5/21/13

MARVELS

DCCA Windows: Shape Invaders from Bancroft Contemporary Connections, 2012

Marvels w/ Bancroft Elementary School, Wilmington DE
Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (DCCA), Contemporary Connections
We began our project looking through classic comic books and searching for superpowers. Students imagined what their unique super power would be and described this power with one word. Students wrote this word in large block letters on the cover of an accordion fold sketchbook that they constructed using large sheets of paper and glue. They returned to the classic comic books and searched for super powers, scenes and characters that best expressed their chosen word. They cut up the comics and collaged different pieces together to tell a story using pictures. Many of the students also wrote stories in their sketchbooks in response to their collage cutouts.

The Marvels panels were inspired by an idea stumbled upon by a student named Stephan when he combined his name with his descriptive word HERO. He created a new superhero name - STEPHERO! We also drew inspiration from the large red chalkboard wall included in the imPERFECT CITY exhibit on view at the Delaware Center For the Contemporary Arts. The wall had an open invitation for visitors to draw whatever they wished with chalk and had a large block letter statement: UTOPIA ABOVE THE LAW.

Drawing from this community centered exhibit the students transfered their superhero name onto panels using large block letters. The panels were painted with blue and red chalk board paint. On May 9th the students brought their panels to the DCCA and leaned them up against the large red wall. Using chalk they drew their superpower on their panel and all over the exhibit wall.


Vinyl cut stencils and chalkboard paint
Superheros +/= Artists +/= Super Powers

4/29/13

Conductors

Conductors are a collection of time lapse videos that share actions created with The Teen Sketch Club and The Delphi After School art Club at The Philadelphia Museum of Art. The actions draw energy and inspiration from the exhibits and temporally map a collective creativity within the museum galleries. . 















- Link to the YOUTUBE page for more info on each video.

4/21/13

Shape Invaders Crash Course


To prep for state testing students at Grover Washington Jr. Middle School revisited our main project from the previous year. Math teacher Jerry Jackson prepared a test prep worksheet for the students to work on in response to a Shape Invader design that they created using vinyl polygon shapes.
The Shape Invader initiative was a big breakthrough for Jackson and I last year. The art initiative we created with the students had a direct impact on textbook problem solving and testing. To create the designs we worked with students to identify design constraints that could help them practice concepts such as ratio and percentage. The students then responded to their Shape Invader design to find the area, perimeter and a host of other math skills and concepts that they need to know well.

Math teacher Jerry Jackson helping a student with calculations


Last spring we selected our best designs and Invaded the School District of Philadelphia administration building in Center City Philadelphia. We were also invited to invade the Central Branch of the Philadelphia Free Library


In the search to link art, math and contemporary art I have not been able to find many other projects that have such a direct correlation. If you know of other projects please let us know. We are familiar with Komar and Melamid’s Most Wanted Painting project and we are excited to have this project serve as a starting point for us this year.


12/13/12

Tectonic Quilt @ Philadelphia International Airport Terminal C

Benjamin Volta and students from the Grover Washington Jr. Middle School, Tectonic Quilt, Ink on Paper, PHL Terminal C.  Photos courtesy of the Philadelphia International Airport
 
Philadelphia, PA

December 13, 2012 – The Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy’s Public Art Program and the Philadelphia International Airport are pleased to announce the completion of two new public artwork commissions.  The two commissioned artists, Ava Blitz and Benjamin Volta, were both present for the official dedication yesterday, along with the students from the Grover Washington Jr. Middle School who helped create Benjamin’s work.  Their artworks are located on the exterior walls at the new restrooms built in Terminals B and C at the Philadelphia International Airport.  These commissions further the Airport’s goal to create dynamic visual landmarks, providing a memorable experience for airport visitors.
               

                                   

11/18/12

Teacher Workshop @ PMA



Images from
Try a Technique: Installation Art inspired by the Exhibition Dancing around the Bride at The Philadelphia Museum of Art Workshop description: Some artists create environments that break from traditional painting or sculpture by allowing viewers to enter their processes and ideas. This workshop begins with a curator talk in the exhibition Dancing around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp. Artist and teacher Ben Volta will help teachers develop creative strategies for working with multiple mediums, such as drawing, painting, sculpture, technology, music, and performance. Then teachers will work collaboratively in smaller groups to develop an art installation within the Museum’s studios.

11/9/12

Cohen Children's Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY



I am excited to begin work on three large public artworks for the new hospital wing at The Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, NY. This work is being created with patients at the hospital and is driven by The Rockwell Group and Museum Editions - with support from Pentimenti Gallery. The fish and coral drawings above will be compiled together and laser cut out of steel or aluminum. The sculptures will be suspended from the ceiling in the new Emergency Department waiting area.

11/1/12

PORCH LIGHT INITIATIVE






For the next year I am working The Mural Arts Program on a project at the 11th St Family Health Services of Drexel University - located within the historic Richard Allen neighborhood. I am leading a process that will result in multiple murals that focus on ideas of home, nature and wellness. The drawings and cards above begin to share this process.

