Fishtown: Behind the Canvas

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“I don’t live in Fishtown because I’m an artist. I’m an artist and I live in Fishtown,” said artist Rob Ribant.

In the last few years, the influx of artists to Fishtown has greatly changed the nature and the culture of the neighborhood.  But how do the artists feel about being held liable for these changes?

Ribant is aware of how the Fishtown residents hold artists responsible for the town’s transformation.

“You can almost say, are the artists getting credit or are the artists getting blamed?” Ribant said.  “People say, ‘How did Northern Liberties get expensive?’  The story is 20 years ago when Northern Liberties opened, it was ghetto, and artists moved there because it was cheap.  The same thing is happening to Fishtown.  Developers are noticing more people, there will be more shops, and more people will develop the area.  Then it will become like Northern Liberties.”

Artist Steven Spier was unaware of Fishtown’s art community when he and his friends moved into the area.

“Honestly, when we moved here in the summer of 2007, we knew all of the raw talent between us, we just wanted to find a place…We started fishing for something within our budget,” Spier said.  “It was pretty cool how it fell into our lap easily.”

While many are focused on the migration to the town, artists Joe Brenman has seen artists move out of Fishtown as well.

Joe Brenmen proudly looks over his work.

“While I’ve seen a lot of artists coming into the area, I’ve seen a lot of artists leave at one point in the ’80s,” Brenman said.

Benjamin Long, another Fishtown artist, moved to the area just in time.

“We got our place at least six years ago, just as it was starting to get the buzz – it was a place affordable to move to,” Long said.  “Almost immediately after we brought our place, the prices moved up.”

Long has a friend, also an artist, who had a completely different experience, simply because of the time period.

“I had a friend who lived in Fishtown 19 or 20 years ago,” Long notes.  “He and his wife are both artists…In the long time he lived in Fishtown, things didn’t change.  It was a blue-collar working town.  When he moved out, me and my wife moved in, and you heard more about people living here.”

Brenman's art studio

Regardless of living in a community where art is popular and appreciated, the artists are still feeling the effects of the economy and are giving a new meaning to the term “starving artists.”

“Horrible economy, got laid off as a teacher,” Ribant said.  “Taught drawing.  Had to get a job working in a restaurant, had to move out because I can’t afford subsidized housing.”

Sadly, Ribant does not have high hopes for the future of artists.

“The next 10 years are going to be hard for artists,” Ribant said.  “Before, you could piece together a living as an artist, but now you have to do side work, or things that aren’t of your interest.  I like cooking, but going from being a professor to a restaurant manager is a disturbing shift, which I attribute to the economy.”

“Art is usually the first thing to go,” Long said.  “I’m having an off year just like everyone else.  It’s hard to sell stuff.”

Brenman is also feeling the effects of being an artist in today’s economy, but he is not letting that discourage him.  Brenman sells art that ranges in price of $300 to an astonishing $20,000.  The reason he is able to still sell his art at the prices he wants is because he has an alternate way of generating income.

“I don’t mostly make a living from selling work, because I do a lot of murals – mosaic murals,” Brenman adds.  “That’s what allows me to do my art full time.”

Brenman says pieces such as this one, which depicts the war in Iraq, do not sell quickly because of the sensitive subject matter.

“It’s definitely tough because people losing jobs, so people aren’t buying art,” Spier said.  “Today you can see less art moving around, but hopefully in 2010 there is a rise in economy and how people respond to art.  We’re still penny pinching, but opening walls a little more, slowly digging ourselves out of the hole.”

The artists, although a major part of the art community of Fishtown, have different ways of responding to the attention.  Long believes that artists tend to stay in the background.

“Most artists are not team players,” Long said.  “There’s always a little bit of competition because the amount of people buying art is really small.”

Ribant agrees, but only to a certain extent.

“Yea, some artists keep to themselves, but overall there is a good sense of community in Fishtown,” Ribrant adds.  “People are forming the neighborhoods.  I think artists are a huge part of the community, not only artists but people who make music, writers, or people who aren’t creative but are interested in that type of thing.”

Spier believes that artists in the area should take a more hands-on approach.

“[Artists] pretty much try to make Fishtown a more colorful area, instead of the tough area it had been a couple of years ago,” he notes.  “It is refreshing to see the community receiving it well.”

Whether behind the scenes or center stage, Fishtown artists have made a significant impact to the neighborhood.

Please visit this article for more information on Fishtown art galleries.


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