https://vimeo.com/20332271]
Art is timeless. For decades, Philadelphia has been considered one of the most interesting cities for the arts. However, within recent years, Philadelphia’s art culture has shifted from popular areas like Center City and Old City to the unique, gentrifying neighborhood of Fishtown. As artists migrate to a more affordable section of town, the neighborhood is becoming more culturally colorful.
Highwire Gallery is a collective co-op arts venue located at 2040 Frankford Ave. in Fishtown. Contrary to commercial galleries that can be found in downtown Philadelphia, Highwire attempts to create a space “free of restrictions.”
“We strive to bring affordable art to the community, while at the same time, allowing artists to be artists,” said Melissa Haims, active member at Highwire Gallery.
After sampling a few parts of town and being one of the oldest co-op galleries in Philadelphia, Highwire finally settled in Fishtown.
“Highwire came here shortly after Bambi, the pioneer art gallery in Fishtown, moved to Northern Liberties,” Haims said. “Ever since then, there’s been a mess of little galleries that have been opening up all over the neighborhood.”
Directly across the street from Highwire on the “Frankford Avenue Arts Corridor” sits Part Time Studios, which is owned and managed by nine artists who use the studio space for various mediums, such as creating fibers, jewelry, paintings and screen prints.
“Most of us have ‘real jobs’ that we do to pay the bills, and art is our second gig, hence we’re working ‘part-time’ on our passion,” said owner Chap Ambrose.
Ambrose and eight others transformed the front area of their studio into a small gallery to display their personal work, as well as the work of their friends. Since most of the owners live in Fishtown, it made perfect sense to open their gallery in the neighborhood.
“We’ve done a of couple group shows, but primarily do solo shows of people who work at the studio and some friends,” Ambrose said. “So far, I think all of our artists have been in Philly because that’s primarily who we know. Some of us show in other cities, so I don’t think it’s out of the question for us to have out-of-town guests either.”
Since Part Time Studios has only been around since November and is one of the newest galleries in the area, the nine brilliant artists are still playing around with ideas like teaching classes and promoting their gallery more strongly. But for now, they are focusing on devoting as much time as they can to their passion.
“My favorite part is just being a group of young, motivated kids publicly kicking ass on a daily basis,” Ambrose said. “We have a lot of the neighbors come in and tell us they appreciate us being here and doing stuff, so I think it’s just motivating to see other people loving what we’re doing.”
Around the corner from Part Time Studios is Extra Extra, a gallery that dedicates its space to underrepresented, yet unbounded artists. The name references the owners’ “desire to do more than hang paintings on the wall.”
“Extra Extra is an opportunity for us to shine a light on artists and ideas that we think are relevant right now,” said Derek Frech and Joseph Lacina, two of the four owners. “Fishtown seemed the ideal place for us because there is a strong community of creative young people here that we wanted to engage with and who we found very welcoming.”
While their main gallery is dedicated to sculpture, installation, new media and performance, the second floor is considered an “artist’s bookshop” with works on paper archive. The gallery carries anything from contemporary critical analysis to printed matter.
“We are interested in showing work that has a strong conceptual foundation and approaches art making with a desire to push things forward,” Frech said. “The bookstore is a way for people to take ideas home with them.”
While the gallery loves exhibiting the community’s talented artists, Frech notes that they do not want to put any restrictions on who or what they show. As long as the artwork is made well, Facina agrees that it will engage the community no matter where it is from.
“Art is good. Having art as part of your everyday experience makes for a community engaged in higher-level thinking on a regular basis,” Facina said. “Creative spaces allow people to ask questions and think critically in hopes to create an environment to share and debate ideas freely.”
Another leading space for the arts in Fishtown is Proximity Gallery, located at 2434 E. Daulphin St. Owner Janel Frey opened her gallery in July 2008 and named it after its convenient “proximity” to her family’s Fishtown home.
