As part of the exhibition Joyous Disruption, curators David Acosta (Artistic Director of Casa de Duende), Bill Brookover, Selene Nunez-Cruz, Vicente Ortiz Cortez, and William Timmins have organized a night of performances and community celebration at the historic Fleisher Art Memorial Sanctuary on Saturday, December 10th, 2022, from 5 to 9 pm. This event pays homage to the tradition of bonding through festive celebration, and rounds out the exhibition through music, dance, poetry, theater, performance, as well as community artisans and culinary practitioners selling food. The live performances will begin at 7pm!
About the Artists:
Alden Willard Cole is a multi-disciplinary artist born in 1944 who grew up on a dairy farm in Dayton, Maine, earned a BFA in Apparel Design from RISD in 1966, lived in NYC from 1968-1979, made a living as a fashion designer/illustrator on 7th Ave, then segued into a career as a graphic designer in publishing. He moved back to New England in 1980, staying briefly where he grew up, then moved to Portsmouth NH where he lived until 1986, at which time he relocated to Philadelphia to study with a guru. He found employment in advertising which allowed him to purchase his first home in 1991 in the 700 block of Federal Street in South Philly, where he has lived ever since. That three-story row house has become his ultimate project: a work in progress, a museum in the making - a home/gallery/studio/sanctuary & storage unit, all in one. Come see for yourself: 215 334 3021 or aldencole@icloud.com.
Anjoli is a Temple alum and was a successful actor, poet, and teaching artist for seven years in Philly. After relocating to NYC to become a full-time teacher and gallivanting around the city, she returned to Philly after a five-year stage break. She returned to be a part of the vibrant Philly theater community and has performed in several of Power Street Theatre’s productions (Las Mujeres, MinorityLand, and many more), in Theatre in the X’s production West Philly Meeting, and Drexel’s production Anon(ymous), and most recently in InterAct Theatre’s production of 72 Miles To Go. She appreciates your support of the arts and shouts out to all her loved ones who always take the time to show up!
Chris Kaiser’s poetry has been published in Eastern Iowa Review, Better Than Starbucks, The Scriblerus, Dissident Voice, several anthologies from Moonstone Arts, and Action Moves People United. He’s won awards for journalism and lives in suburban Philadelphia.
Daniel De Jesus is a painter, composer and songwriter versed in the world of visual and sonic tapestries. De Jesús' visual art follows medieval and baroque archetypes of figurative painting yet infuses it with a melodic brilliance of color and application. Latin American Baroque stylings often inspire the themes they explore. Their work has a penchant for Pre-Raphaelite yearnings of forlorn expressions, frail bodies, and portrayals of iconic melancholy, both beautiful and tragic. de Jesús finds inspiration from historical figures like mystics, scholars, artists, and martyrs; these are their muses.
Irene Reinke is fascinated with dances that use objects such as scimitars and fans to create interesting shapes and lines, to become extensions of the flow of energy of the dance. For her they create stories that take her to a different time and place, often evocative of power and magic. Her hope is that these dances will take audiences on their own journeys as well.
Irene came to dance fairly late in life. She was introduced to a SanFrancisco based fusion dance, created by Carolina Nericcio, known now as “Fat Chance Dance”.
Irene eventually received her teaching certification and became a teacher and director of her own dance troupe -“Barajagala”.
The last decade or so, Irene has focused on solo performing, incorporating influences from other dance forms and from Tai Chi as well.
“My performance will consist of myself and my laptop on whatever stage is present for me. I will be performing an array of compositions that will run about 50 minutes long. I automate different volumes and effects to adjust for the sound system, acoustics and situation during each piece. With that said i will need to use a sound system with a sub woofer for my performance, i do not have my own.
My music is an extension of myself, as i believe it is for most others. I am a composer, i write for electronic instruments. I find myself inspired by all types of musics. In recent years, i’ve been enjoying contemporary and creative musics most. Genres like and associated with jazz, classical, musique concrete, dance, world, videogame etc”. - Jimmy Cannale
Salomé Cosmique is a Colombian artist, Trauma Informed teaching artist and curator currently residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, (USA). She has a degree in visual arts from the University of Strasbourg in France. In 2012, (while in France) she obtained her National Diploma of Plastic Arts, with a concentration in sound arts from the School of Arts of the Rhine (Haut École D'art du Rhin) in Mulhouse, France. Upon finishing her studies, she moved to Puerto Rico, where she participated in several collective and individual exhibitions.
Soledad Chavez-Plumley is a Colombian writer and poet. She earned a Master degree in Bilingual and Bicultural studies in La Salle University. She is a former Bilingual teacher for children with disabilities. She volunteered at the Adults Center where she provided psycological help and support to latino communities. She is an author of several books including biographic histories on “Mujeres de Fuego” and others poem books.
Susan DiPronio is a published writer of poetry, plays, prose, one-time houseless and a cancer warrior. An award winning analog photographer and a recipient of ‘The Art for Change Grant’ and ‘The Transformation Award’ from The Leeway Foundation for conducting memoir writing workshops with women who are chronically and terminally ill, the houseless, cancer warriors, adults and children with HIV. Their plays, films and photography have appeared in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, in New York City, in Boston and Toronto, Baltimore, India and Chile and more….
Savan DePaul and D’NAE joined forces as Free Spirits and dropped a self-titled debut tape on September 15th, 2021, a rap soundtrack scoring black liberation.
This collaborative album was constructed through one in-person creative session and digital correspondence between fall 2019 and spring 2021. The central idea was to call out societal ills and create a musical vision of the racially just, equal, queer, demilitarized society they wanted to see in the world. Original sessions began out of a track on Savan DePaul's 2019 album Brood VIII that featured D'NAE titled "Year of the Punk." The two intended to extend that song and record three new songs to form an EP; however, the concept quickly grew to a full tape with DePaul handling the majority of the production while both provided rap vocals and worked on the visual components of self-titled.
Antonio (Kicio) (Kicio is his nickname, is a graffiti artist who got his start in Mexico City. He has also explored hip hop, spoken word and poetry creating a hybrid form which he uses as a tool to bring consciousness to social justice issues and to the ongoing conversation of decolonization which is a central tenet of his work as an artist and as a community organizer.