Creating this blog was definitely a learning experience for me. I would like to continue blogging, but I don’t know if I’ll maintain An Artistic Point of View. If I do have any artistic experiences however, I’ll be sure to post even if it’s only once in awhile.

For my final project, I decided to document First Friday. In doing so, I was able to capture the art culture of Philadelphia’s Old City.

In the Philadelphia City Paper staff blog Mike Newall talks about all the misfortune Philadelphia has had with losing potential museum “stuff” to other cities. It’s really unbelievable how many times it has happened! Take a look:

• 1940s – the Widener family donated its large collection of Manet and Renoir paintings not to the Philadelphia Museum of Art — which had been expecting to receive it — but to the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

• 1968 – American Museum of Photography in Center City closed after the death of it’s founder. The Philadelphia Museum of Art passed on the famous collection, and for almost ten years, thousands of historic photographs collected dust in storage before finally landing at the George Eastman House museum in New York.

• 1970s – The Franklin Institute sold its rare book library, including all of its collections. The Institute recently borrowed back many of these same books for its ongoing Galileo exhibit.

• 1991 – the Philadelphia Museum of Art was again left out in the cold when Walter Annenberg gave $1 billion worth of paintings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.  These works included 50 paintings by Degas, Monet, Cezanne, van Gogh, Gauguin, Bonnard, Mattise, Picasso, and Braque.

• 1996 – the Library of Congress acquired the Philly-based Marian S. Carson Collection, which historians believe is the most extensive private collection of early Americana. The collection included unpublished papers of Revolutionary War figures, personal letters of Thomas Jefferson, a manuscript account of the departure of the first Pony Express rider, and what may be the earliest photograph of a human face.

Philly should feel robbed of all of these treasures!

In 1959, Philadelphia’s City Council established a Percent for Art program. It was one of the first in the nation, and has resulted in over 300 works of art. The purpose of the Percent for Art program is to incorporate exceptional works of art into various building projects.

Each work of art that is created on behalf of the Percent for Art program is intended to bring community awareness and involvement in the preservation of Philadelphia’s art culture.

Other cities with Percent for Art programs include:

• New York
• San Francisco
• Chicago
• Toronto

N 2nd Street is located in the Old City section of Philadelphia. It is an art culture hot spot, littered with galleries. While many of the galleries are only a few doors down from each other, you still wouldn’t be able to see them all in a day.

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While graffiti artists are considered criminals, they do create some beautiful works of art. Philadelphia wouldn’t be a city if their brick walls and tunnels weren’t plastered with this unconventional art form. Here are some artists who live for doing “throws” –the term used by graffiti artists to describe their art form.

The only thing I don’t understand is when are they doing all this work? Are they doing it at night so they don’t get caught, and if so how can they see and create so much detail? Some of these works must take hours. Graffiti is probably one of the most expressive forms of art, and they really represent urban culture in Philadelphia.

Spring time is perfect for exploring art in Philadelphia. This spring, galleries are opening all over the city of brotherly love.

Spring show
Through summer. Fabric Workshop and Museum, 1214 Arch St. 215.561.8888.

• Be sure to check out Tristin Lowe’s Mocha Dick—a life-sized inflatable of a 50-foot albino sperm whale out of white felt

MFA exhibitions
Through May 9. Temple Gallery. 2001 N. 13th St. 215.777.9139.

• Tyler School of Art graduate students host their thesis presentations.

Chinatown InFlux
April 3-Aug. 2.  1219 Vine St. and locations in Chinatown. 215.557.0455.

• Asian influenced art work in Philadelphia’s Chinatown.

Zoe Strauss, Under I-95
Sun., May 3, 1-4 p.m. Front and Mifflin Sreets. http://zoestrauss.blogspot.com/

• Strauss is a street photographer, and is holding  a free exhibition. Strauss will have copies of her work for sale.

The 2009 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival is scheduled to take place September 4-19. The festival is the ultimate presentation of preforming arts.  Nick Stuccio is the Festival’s Producing Director and is in charge of the selection process. There are approximately 15 acts selected to perform each year.

In conjunction with the Live Arts Festival is Philly Fringe. Philly Fringe allows unestablished artists to showcase thier work for professional production companies. This is the opportunity of the life time for performing artists trying to break into the industry.

Using your body as art is new to me. In the Arts Festival preview, words like “body sculpture” are used to describe some of the performances. The festival also feature interpretive dance and short plays. This is a totally different kind of are than I’m used to.

For more information visit : Live Arts Festival

I’ve been thinking about taking an art class, but there are just so many to choose from. Right now I’m considering the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial because they offer tuition free workshops for adults. I definitely want to start out with a basic drawing class to brush up on some of my skills. Right now, most of the spring workshops are full. So my best bet is to sign up for the summer session as soon as possible.

Each class takes place once a week for three hours. Here are a few of the classes I’m looking into:

• Basic Drawing
• Basic Painting
• Intro to Photography
• Elements of Painting
• Painting Workshop

I’ve never considered taking pictures art, but I’d love to take a photography class. Learning about what makes it art is what interests me the most.

Painting has always been my favorite form of art, I love working with oils. I wish I had all the free time in the world, I would take every single one!

I have until May 1 to decide…which one do you think I should start with?

Julian Beever does amazing 3-dimensional sidewalk drawings. Watch this video, I have no idea how he does it.