Weekly Entertainment Guide – Bug Fest, PA Dutch Festival & Summer Exhibits

Check out bugs, crabs, peaches, the PA Dutch Festival, summer exhibits in Philly, and more.

What’s Happening

The 25th annual Pennsylvania Dutch Festival

The 25th annual Pennsylvania Dutch Festival takes place Thursday, August 7 through Saturday, August 9, 8am-5pm, featuring handmade crafts and traditional food at Reading Terminal Market. Enjoy homemade ice cream made in an old-fashioned churn-style ice cream maker, Pennsylvania Dutch sausages, apple dumplings, funnel cakes (which are originally Pennsylvania Dutch), donuts, and much more. On Saturday, take an Amish buggy ride in horse drawn wagons, pet a farm animal, and listen to live bluegrass music at 12th and Arch Streets, Philadelphia.

Bug Fest at Academy of Natural Sciences

In its seventh year, Bug Fest crawls into the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Saturday, August 9 and Sunday, August 10, 10am-5pm, focusing this year on the beauty of bugs and how insects have inspired works of art and culture. Expect scores of live bugs, bug cooking demonstrations and tastings, even bugs creating their own works of art, and a new exhibit “Pinned: Insect Art, Insect Science,” featuring Christopher Marley’s mosaics that show the methods scientists use to preserve and store insects. The display is featured alongside the Academy’s own scientific specimen displays, taken from their vast collection of 4 million preserved insects. Included with regular admission, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.

Celebrate National Peach Month

August is Peach Month and Linvilla Orchard celebrates with their annual Peach Festival, Saturday, August 9, with live music, story time, costumed characters and other children’s activities, homemade jam making, and the opportunity to pick your own peaches and other fresh fruits and vegetables, beginning at 8am, 137 W. Knowlton Road Media, PA. Rain date is August 10.  Peddler’s Village hosts a Peach Festival and Sidewalk Sale, Saturday, August 9 and Sunday, August 10, 10am-6pm both days with peach treats, musical entertainment and more, Routes 202 & 263, Lahaska, PA. Free admission and free parking.

Cape May Craft Beer & Crab Festival

The 3rd annual Cape May Craft Beer & Crab Festival returns Saturday, August 9, 11am-8pm, with live music all day on an outdoor stage featuring New Pony, The Herb Moore Trio, Devi, Audrey Snow, Cape May Jazz Trio and more, plus crafts, children’s activities, art, and beer and crabs, at the Emlen Physick Estate, 1048 Washington Street, Cape May, NJ. Admission is free with charges for some activities and food. Free parking available with shuttle service.

Bad Kitten Improv

The brand new independent improv comedy group Bad Kitten performs Friday, August 8 at the Arts Parlor, 1170 South Broad Street, Philadelphia. The series, called The Brewery, features FTC, Bill Parks, stand up by Erin Mulville, and an improv competition. Doors open at 7pm and show is at 7:30pm.

Summer Exhibits

“Spiritual Strivings” at PAFA

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts hosts a summer exhibition focusing on two centuries of African American Art. Spiritual Strivings: A Celebration of African American Works on Paper includes diverse selections of drawings, etchings, lithographs, watercolors, pastels, acrylics, gouaches, linoleum and color screen prints taken from one of the country’s preeminent collections of African American art, the Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of San Antonio, Texas. The museum-wide exhibition, with over 90 works of art on view, can be seen in both the Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building and in the Historic Landmark Building. Artists include Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White, and Alma Thomas. Philadelphia area artists include Samuel J. Brown, Paul Keene, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Horace Pippin, and Dox Thrash. Also featured are works by living artists Glen Ligon, Whitfield Lovell, Sam Middleton, Ike Morgan, and Allyson Saar. Most of the works were produced during the 1930s and 1940s. Related programs and events include “The Artist’s Journal” Workshop, Watercolor workshop, and more, 118-128 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia. Pictured: Jitterbugs III, 1941-42, William Henry Johnson (1901-1971).

“Beyond the Wall” at Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens

Beyond the Wall, a partnership between Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens and the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, displays works by participants in the Restorative Justice Program, that involves inmates, probationers, parolees and juvenile offenders in art instruction, mural-making and community service work. The exhibit features expressive mixed-media paintings, drawings, mosaics, collaborative works and graphic posters that reflect their efforts of contribution, healing and restoration, through August 24, 1020-1022 South Street, Philadelphia.

“Jefferson, Philadelphia, and the Founding of a Nation”

Jefferson, Philadelphia, and the Founding of a Nation, an exhibit commemorating the third president’s long association with Philadelphia, is on display through December 28 at the American Philosophical Society (APS) Museum. The first half focuses on Thomas Jefferson’s visits to the city in 1775 and 1776, when, as a delegate to the Continental Congress, he was selected to draft the Declaration of Independence. A handwritten copy of the draft, which includes annotations showing passages that were later deleted by Congress, is on display. The second half of the exhibition shows Philadelphia as it was in the last decade of the 18th century, when Jefferson returned to serve as Secretary of State for George Washington and Vice President for John Adams. In 1797, he became president of the American Philosophical Society (APS) and continued in that role until 1814, before, during, and after he was President of the United States, Philosophical Hall, 104 South 5th Street, Philadelphia. This is the first of three exhibitions on Jefferson to be held at the American Philosophical Society through 2016.