ABOUT PORCH LIGHT: The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program's Porch Light Initiative situates art and human connection at the heart of recovery and healing in distressed Philadelphia neighborhoods.  Read More

10/30/12

Written in Wood @ The Center For Art in Wood, Philadelphia




Written in Wood is a mural for the Center for Art in Wood located at 3rd and Quarry in Old City Philadelphia. Created with The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Restorative Justice GUILD. The mural is sponsored by the Hummingbird Foundation, The Philadelphia Prison System, and the Thomas Skelton Harrison Fund.

A lighting system will be added in 2013!

The Center For Art in Wood
The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program

10/24/12

Action @ The Philadelphia Museum of Art




Conductors Initiative: Sean Scully
In Modern and Contemporary Gallery 176 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 
Many thanks to Rebecca Hoenig, Jóli Reichel and Barry M. King 
Time lapse video to be edited soon!

To see past actions visit my Vimeo page


10/19/12

Social Practice Lab: Callowhill Sub Station

 
Google Maps of Callowhill Substation - Captured by Nancy Chen
I began the Social Practice Lab retreat with an open mind ready to meet new people and spend time in the Chinatown North neighborhood. My initial idea was written quickly. I had identified the archways under the Reading Viaduct as a possible site for a public work but my preliminary idea was very general. I was glad to hear that we did not need to stick to a preconceived plan and that the Social Practice Lab provides the time and space to develop the work the with Asian Arts initiative and the Chinatown North Community.

During the retreat we were guided on a tour of the community and the PECO sub station located in Chinatown North was identified as a possible site. Before the retreat I was not expecting to draw from my own identity and history. I am a decedent of Alessando Volta, the Italian physicist who invented the first battery and I have often been fascinated by electricity and the underlying networks that power cities and communities. Moving forward I look to draw inspiration from this site and set out to explore ideas of electricity, energy and light.

I plan to set up weekly workshops with youth at the Asian Arts Initiative in the Spring of 2013. I feel that I  have zeroed in on a possible site, and I am excited about a possible topic for exploration, but I still look forward to the collaborative design process shaping the work.



Google Maps of Callowhill Substation - Captured by Nancy Chen
What is the Social Practice Lab? Asian Arts Initiative's Social Practice Lab commissions and supports the work of creative individuals and organizations in our neighborhoods of Chinatown and Chinatown North in Philadelphia. The goal of our Social Practice Lab is to combine artistic excellence and innovation with building relationships, encouraging neighborhood development and effecting positive change within the community. We invited artists, urban planners, community organizers, designers, and creative thinkers from all sectors--locally, regionally, and nationally--to propose public art projects and initiatives that engage with and enliven our community. The selected projects will be a part of a network of ongoing, year-round projects, supported by an advisory board of experienced social practitioners and local community activitists, and by the infrastructure of Asian Arts Initiative.


National Advisory Committee: Aimee Chang, Blanton Museum (TX) Edgar Arceneaux, Watts House Project (CA) Andrea Bowers (CA) Rick Lowe, Project Row Houses (TX) Pepon Osorio (PA) Meredith Warner (PA) Rise Wilson, The Laundromat Project (NY) Sue Bell Yank, Hammer Museum (CA)
2012-2013 Artists: Anula Shetty and Michael Kuetemeyer Ben Volta Colette Fu Jong Kyu (Dave) Kim Laura Deutch, Lee Tusman, Kathryn Sclavi, and Katya Gorker Steven Parker Yowei Shaw

Link to Asian Arts Initiative


10/5/12

Design Philadelphia

Written in Wood in The Philadelphia Inquirer for Design Philadelphia

10/1/12

Written in Wood @ The Center For Art in Wood, Philadelphia


Written in Wood is a mural for the Center for Art in Wood located at 3rd and Quarry in Old City Philadelphia. Created with The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Restorative Justice GUILD. The mural is sponsored by the Hummingbird Foundation, The Philadelphia Prison System, and the Thomas Skelton Harrison Fund. 

9/12/12

Written in Wood Stencils @ Volta Studio



As we prepped the vinyl for the Written in Wood Mural @ The Center For Art in Wood we took the positive stencil forms and added them to our studio stairway. The 1970 wood paneling all of a sudden seems very appropriate. 

9/6/12

Social Practice Lab

+ I am am very excited about this opportunity to work with an amazing group of artists and creative professionals!

Photo courtesy of Tian Cai and Daeun Song, University of the Arts Masters of Industrial Program

What is the Social Practice Lab? Asian Arts Initiative's Social Practice Lab commissions and supports the work of creative individuals and organizations in our neighborhoods of Chinatown and Chinatown North in Philadelphia. The goal of our Social Practice Lab is to combine artistic excellence and innovation with building relationships, encouraging neighborhood development and effecting positive change within the community. We invited artists, urban planners, community organizers, designers, and creative thinkers from all sectors--locally, regionally, and nationally--to propose public art projects and initiatives that engage with and enliven our community. The selected projects will be a part of a network of ongoing, year-round projects, supported by an advisory board of experienced social practitioners and local community activitists, and by the infrastructure of Asian Arts Initiative.

