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                          CITY HALL GETS BOMBED…
                     as part of FiberPhiladelphia2012


Philadelphia  –  The City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the
Creative    Economy    presents    two    exhibitions   for   this   year’s
FiberPhiladelphia2012 festival on fiber arts: Philadelphia Yarnbombing 101,
featuring  Isknits’ Jessie Hemmons, the Philadelphia Yarnbomber with fellow
street artist Christina LeFevre and Streets Dept blogger Conrad Benner; and
Meta-Fiber,  a  group exhibition juried by Sarah Archer of the Philadelphia
Art  Alliance,  featuring  works  made  from repurposed, recycled materials
utilizing  fiber  techniques.    The exhibits are located in City Hall’s NE
corner entrance, in the Art Gallery at City Hall (Room 116) and the 1st and
2nd  floor  display  cases.   A  joint reception is scheduled for Thursday,
March 15th from 5-7pm.

Philadelphia Yarnbombing 101 brings indoors a relatively new form of street
art that has gone global in recent years – yarnbombing, also often referred
to as graffiti, urban or guerilla knitting.

Jessie  Hemmons,  Philadelphia’s  yarnbomber  refers  to  it  as being more
feminine:   “It’s  graffiti  with  grandma  sweaters.”   Her  focus  is  on
facilitating  a  shift  in  the  perception  of  a  street  art, by using a
typically  feminine  craft  to  question  the role that gender plays in the
world of non-commissioned public art.

As  part  of  the  exhibition, Hemmons with the assistance of fellow street
knitter   Christina   LeFevre  yarnbombed  two  prominent,  architecturally
detailed  pillars  in the gallery, objects of a by-gone era once part of an
elaborate heating system in City Hall. Much of the original interior of the
111  year  old  building  is  neglected  or covered with unappealing modern
conveniences  such  as  office ceiling tiles.  Although this project brings
street  art  indoors, its focus remains on bringing attention to an area of
the  public  environment  that  either  go  unnoticed  or  are purposefully
ignored, in hopes to initiate a conversation.

To  date,  the  Philadelphia  Yarnbomber  has  struck  over  30 times, from
lightposts to trees, bicycle racks, bus shelters and Septa trains.  She has
even  yarnbombed  a  torpedo  in  Alexandria, VA.  Yes, a torpedo!  Some of
these  bombs will be featured as photographs and digitals by Conrad Benner,
the  creator  of  StreetsDept.com  who has followed her renegade public art
since  she first bombed the Market - Frankford El.  Benner’s blog documents
street  art  in  all its forms throughout the city of Philadelphia.  He has
often been mistakened for the City’s actual Streets Dept.

A  sign  that  yarnbombing  - a more gentle form of street art - is gaining
more  public acceptance on Main St., Hemmons and LeFevre recently completed
a  commissioned yarnbomb of newly planted trees for the City’s Water Dept’s
water   management  campaign  -  “Soak  It  Up,  Philly”.  For  more  info:
http://phillywatersheds.org/soakitup.

Meta-Fiber  was  juried  by  Sarah  Archer,  the  new  Chief Curator at the
Philadelphia  Art  Alliance,  which is dedicated to innovative contemporary
art  with a focus on craft and design.  The Alliance is one of the partners
in  this year’s FiberPhiladelphia festival along with Inliquid, a nonprofit
dedicated  to  providing  opportunities and exposure for visual artists and
designers.

Meta-Fiber  features  works using nontraditional materials, using fiber and
textile art-making techniques.

The 15 participating artists for Meta-Fiber are:
Loo Bain, Ellie Brown, Tegan Brozyna, Carol Cole, Alyson Giantisco, John
Jonik, Stephanie Koenig, Won Kyoung Lee, Karen McLaughlin, Sarah
Muehlbauer, Kathryn Pannepacker, Judith Rosenthal, Emily Manalo Ruiz,
Patricia M. Siembora, and Emily White.
Both  exhibits run thru May 11th on the first and second floors, NE corner.
For      more      information     on     FiberPhiladelphia2012,     visit:
www.fiberphiladelphia.org.   Images  for  both  exhibits  can  be viewed on
www.facebook.com/artincityhall.

                                   ####

The mission of the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the
Creative Economy is to support and promote arts, culture and the creative
industries; and to develop partnerships and coordinate efforts that weave
arts, culture and creativity into the economic and social fabric of the
City.

For more information on the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative
Economy, visit: www.phila.gov/arts and www.creativephl.org

The exhibitons at City Hall are supported by an independent City Hall
Exhibitions Advisory Committee made up of local arts professionals.  For
more information, visit: www.phila.gov/artincityhall or join us on
www.Facebook.com/artincityhall.

**********************************************************
Tu Huynh, City Hall Exhibitions Manager
City of Philadelphia, Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy
116 City Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone:   215-686-9912
Fax:       215-686-4520
www.phila.gov/artincityhall
Email:    artincityhall@phila.gov