilli.
space donated by Michael Axelrod

SAGE PROJECT @ 333 SOUTH
Instal­la­tion enti­tled Purpose/Repurpose. Artists used found objects or rem­nants from the for­mer bou­tique to cre­ate paint­ings, assem­blages, video and multi-media instal­la­tions. The upper level gallery fea­tures paint­ings.
space donated by Michael Axelrod

www.artsonsouth.com

Tags: south­street, philly, art, philadel­phia, galleries