For the first time, Philadelphia hosted an outdoor art festival by the name of “Art in the Open.” From June 9-12, the festival allowed artists from various areas, mainly the Philadelphia region, to create, display and encourage bystanders to participate in their projects outdoors. The three mile long festival extended from the Philadelphia Water Works to Bartram’s Garden along the Schuylkill River.
The thought of a festival where artists can do their “plein air” work started about two years ago. “Artists go out and paint in ‘plein air’ all the time but the idea was to make a festival out of it,” explained Mary Salavante, one of the event’s producers.
“Plein air” simply means “painting in plain air,” but Salavante and the other event producers didn’t just want painters. They wanted to represent the personalities of the Philadelphia area as well. “After several meetings of talking about painters versus different kinds of art, we realized that we have to be more diverse and that’s how the idea of ‘Art in the Open’ came about,” she said. “We have so many different kinds of art happening in Philadelphia. If this event is about promoting our cultural community, then we should really have a different variety of artwork out there.”
In order to participate in the event, artists had to win over a panel of four jurors with the images of their artwork they submitted. “Basically the only instructions we gave them was that we wanted diversity and we wanted to end up with at least half the artists from the Philadelphia area and we ended up with that,” Salavante further explained.
Denise Karabinus Telang paints her project “Sun Collaborations.”
Diversity was only the beginning of what “Art in the Open” had to present. From painting shadows, making floats out of fruit, amplifying knitting needles and plastic bottle huts, “Art in the Open” had a lot to offer.
Denise Karabinus Telang was found painting on a wall under a tree. Her project, “Sun Collaborations,” allowed her to work with the shadows projected on the wall, which is much like a hunting blind. “I’m trying to attract birds, foliage and various things to the blind but I’m only drawing from the shadows,” she explained. “I’m kind of hiding but I’m also trying to see something. It’s like an obscured view.”
Telang said her work is often done outdoors because she likes working with nature. “For me, this was a really great project because it’s outdoors and also because it relates to this particular landscape,” she said. “It gave me an opportunity to meet other artists that are also interested in that kind of thing. There are so many amazing artists and they’re all approaching it from a different point of view.”
Ava Blitz had her own way of working with the environment. “I really enjoy combining my work with the needs of the community. Bringing a sense of surprise and wonder and joy to an environment, plus using the environment…I do enjoy that kind of thing.”
Blitz usually works with concrete and stone, but she was making floats out of recycled Styrofoam and fruit snacks to put in the river for this festival. “Because we only have four days and it’s this festive atmosphere, I decided to use these gummy candies, which aren’t what I usually use,” she laughed. “At the same time, they’re kind of inspiring me because I’m working more with translucents, light and glass so it’s working out pretty well.”
It seemed that this festival was a perfect place for Blitz to do her project, from working with people to being in nature. “I do a lot of art with they community. They help me build it, help me install it, because it’s often very large scale. My work is also about the natural world and man’s place in it. In this case, it’s kind of these natural forms, fish, birds, leaves, but it has this sense of artifice also. Here on this river, this beautiful place, we have cars, plastic, things like that so it’s kind of an interesting combination.”
Ava Blitz creates a colorful float for the Schuylkill River.
Another interesting combination that could be seen at “Art in the Open” was knitting needles and an amplifier. “I got very interested in the sounds that we take for granted,” explained Laure Drogoul, the artist of “Apparatus for Orchestral Knitting.”
“I had always loved the subtle sound of needle work. The sound kind of revoked memories so I wanted to take that sound that was probably familiar with people and bring it into the forefront.”
Drogoul sat in the shade, playing with the sounds that were made as she knit. She often encouraged bystanders to join her. “I am inviting people to knit with me. This is a knitting jam. It’s unofficially called ‘musical knitting’. The knitting needles are amplified and when people sit down to the knitting jam, we knit in unison and create a little knitting orchestra.”
Drogoul said she has been a part of other festivals where she could hold “knitting jams” and that she enjoys sharing her art with others. “Every time the piece goes out, I’m learning about the way people interact with what I’m creating and communicating. That’s when the work becomes manifest.” She continued, “It’s an event. People come in, they join in and we have an experience, and then it’s gone. That’s my painting, in a way.”
Although the use of sound was more unusual in the festival, Diedra Krieger’s “Plastic Fantastic” may have attracted the most attention due to its large appearance. “I’m trying to bring attention to the issues about water and taking water for granted…also, trying to escape dealing with those issues for a minute,” she explained. “Maybe when you return to reality, you’ll think twice about opening that water bottle. Maybe there’s other ways of doing things.”
Krieger’s project consisted of a hut made out of plastic bottles. Being in a public place comes with many people stopping and asking questions about the quirky project. “I’ve done this about three times but this is the first time I’m doing it in a really public place,” she said. “I think it’s really great that they’re bringing art and showing people’s practice out in the open like this instead of inside your studio where it’s very private.”
Krieger took full advantage of being in public to send out the message that her project was trying to portray. “I would just like people to take time and think about water. I would love it if everybody had access to clean water.”
Diedra Krieger's "Plastic Fantastic" project.
Philadelphia may not seem like the ideal place to mix art with nature, but as anyone who attended can tell you, along the Schuylkill River was the perfect place to hold an event like this. There were many different ideas of art that could be seen at “Art in the Open.” Although hundreds of artists applied, the event ended up with 36 artists creating and displaying their unique works of art along the river. Salavante wishes for the event to go on for years to come.
Telang had one final thought about the success of the festival. “I just wanted to say that this has been a great experience. We have had so many people from the community come up to talk to us, which I thought people would walk by and not stop to chat, but they’ve been incredibly engaging. That makes the project even more rewarding.”
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