We have an amazing lineup scheduled for next Wednesday, including internationally known muralist (ex-graffiti artist ESPO) Steve Powers! Steve got 2 nice shout-outs in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal last week.

Featured Artists:

Steve Powers is an artist from Philadelphia who has shown his work a the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Deitch Projects, New York, the 2001 Venice Biennale, Alleged Annex, Los Angeles, the 2002 Liverpool Biennial, and The City Arts Centre in Dublin.  His body of work reflects a fascination with graffiti, sign painting, urban marketing and con games of all shapes and sizes. In 2004, Powers and Creative Time organized The Dreamland Artist Club, a project that revitalized a New York landmark by painting signs and rides in Coney Island. In 2007, he was awarded the Fulbright grant, which he used to create murals in Dublin and Belfast with the assistance of local teenagers. Powers, who is currently partnering with the City of Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program on “Love Letter“, 50 rooftop and street-level murals along the elevated train route in West Philadelphia, will be discussing his experience painting murals in Coney Island and in Dublin, Ireland.

Powers will discuss “Love Letter” on September 23rd at the Slought Foundation.
RSVP required. Buy advance tickets HERE

Naomi Brownstein is a writer and First Person Arts StorySlam winner. She has presented her work at Liberty Scribblers slams, and at the Erotic Literary Salon. The First Person Salon will be her first curated presentation. She’ll be reading her short story I Remember Crystal Place. Naomi is a member of the First Person Arts Golden Ticket Society, an avid dancer (ballroom, hustle, and salsa), and a big fan of Philadelphia theater. She is currently seeking publication for her book, A Poor Person’s Guide to Entertainment and Culture in the Big City.

Sissy Carpey is a memoir writer whose stories have appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post, Inside Magazine, and the Jewish Exponent, among others. Her story “Escaping the Invisible Years”, about the triumphs and difficulties of growing up with a brother suffering from mental retardation, was published in Inquirer Today magazine, and won many national awards. She has written a book called A Piece of her Heart, a memoir about growing up in an immigrant Jewish family, and what it was like to be an American child during the Depression and World War II. For the Salon, Carpey will be telling her family’s story: what it was like to be separated forever by the Russian Revolution, both in the Soviet Union and in America, and the reunion that followed.

Architects Daryn Edwards and Brian Phillips will showcase the upcoming Welcome House project, which will be featured in the First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art this Fall. Welcome House will be an urban structure that artists of all kinds will live in for short periods of time and will have the ability to document their experience. It will be a welcoming environment for both artists and the communities. The Welcome House is expected be up and running in October. Edwards and Phillips are Principal architects at Interface Studio Architects. Phillips, a founding principal at the firm, is a Lecturer at PennDesign where he teaches graduate level design studios and has taught undergraduate studios at the Temple University School of Architecture. His work with ISA has recently appeared in DWELL, Metropolis, I.D. Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, GreenSource and on NPR Radio. In 2008, the office was the recipient of the Philadelphia Emerging Architecture Prize and three AIA design awards. Edwards has taught at Philadelphia University and is active in local chapters of the Community Design Collaborative, the American Institute of Architects and is the immediate Past-President of the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia. He is a licensed architect, LEED accredited professional and was awarded the Young Architect Award in 2008 from AIA Philadelphia.