National Advisory Committee: Aimee Chang, Blanton Museum (TX) Edgar Arceneaux, Watts House Project (CA) Andrea Bowers (CA) Rick Lowe, Project Row Houses (TX) Pepon Osorio (PA) Meredith Warner (PA) Rise Wilson, The Laundromat Project (NY) Sue Bell Yank, Hammer Museum (CA)

2012-2013 Artists: Anula Shetty and Michael Kuetemeyer Ben Volta Colette Fu Jong Kyu (Dave) Kim Laura Deutch, Lee Tusman, Kathryn Sclavi, and Katya Gorker Steven Parker Yowei Shaw

Link to Asian Arts Initiative

9/1/12

Convergence: The Art Collection of the National Academy of the Sciences




Convergence: The Art Collection of the National Academy of Sciences Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences
...
This project was made possible in part by The Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Ongoing projects at Grover Washington Jr. Middle School are made possible through support from the School District of Philadelphia former principal Gerald Branch, and current principal Terry Pearsall Harget's ongoing initiative to transform the Grover Washington Jr. Middle School into a magnet school for the arts. Additional support was provided by the Cultural Programs at the National Academy of the Sciences

8/30/12

Written In Wood


Base Coat


Testing our wood grain imagery using computer cut vinyl paint mask 

Written in Wood is a mural for the Center for Art in Wood located at 3rd and Quarry in Old City Philadelphia. Created with The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Restorative Justice GUILD.

Mural sponsored by the Hummingbird Foundation

8/29/12

Art Action At Love Park, 2010




Finally uploaded this short video made in 2010. The video It played for over a year on a large video screen in the gift shop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

“Art Action At Love Park” - The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Summer Film Program with The Big Picture Alliance, Nueva Esperanza Academy, and Taller Puertorriqueño, Philadelphia, PA. Directed by Walker Zavareei 

Al Dia News also did a 2 min short on the project 


...

8/26/12

Wall Prep Begins for Written in Wood

Wall prep begins for Written in Wood - with The Center For Art in Wood and The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Restorative Justice GUILD @ 3rd and Quarry St in Old City, Philadelphia, PA

Love Invaders @ Love Park, Philadelphia



Love Invaders was de-installed a few weeks ago (Aug 2012). The work was installed on the windows of the JFK Welcome Center at Love Park - the temporary public installation was extended for a whole year.

The spring 2011 Philadelphia Museum of Art press release:

4/20/12

SHAPE INVADERS @ THE FREE LIBRARY


SHAPE INVADERS @ THE FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA, CENTRAL BRANCH
BENJAMIN VOLTA WITH JERRY JACKSON'S 8TH GRADE
MATH CLASS AT GROVER WASHINGTON JR. MIDDLE SCHOOL




4/19/12

SHAPE INVADERS @ 440 N BROAD

 

SHAPE INVADERS @ 440 N BROAD
 THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA
EDUCATION CENTER
BENJAMIN VOLTA WITH JERRY JACKSON'S 8TH GRADE
MATH CLASS AT GROVER WASHINGTON JR MIDDLE SCHOOL


7/18/11

STEAM @ The Esther Klein Gallery at the Science Center

 

STEAM
science . technology . engineering . art . math

July 18th - Sept 30th
Reception September 21st, 5 - 7:30pm

Benjamin Volta and Jerry Jackson with students from Grover Washington Jr. Middle School
and classroom teachers and students from Solis-Cohen and Morton Thomas G elementary School

The Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership (PAEP) and Breadboard partner to pioneer the movement to integrate art into STEM education. STEAM at the Esther Klein Gallery at the Science Center highlights projects created in collaboration with PAEP, an artist, a math and science teacher and students in Philadelphia Schools.

The Esther Klein Gallery at the Science Center
3600 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Gallery Hours
Monday - Saturday, 9:00am -5:00pm
Free to Public / Wheelchair Access

10/16/10

Home That Was Drawing Workshop


HOME THAT WAS: OBJECTS THAT FILL A HOME, ON THE WALLS OF A HOUSE THAT NO LONGER EXISTS
Saturday, October 16
10th & Vine Streets


This summer, Benjamin Volta worked with a team of intergenerational artists to create 12 wallpaper patterns that explore consumption, memory, and loss as part of a temporary artwork. Join us for a pre-dedication Drawing Workshop from 12 - 2 pm to draw ideas of "home" on large cardboard panels, which will be assembled to build a 15-foot-high sculpture. Sponsored by the City of Philadelphia, Mural Arts Program.

BLOG THAT SHOWS OUR PROCESS
http://homethatwas.blogspot.com/





9/13/10

HOME THAT WAS

OBJECTS THAT FILL A HOME, ON THE WALLS OF A HOUSE THAT NO LONGER EXISTS

Located at 10th and Vine Streets in Philadelphia, Home That Was is a temporary artwork created during the summer of 2010. Benjamin Volta worked with a team of intergenerational artists from the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program to create wallpaper patterns that explore consumption, memory, and loss. Attached to the exterior wall of a neighboring row home, the wallpapers are installed on the thin plaster remains of a house that no longer exists.

LINK TO PROJECT BLOG