— unpredictable thoughts

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