We are sorry to announce that the holiday exhibit, TONIGHT December 18, 2009, will be our last exhibit!  So come on by and enjoy a holiday show by some of the artists from McJawn.com

Apparently there will be music too!

Everything will be priced under $100 and available to leave with that night.  Get your last minute holiday art shopping on!

Bodyscapes – New Photography by Kevin Loreaux

Runs now – October 8

Opening Reception:

Friday, September 18, 2009 from 5 – 9 PM

Kevin Loreaux is a Philadelphia based studio photographer. He attended the University of the Arts, where he received a B.S. degree in Industrial Design. Kevin is a self-taught photographer who began developing his skills initially by documenting his design work. Over time and through continuous self-study, he developed his photographic skills and established a particular look marked by stylized imagery. He is greatly influenced by classic Hollywood glamour of the 1940’s and 1950’s, as well as other vintage genres.

In 1999, Kevin opened a professional and fine art photography studio in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, where he began concentrating on portrait and fashion photography. He prefers to work in the studio using elaborate lighting set ups to create his evocative and cinematic images. Kevin’s work is characterized by clarity, composition and careful arrangement of people or objects. He is known for incorporating very tight shots and getting up-close to his subjects faces.  Kevin has developed a broad collection of work that ranges from images that are very soulful and introspective in nature to images that are frequently overtly sexual in nature- often with fetishistic subtexts. Several distinct series of work have been continually in progress for years, the latest focusing on abstract compositions of body form. Throughout the various bodies of work, Kevin retains a sense of unity through his style.

www.loreaux.com

This is J.L. Schnabel’s second show at Mew Gallery! A reception for the artist will be held on August 8 from 5 to 9 PM. Her new work will be shown through September 10th.

I Am Writing To You With My Eyes is a new collection of emotionally turbulent portraits, drawings and texts by Philadelphia based artist/writer JL Schnabel. As an extension of her previous exhibitions, the work is based on the idea of the feminine heart being displaced by psychic trauma, teetering on the edge of madness, and yet still retaining a desire to be hopeful. At the core of the work is the notion of non-verbal communication, shown in the exhibition in handwritten and typewritten texts and symbols such as masks, eye beams and vintage cameras. Also explored is the suggestion of body language and supernatural powers such as telepathy and hypnosis, particularly between the females in this body of work who are almost all twins. The inclusion of multiple pairings of twins; a symbol the artist obsessively uses in all facets of her creative work, hints at the separation and conflicts of the emotional and logical selves, rampant with doom and gloom. While some of the twins are depicted conjoined, others are decisively separated, further visualizing the divide between desire and fear.

JL Schnabel is a Philadelphia based painter and writer. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from The New School in N.Y.C in 2007. Aside from painting and writing, she also assembles Blood Milk jewelry, created with “haunted” antique objects and bone. www.bloodmilkjewelry.blogspot.com

Happy New Year People! We’ve partnered with Girl About Town to start 2009 off with an awesome exhibit. As I type, Ken Hinchey and Lauren Trzaska are hanging their spectacular collections of rock photos on our gallery walls. Subjects range from Patti Smith to Slash to M.I.A. to Jeff Buckley to the Roots to… oh I could go on for a while. Music lovers of every genre will find a shot of one of their favorites. You’ll have to come see them for yourself. Oh, and the work is priced affordably too, so, yeah, you’ll be able to take something home. And you will definitely want to.

Who: Mew Gallery & Girl About Town

What: Present I Heard You Looking

photos by Ken Hinchey & Lauren Trzaska

When: On view from January 2 - February 12

Opening Reception January 10 from 5 - 9 pm

Where: Mew Gallery! 906 Christian Street, in the Italian Market.

Why: You’ll see.

Lauren Trzaska is an honors graduate of Deptford High School and holds a Fine Arts Degree focusing in photography, Cum Laude, from Rosemont College. Lauren has been involved in the
entertainment business starting part time while in school with venue security and as a ‘runner,’ all the way up through Tour Management with various major recording artists.

Lauren has photographed many artists and toured throughout the world working at venues such as the Whisky A GoGo Calif, Hammerstein Ballroom NYC, Hammersmith Apollo London, to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in the Black Hills of Dakota. Lauren’s
ability to capture the essence from the fan perspective as well as
behind the scenes comfort puts the artist at ease. Well respected by such artists as John Mayer and Alice in Chains, Lauren has driven Dave Matthews around Philadelphia, took to the stage with Pearl Jam, and sung her school Alma Mater in a duet backstage with Patti
Smith in of all places, Finland. Ms. Trzaska currently operates out
of the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is a contributing photographer to numerous print and Internet publications.
Currently, Lauren has just finished a summer tour with John Mayer.

