Dive deeper into Philadelphia Fabulist: Tales of the City with a presentation/artist talk prepared by artist John James Pron

About the exhibition:

Lifelong Philadelphian John James Pron has created a sequence of fables that explore Philadelphia’s past, present, and future for his upcoming exhibition at Da Vinci Art Alliance, Philadelphia Fabulist: Tales of the City. From William Penn’s arrival to Philadelphia, to the Bethel Burying Ground, this exhibition reminds viewers that history is created through mythology, and that the myths of our present-day will determine how we perceive our future. Philadelphia Fabulist: Tales of the City opens to the public on Wednesday, August 26, 2020 and will be open by appointment.

John James Pron collages historical imagery with drawings of cultural and architectural legends to examine the history, myths, stories, and architecture that signify the change of an urban landscape.  As an artist and architect who has lived in Philadelphia his entire life, John James Pron has witnessed the impact that tales like Betsy Ross’ creation of the American Flag or William Penn’s relationship with the Native Americans has on the perception of current issues. His collages in Philadelphia Fabulist: Tales of the City use the fallacies of these origin myths to shed light on contemporary issues and propose practical and visionary solutions for the future. 

The partial truths of “historical-accounts” and “breaking-news” have constructed a growing indifference to Philadelphia’s contemporary issues of clergy abuse, the state of our public schools, and the opioid epidemic. However, John James Pron proposes that we, as citizens and conduits of mythology, are capable of shaping history. 

“The past as we know it is not immutable, the present is important because we are daily participants in shaping it,
and the future is not something so beyond us that we can just ignore it.”
– John James Pron

about the artist:

John James Pron is an architect, an artist, a retired faculty member from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, and now an active artist member of Da Vinci Art Alliance in Bella Vista, South Philadelphia. 

John James Pron graduated with an M.Arch from the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Fine Arts (now PennDesign) and taught in the Department of Architecture, Tyler School of Art, Temple University. In his studios, he specialized in the adaptive reuse of historic buildings, leading several summer study tours of Italy and Greece and teaching at the campus of Temple University Rome.  He was the recipient of his college’s Distinguished Faculty Award (1981), a Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching (1986), and the Temple University Great Teacher Award (1995)- its highest honor.  Since 2012, he is an Emeritus Professor.                                            

As a registered practicing architect in Pennsylvania, he is currently the Director of Architecture and Design for Hospitality Design Group, Architects, in Chalfont PA, serving as a consultant assisting in the conversion of small, unique, privately-owned hotels that seek to have a global hotel franchise.  

Also an artist, John James Pron is a member (and former director) of the 3rd Street Gallery in Old City, Philadelphia, regularly presenting in their group shows. At the gallery, he has exhibited in seven 1- and 2-person shows, each with a precise theme that combined social, political and economic issues with a unique architectural expression:  Citta di Roma: Touch and Go, 2002 (the result of a sabbatical in Rome), Cita-del of Brotherly Love, 2004, Phorbidden City: East West Quaker Buddhist, 2006, PHILApocalypse: a waterlogged Delaware Valley in the age of global warming, 2008, Roman Remix: repurposing its excess sacred spaces for social needs, 2010, Fracking Roma: Uncovering its Buried Heritage, 2012, and philadelphiaBURNOUT: past regrets present frustrations future warnings, 2014.  He has also shown his artwork in juried shows at the Phila AIA Gallery, the Pensylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art, the DaVinci Art Alliance, the Print Club, the Sketch Club, the Plastics Club- all in Philadelphia.  Also the Abington Art Center, the Perkins Center in Collingswood, NJ and the Arcadia University gallery, in Glenside.  

I KNOW Philadelphia.  I was born here, raised here and educated here (from 1st grade thru graduate school).  I was married here, raised two children here and worked all my life in its architectural community and taught in its universities.  Born in Northern Liberties, raised in Oxford Circle, I lived in West Philadelphia and now the northern suburbs.  My large extended family and in-laws are from South Philly, Kensington, Germantown, Fishtown, Juniata Park, Manayunk and the Greater Northeast. I know this city inwardly and outwardly.  I have walked it, photographed it, sketched it, measured it, analyzed it and lectured on it.  I was hugged by Jerry Blavat, gave a gallery tour to Sylvester Stallone and was physically lifted and spun around by the Phanatic.  I feel I have been “canonized” as a elite committed resident.  I KNOW Philadelphia.
— John James Pron