Kazumi Tanaka: Mother and Child Reunion

On display at Fabric Workshop and Museum is Kazumi Tanaka: Mother and Child Reunion, the initial exhibition of their ongoing series “Convergence: Declarations of Independence,” focusing on artists working outside traditional centers of the art world. The display features new work by the Artist-in-Residence and Japanese-American sculptor based in Beacon, New York and tells a story of family, tradition, and self. The artist, known for creating detailed and finely-crafted objects using a variety of materials such as wood, hair, metal, and Japanese fabrics, traveled back to Japan for inspiration. The result is her latest works including a series of miniature Tansu – traditional Japanese storage cabinets – and processes that feature dye and fabric manipulation, from time spent with a traditional Japanese dye master. The exhibit includes a video documenting Tanaka’s travels through November 9, 1214 Arch Street, Philadelphia.

Gross McCleaf Gallery’s Group Exhibition

A new group exhibition at Gross McCleaf Gallery focuses on the question Should I Stay or Should I Go? and individual responses to the central question by artists Greg Biché, Mariel Capanna, Robyn Cooper, Matthew Herzog, Claire Kincade, Bannister McKenzie, Madeline Peckenpaugh, Christian Platt, Ashley Wick, and Douglas Witmer. Opening reception is Friday, August 8, 5pm-7pm and the exhibit is on display through August 29, 127 S. Sixteenth Street, Philadelphia. Pictured: Besitos, by Robyn Cooper.

“All Different Colors” at Fleisher/Ollman

Fleisher/Ollman Gallery’s summer exhibition focuses on the creativity of people with developmental disabilities and behavioral health disorders. All Different Colors features a variety of colors and perspectives of 19 artists from 3 Delaware Valley studios, including Center for Creative Works, The Creative Vision Factory, and Oasis. The studios share the common goal of integrating the artists into the local community through exhibitions, workshops, and employment opportunities and the works touch on popular culture, life experiences, friends and family, through August 30, 1216 Arch Street, 5A, Philadelphia. Pictured: All Different Colors, by Jenny Cox, 2014

PPAC’s Photography Competition & Exhibition

Philadelphia Photo Arts Center hosts the 5th Annual Contemporary Photography Competition and Exhibition, featuring 45 photographers from around the country who participated and were selected by jurors Brian Paul Clamp and Mary Ellen Mark. Participants include Susan Bank, Elliott Brown, Sarah Fuller, Chelsea Griffith, Robert Kalman, Daniel Lobdell (pictured), Charles Mintz, and Tian Yang, on display through August 30, 1400 N. American Street, Suite 103, Philadelphia. PPAC is devoted to the study, practice and appreciation of photography in the Philadelphia region.

“RSVP” at LGTripp Gallery

LGTripp Gallery presents their summer invitational, RSVP, selected artists working in diverse media with individualized processes and styles and varying levels of art education and exhibition experience. The group show features paintings, installations, sculpture, prints and photographs by 13 artists from the Philadelphia region including Lynn B. Denton, Albert Fung, Raphael Fenton-Spaid, Lori Evensen, Kenneth Schiano, and Stuart Lehrman, whose work is part of a series of photos taken on the streets of Philadelphia (pictured). His photographs are shot with a digital camera and printed with archival inks and dye on paper and aluminum. On display through August 16, 47 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia.

Freedom Summer of 1964 in Mississippi at AIGA

AIGA Philadelphia Space hosts an exhibit celebrating the 50th anniversary of Joel Katz’s photographs from the Freedom Summer of 1964 in Mississippi. Katz, a teacher at the University of the Arts, recounts his experience chronicling the daily lives of ordinary people while confronting the racial tensions of the civil rights era with his new book “And I Said No Lord: A Twenty-One-Year-Old in Mississippi in 1964,” being published by the University of Alabama Press. The exhibit is on display through August 31 at 72 North 2nd Street (at Arch Street), Philadelphia.

Sassy Says…

Sassy offers the following recommendations for fun dog-friendly events this week!

 

 

Art is After Dark: Doggy Days of Summer

The Delaware Art Museum offers special Friday night activities and this week hosts Art is After Dark: Doggy Days of Summer, Friday, August 8, 6pm-10pm, partnering with the Delaware Humane Association. The evening includes pooch portraits by Sam Mylin, adoptable dogs, tours of the Copeland Sculpture Garden, treats for four-legged friends and drinks for their owners. Stroll the galleries and enjoy workshops, 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, DE.

Family Weekend: Pets in Prison at Eastern State Penitentiary

Family Weekend: Pets in Prison takes place at Eastern State Penitentiary, Saturday, August 9 and Sunday, August 10, 12pm-4pm. Learn about the role animals played throughout the historic prison’s history, meet and adopt shelter dogs from a local prison-training program and partake in interactive animal themed activities including a scavenger hunt. Hear about the creatures that once lived behind the walls, and see a dog training expo with New Leash on Life USA, 2027 Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia. For all ages.

 

 

To submit an event to be considered for the Weekly Entertainment Guide email Robin Bloom at artscalendar@whyy.org.