Ken Hinchey worked as a staff photographer, throughout the 90’s, for
alternative music magazine, B-Side. His photographs of personalities have
appeared in many local and international publications such as Philadelphia
City Paper, Philadelphia Inquirer and CMJ (The College Media Journal).
Ken learned the fundamentals of photography from award-winning Philadelphia
Bulletin photographer, Joseph McLaughlin, and holds a Pennsylvania
Certificate in Art Education. Ken majored in Education at Temple University
and has since earned his graduate degree from Holy Family University. He
currently resides in Langhorne, PA and teaches 6th grade in Churchville, PA.

Mew Gallery Presents
You Will Always Have Yourself
Artwork by Sarah Pohlman

Philadelphia, PA
June 7 - July 18, 2008

Opening Reception 6/14/8 from 5 to 9 PM

Mew Gallery
906 Christian Street
Philadelphia PA 19147
215.625.2424

Sarah Pohlman is an accomplished local artist and graduate of The University of the Arts. She was named the 2007 Library Fellows Award Winner by the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) for her limited-edition book Everything and Everyone: In the End We All Are One. The book was supported by the NMWA Library Fellows, whose objective is to encourage and promote book arts. Sarah’s exhibit at Mew Gallery will feature current multi-media 2-D work.

What does it mean to be human?

How strange it is to be anything.

My art work is an ongoing reflection on my observations of life and what it means to be human. Everyday I am amazed, perplexed, troubled and fascinated by things I perceive around me. People have always interested me because I am continually contemplating myself and the people around me in terms of our context in this world - specifically our interconnections.

This web of interconnection contains intrinsic value that will enable us to transcend, to prevail, to innovate in whatever circumstances arise. My work is a visual consideration of the connections we share universally such as birth/death, physicality, questioning of purpose, struggle, creativity, and love.

I began investigating the unity of humans on a purely biological level; more specifically I looked at the human brain and the neural networks of cells and impulses that control it. As a result of these works I began to consider the ways in which humans relate to each other beyond the physicality of our bodies. Currently, my work is more involved with connections on a spiritual level and the metamorphic journeys that weave us together - where we come from, where we are, and where we are going.

-Sarah Pohlman 2008

Mew Gallery Grand Opening Pics (courtesy of John Freeborn)

No, really. Thank you. Our grand opening was a humongous success.
Thank you to our friends and family for coming out to support us.
Thank you to Amelia Parker for spending your 12th birthday at our grand opening.
Thank you to our boyfriends, Adam and Tony for supporting us through all of our craziness.
Thank you to Jay who patiently helped us make the space really beautiful and suffered, pretty much daily, for months, through our renovation lunacy, oh, and happy birthday to you too!
Thank you to our many friends who volunteered help during the renovation lunacy (special shout out to Sarah Wenner who went above and beyond).
Thank you to our parents and siblings for helping out all day (extra special shoutouts to Janet McNeel for serving the overzealous horde also known as the wine line and to Farrell Parker who calmly worked the register all day long even after taking a plane to Philly, helping set up all night, getting 3 hours of sleep, and assisting in teaching 40 wild monkey children in the early morning).
Thank you to new customers who we met for the first time on Saturday.
Thank you to the magnificent artists and crafters who grace the space with the beautiful art and products that make Mew Gallery possible.
Thank you to Gleaners Cafe for the endless pots of coffee (and for our daily caffeine intake).
Thank you to Todd and the staff at The Butcher’s Cafe for the ridiculously delicious and gorgeous spread of food.
Thank you to The South Philly Tap Room for supplying us with beer and wine to quench the thirst of our parched guests.
Thank you to Whole Foods’ employees for the wonderful and diverse art on exhibit.
Thank you to Brett for the above mentioned art, the brownies, and, most of all, for the constant support.
Thank you to our DJ’s: DJ Beckerlicious, Rick Hass, and Jersey Dan for keeping the party jumpin’.
Thank you to Surreal Sound Studios for supplying the PA for above mentioned jumpin’ party music.
Thank you to The Fence Bells for a beautiful live set.
Thank you to The Italian Market/Bella Vista community for making us feel welcome.
Thank you to John Testa for being our new best friend.
and I think that’s it.
So, umm… Thank you.