About the exhibition:

Craft Movie Club presents: Materialize explores the intersection of classic cinema and contemporary craft practices. Sixteen artists, working in their chosen material of ceramics, wood, fiber, metal, and glass, respond to James Whale's 1933 classic, The Invisible Man. In the film, invisibility is made possible through the extraction of a flower used originally to bleach textiles. Just as the scientist Griffin transforms himself by manipulating the natural world, these artists transform raw materials into powerful, symbolic objects. Ninety-one years later, the film's themes of invisibility, scientific experimentation, and ethical dilemmas remain relevant. This exhibition redefines expectations, blending experimental techniques with traditional crafts to provoke thought and inspire a modern audience.

As craft artists, the act of harnessing and manipulating natural materials holds profound significance in how to communicate through objects. Each material carries symbolic meanings and cultural associations. Within this framework, failure is a step forward in a deeper understanding of the material. This process parallels the trial and error of Griffin’s metamorphosis, highlighting the power of human manipulation over natural elements.

“Working all night every night. Right into the dawn. 1000 experiments 1000 failures and then atlas the great wonderful day.” — Jack Griffin

Materialize will be on view in Gallery 1 at Da Vinci Art Alliance starting October 31 until November 17. The opening reception will take place on Sunday, November 2, from 4-7 pm.

About the Curator

Colin Pezzano, is a woodworker, printmaker, and craft artist based in South Philadelphia. His practice combines digital and hand processes to infuse humor, pathos, and memory into his chosen materials. By relying on woodworking processes, he connects his actions and memories to the traditions of his predecessors.

Colin graduated from University Of The Arts in 2014. Since graduation, Pezzano has continued honing skills as a fabricator, educator, and shop technician. During his career Pezzano has attended residencies in the USA and Sweden. He maintains his practice in his basement studio.

Learn more about Pezzano at colinpezzano.com and @colinpezzano

ABOUT THE FEATURED ARTISTS

Audrey An’s creative research revolves around the notion of applying digital technologies to ceramics from the perspective of ‘convergence,’ whether it be cultural, technological, or interdisciplinary. She earned her BFA and Art History Minor from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, an MFA from Penn State University, and was a post-baccalaureate student at Colorado State University. Audrey has participated in artist residency programs at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (Deer Isle, ME), Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts (Newcastle, ME) and was selected as Ceramics Monthly 2023 Emerging Artist. She is currently 2022-24 Artist-in-Residence at the Ceramics Program, Office for the Arts at Harvard. This Fall, she will be joining The Clay Studio in Philadelphia as Prototyping & Digital Fabrication Studio Manager.

Learn more about An at audreyan.com and @audrey.an

Tara Bellofatto is a New Jersey based artist. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Craft from The University of the Arts in 2010. She currently teaches design at Drexel University. Outside of the classroom, she is a full-time woodworker and artist. Her work ranges from custom and commercial furniture to 2-dimensional art in wood.

Learn more about Bellofatto at @tarabellofatto

Scout Cartagena is a sculpture artist and printmaker. Through a multi-disciplinary practice that uses printmaking, glass, audio and video, and performance they create works that attempt to find moments of stillness, capture fleeting memory, and express fractures created from the struggle of mental health and chronic illness tied with their identity of being Afro-Latine. Cartagena received their BFA in Glass and Art Education certification at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia, and is currently attending School of The Art Institute of Chicago for their MFA in sculpture.

Learn more about Cartagena at scoutcartagena.com and @scoutcartagenamakes

Liz Colyar is a ceramic artist and designer whose work is a playful exploration of form and surface. Driven by a maximalist spirit, her pieces are adorned with layers of vibrant glazes and whimsical imagery. Cups and mugs become canvases, evolving into dreamscapes . Her functional ceramics are a delightful blend of the unexpected and the absurd.

Learn more about Colyar at lizcolyar.com and @lizcolyar

Luke Desmone was born in Pittsburgh(1995) and has lived in Philadelphia since 2013 where he maintains a practice in both ceramics and illustration.

Learn more about Desmone at @manyhellos_

Bill Gerhard creates patterned and textured surfaces that represent an environment in flux. He received a BFA from the University of the Arts, an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a certificate in Art and Design Education from the Pratt Institute. He currently teaches at Martin Luther King High School in Philadelphia. His work has been shown at venues such as Three Walls (Chicago), The Drawing Center (New York), Fleisher Art Memorial (Philadelphia), and Main Line Art Center (Haverford).