“I’ve always dreamed about having a space for artists to be able to express themselves,” Frey said. “When I moved to Fishtown with my husband five years ago, the building next to our house went up for sale, and we decided it would be a great idea to buy it. Besides the location being perfect, the neighborhood was rapidly changing, and new galleries, stores and restaurants were opening up.”
Proximity prides themselves on featuring local established and emerging artists, since “there is an abundance of great artists living right here in the hood.” The gallery is open to exhibiting all types of art and strives to keep the upcoming shows unpredictable.
“Each show draws a different crowd of people to the area. Keeping it fresh seems to be working well,” Frey adds.
Luckily, neighbors have accepted the gallery, and Frey enjoys seeing many locals and their kids during monthly “First Friday” events.
But Haims notes that some of the older locals are not always as appreciative of the “freaks” that flood the Fishtown streets for these events.
“They’ve seen this gentrification process of their neighborhood that might not be very exciting for them,” Haims adds. “What we see as, ‘Wow, the artists are all moving in and they’re making this place great,’ they see it as, ‘Who are all these people coming into our neighborhood and taking our parking and renovating our buildings…that’s really the push and pull between an art gallery and a community like this.”
While most businesses that share the same clientele compete against each other for patronage and sales, Fishtown art galleries have developed a friendship, working together to constantly release new art into the neighborhood.
“There’s really no competition here,” Haims said. “I’ve taken on the role of the liaison between the galleries, calling around to ask the others what they will be doing for First Friday next month and things like that.”
“Having other galleries and art spaces in the neighborhood is, without a doubt, a positive thing,” Facina said. ”Art is a means of communication, so having more voices means that we can sing louder. We want to engage in a critical dialogue with Philadelphia. The more people willing to join the conversation, the better.”
These few galleries do not even put a dent in the list of Fishtown art spaces. So, what is it about Fishtown that is so alluring for the arts? Many gallery owners believe it is simply affordability.
“It’s in that sweet spot of cheap enough and safe enough,” Ambrose said.
“Our space’s rent is about $1,000 a month, where in Old City, a gallery this size would be between $3,000 and $4,000,” Haims adds.
Others think it has to do with the heavy migration of fellow artists to the area.
“Great minds think alike I suppose, and creative people tend to attract each other,” Frech said.
Although these spaces are relatively inexpensive, they are still subject to losses in profits due to the recession. As the general public cuts luxuries out of their budgets, art is no longer considered a necessity for many.
“We don’t come close to covering our expenses based on the art that we sell in the gallery, but we all just pitch in for the studio space and the gallery is just gravy,” Ambrose said.
“I’ve noticed more of a decline in membership than I have in sales,” Haims notes. “We’ve sold quite a few pieces from April’s exhibition, more tending to be under $100, but thankfully people are still buying.”
Overall, these galleries are more concerned with their positive involvement in the neighborhood than sales, and many are adopting Extra Extra’s philosophy.
“[Our gallery] is a labor of love.”
Please visit this article for more information on Fishtown artists.
[soundslide url=”https://smcsites.com/soundslides/uploads/sp1027fishtownEnterpriseGalleries/” height=550 width=600]
Just want to clarify some things.
1: The space is run by four people. Derek Frech, Joseph Lacina, Bob Myaing and Daniel Wallace
2: Our bookshop sells printed matter, not “printed music”
This article is very poorly written. Also, inaccurate representations.
Concerned,
Could you please me more specific. Thank you.
The editors
This article was really confusing. Too many quotes. What’s the story? Maybe choose one gallery and focus on the people there, it just feels like a summary as it is.
i love to visit art galleries both home and abroad, art has been my life-*-
I adore your web site! Maybe you have a twitter or twitter page? I’d really love to meet up and discuss a few things. Thank you for all your work.
@philaneighbors
this article leaves out the largest galleries on Frankford avenue. The F&N Gallery, as well as the book store on frankford once you pass girard are both bigger hitters than the galleries listed here. Also, the facts are wrong. Part-time was not the first gallery on the Frankford ave cooridor, it was the F&N Gallery at Frankford and Norris street almost 5 years ago.
Decent article but it seems to have been written with minimal research.