Exhibitions

The Rebeccah Milena Maia Blum Curatorial Fellowship Exhibition

Unearthed

January 11 – February 8
Opening Reception and Artist Talk: January 11, 5pm – 7pm

The Carolyn and Howard Alber Gallery at Allens Lane Art Center proudly presents Unearthed, a vibrant exhibition featuring the figural ceramics of three Philadelphia-based artists: June Terrell, Gail Lloyd, and Meri Adelman. Curated by Martha Knox, the exhibition will run from January 11 through February 8. The opening reception will take place on Saturday, January 11, from 5–8 PM, with a curator and artist talk scheduled from 5-6 PM.

“Unearthed” brings together the powerful artistic voices of three women, each using ceramics as a medium for storytelling, expression, and exploration. Their work reflects not only individual journeys but also the interconnectedness of a shared community. Curator Martha Knox describes discovering these artists in the Germantown and Mount Airy neighborhoods as “an exciting experience,” highlighting how their overlapping creative paths have enriched the local art scene.

June Terrell, a self-taught artist, shapes portraits from terracotta, leaving the natural clay bare to capture the raw emotions and authenticity of the human form. Her works are deeply rooted in personal and societal narratives, bringing each figure to life with subtle, thoughtful details.

Gail Lloyd, who transitioned from a career in independent film, brings a striking fusion of past and present to her ceramics. Her sculpted portraits evoke both contemporary style and ancient gravitas, creating works that feel both rooted in history and relevant today.

Meri Adelman, trained as a fine art painter, has embraced ceramics to create dreamlike figures and vessels. Through organic patterns and spontaneous drawings, Adelman’s pieces blur the lines between reality and imagination, inviting viewers into realms of mystery and interpretation.

GRAVITY’S GRACE

November 8 – December 6
Opening Reception and Artist Talk, November 8, 5 -7pm

Allens Lane Art Center is pleased to present the solo exhibition by artist Aleena Glinski, Gravity’s Grace. Glinski uses cotton rope, plant dyes, bronze, and wood in her elegantly designed fiber and mixed media artworks. Utilizing the macramé processes as the core structure of her pieces, the artist honors labor traditionally undertaken by women. Glinski also uses natural dyeing processes, typically taking up to three days to complete, resulting in exquisite color and tonal range. 

Glinski spent her childhood on occupied Tohono O’Odam land presently known as Tucson, Arizona. Her practice includes the study of physics, dance, ecology, yoga, psychology, and indigenous epistemologies. Bringing these influences together, Glinski explores the symbolism of geometry and the intersection of grace and balance. She strives to create images that evoke peace, the archetypal feminine, and a sense of connectedness to the underlying fabric of the universe that weaves us together. Wondering at the mathematical spells that choreograph the mystery of the universe, the artist draws attention towards that which animates the world and promotes health and vitality for the body, the spirit, and the greater relational ecology of worlds. 

Ife Nii-Owoo: The Shape of My Heart

October 5 – November 2, 2024
Opening Reception: October 5, 5-7 pm
Artist Talk: October 5, 5:00 – 5:30 pm

Allens Lane Art Center is thrilled to present the work of Ife Nii-Owoo in her solo exhibition, The Shape of My Heart. The exhibition draws heavily on recent works completed in 2023-24. These are contrasted with several earlier works, which help to tell the story of her evolving aesthetic that has developed over the last 40 years of her career.

Utilizing hand-painted and printed papers, photo transfers of family images, markings of African writing scripts, and symbolism, Nii-Owoo constructs layered, complex, and captivating works of collage, painting, and mixed media sculptures.  The saturated and rich color and the carefully composed and balanced pictorial space found in her work evoke a range of emotions.

Nii-Owoo’s work is an ongoing investigation of history’s influence on our lives, the power of myth and symbol, and the complexity of family dynamics and ancestry. In 1978, during her graduate studies at the Institute of African Studies in Accra, Ghana, she began to explore and incorporate into her work various traditional African spiritual symbols and written scripts. These continue to resonate and have become a part of her works’ spiritual vocabulary.

The new pieces in the exhibition weave together grief and hope; are radiant and full of deep shadows, with forms and symbols cascading across the picture plane, at once chaotic and perfectly balanced. It is as if we are trying to hold the whole world of emotions in one gaze, creating a mesmerizing effect on the viewer. These works truly feel as the artist intended: “My work is the embodiment of joy, meditation, and prayer.”