Learn more about Gerhard at billgerhard.com and @billgerhardart

Sophie Glenn received her MFA in Furniture Design and Woodworking from San Diego State University, and BFA in Sculpture and Drawing from SUNY Purchase College. She has exhibited her work across the country, including Blue Spiral 1 Gallery (NC), the Center for Art in Wood (PA), and the Metal Museum (TN), and has been fortunate to receive several grants, fellowships, and residencies to help advance her career, including the John D. Mineck Fellowship in 2022. Sophie has held academic appointments at Tennessee Technological University and Mississippi State University, and taught workshops at A Workshop of Our Own (MD), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (TN), the Appalachian Center for Craft (TN), Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (ME), and Penland School of Crafts (NC).

Learn more about Glenn at sophieglenn.com and @arcburn_furniture

Abigail Hedley is a Midwest metal fabricator and fiber artist who primarily works within needle felted wool. They explore complex human emotions by personifying the mundane objects that accumulate within daily work and life.

Learn more about Hedley at abigailhedley.com and @abigail_rose_sculpture

Olivia Jones is a craft artist based in South Philadelphia who constructs work using the vocabulary of home interiors, primarily focusing on the function of upholstery. The techniques of traditional upholstery supply a foundation for her work's construction and surface treatments. Olivia has her BFA in Craft and Material Studies from the University of the Arts (RIP) and her MFA in sculpture from the University of Pennsylvania. She has attended residencies at Vermont Studio Center and ACRE. Although she has worked as a freelance upholsterer over the years, it has been some time since she's made her own work but has chosen to come out of retirement for her dear friend Colin.

Rachel Kedinger is an artist currently living in Philadelphia Pennsylvania creating her own work. Rachel primarily makes objects out of metal with a focus on utilitarian use. Before moving to Philly in early 2018 Rachel participated in the Core Fellowship Program at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina. She has also lived in Detroit, MI and Rehoboth Beach, DE, seeking opportunities to work with various artists and metalsmithing shops. Previous to living and working in Michigan Rachel grew up in Wisconsin and went to school at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee where she received her BFA in Jewelry and Metalsmithing in 2012.

Learn more about Kedinger at rachelkedinger.com and rkedinger

Basak Kilicbeyli is a Philadelphia-based textile and printmaking artist from Turkey. With a BFA in Graphic Design from Yeditepe University, she ventured into the world of printmaking. Pursuing an MFA at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts further honed her craft in textiles and provided Basak with opportunities to be featured later in exhibitions at FRIEDA, Da Vinci Art Alliance, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Sounds About Riso and Information Space. The Woodmere Art Museum proudly houses one of her pieces in the permanent collection, making her the collection's first Turkish queer woman artist.

Learn more about Kilicibeyli at basakkilicbeyli.com and @basakkilicbeyli

Thomas Lauria is an artist, fabricator, and educator based in Philadelphia, PA. His creative practice is motivated by the desire to have a healthful relationship with the gear fetishism that largely defines his sexual identity.

Learn more about Lauria at ruinedtwinks.com and @thermos_lauria

Don Miller is a Philadelphia based woodworker, instrument maker and educator. He holds a BA in German form the University of Kansas, an MFA in 3D Design from The University of Wisconsin-Madison and attended the Early Stringed Instrument progarm at London College of Furniture. In 2020 he retired as an Associate Professor in the Craft+ Material Studies program at The University of the Arts. Miller's work investigates natural material, functional form and historical technology.

Learn more about Miller at drmstudio.com

Ian Privett is a New York born and based multidisciplinary artist with a primary focus in ceramics. His functional vessels, sculptures and lighting draw from pop-culture and traditional ceramics alike. With source material ranging from early animation to ancient pottery, his work often oscillates between kitsch, character-based and ritual objects. Experimenting with color through slip, underglaze and glaze applications, his work takes on painterly qualities, exploring the versatility of clay.

Learn more about Privett at @idkwhoian

Janine Wang is a turner and furniture maker originally from NYC. She discovered woodworking while studying to become an architect, and has happily taken craft’s ability to make things tangible and combined it with design’s philosophies and rigors. She worked for years in the home goods and furniture design industry while keeping one foot firmly rooted in the woodturning and hand-crafted world. Today she teaches woodworking and woodturning full time, helping to spread the joy and empowerment of building the environment we live in, one object at a time. Janine received a BArch from Cooper Union and a MA in furniture design from Rhode Island School of design, as well as a working education from the vibrant woodworking industry of Philadelphia, and residencies across the US. She is a member of the AAW, has taught and exhibited widely, including at Bucks County Community College and Tiny WPA, and has done residencies at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Goggleworks Center for the Arts, Arrowmont School of Craft, Hunterdon Art Museum, Dovetail Wood Arts, and the Museum for Art in Wood. She currently teaches at the Oregon State University College of Forestry.

Learn more about Wang at jainewang.com and @softlyshaped