Art in the Open: the Exhibition Opens June 15 at Independence Seaport Museum

Philadelphia, PA (May 29, 2012) Independence Seaport Museum will partner with Art in the Open to present Art in the Open: the Exhibition. The exhibition, located in the Museum’s 2nd floor Community Gallery, presents works from artists who participated in the recent Art in the Open event. Art in the Open: the Exhibition will be on display at the Seaport Museum from June 15 to Sept. 9 and is included with regular museum admission.

John Brady, the Seaport Museum’s CEO, said, “We look forward to bringing the excitement of Art in the Open to the Seaport Museum. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience it for the first time or to revisit the works in a different setting.” The annual event transforms the banks of the Schuylkill River into an artists’ studio, bringing the action and intrigue of artists making their own are into the public realm. This year’s Art in the Open event took place May 18-20.

The Seaport Museum’s Community Gallery series debuted in February with the exhibition Past to Present: Tattoo Paintings, a collection of over 150 pieces of tattoo flash that was curated by a local tattoo artist and organizer of the Philadelphia Tattoo Convention. The Community Gallery features rotating exhibitions with a guest curator from the Philadelphia community working in partnership with the Museum.

Craig Bruns, chief curator at Seaport Museum, said, “We are thrilled to use this space to explore our water-bound city through different perspectives.”

Art in the Open aims to draw attention to the city’s outdoor spaces and historic waterways through the action of artists expressing their creativity within these environments. This citywide event took place along the Schuylkill River and transformed the Schuylkill River banks into art studios that offered inspiration of the urban landscape for the artists.

Art in the Open debuted in June 2010, bringing a selected group of artists to the Schuylkill Banks - from the historic Fairmount Water Works to Bartram's Garden - to inspire new ways of seeing the river and the city it runs through. Partnering civic and cultural institutions throughout Philadelphia also offer extensive opportunities for public engagement with the event, showcasing the vibrant community of working artists, galleries and institutions that make Philadelphia a major Urban Art Center, and its two rivers: waterways which continue to inspire creative response and also serve as an ecologically critical lifeline for its residents.

Independence Seaport Museum maintains one of the largest maritime collections in North America, combining more than 25,000 artifacts with hands-on exhibits and large-scale ship models. In addition, the Museum has a traditional wooden boat shop, the J. Welles Henderson Archives and Library and a 530-seat concert hall with sound stage quality acoustics. The Museum also includes two National Historic Landmark ships—the Spanish-American War Cruiser, Olympia, and the World War II Submarine Becuna. Located at Philadelphia’s Penn’s Landing Waterfront, the museum is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Visit www.phillyseaport.org for more information.

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