Stop by the little berlin Fairgrounds on First Friday June 7th, to celebrate the beginning of summer, and the unveiling of our new additions to the space: creative seating constructed by artists Tim Eads and Tyler Kline as part of our park benches project. Come out, relax, have some food and have a SEAT! We will be grilling….
There is also an opening on the same night inside of our gallery.
Friday June 7th from 6pm-9pm
The little berlin Fairgrounds
2011 York st. Philadelphia PA 19125
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Alot has been happening at the Fairgrounds! We started out our season with a Spring Clean up, removing all of the wooden pallets that were lining the Boston street side of the lot. Seeds have recently been planted in anticipation for a beautiful vegetable and flower garden! This year we have a crew of 7 gardeners who are taking care of the planting, watering and maintenance efforts. If you would like to get on board with being in charge of a garden bed at the Fairgrounds, we still have a few vacant ones left, so please get in touch.
If you donated money to our Groupon campaign last year, we are finally going to install the promised park benches. Artists Tim Eads and Tyler Kline have been diligently working on building creative seating solutions and will be installing their park benches just in time for June First Friday (June 7th). We will be celebrating our new additions at the Fairgrounds with a cook out on that date so please be sure to mark your calendar!
little berlin is looking for sculptors and installation artists interested in completing a project at the Fairgrounds. If you are interested in installing your artwork in our space, we are accepting proposals on an ongoing basis at berlin.little@gmail.com.
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The Fairgrounds continue to Rock!
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The Fairgrounds Rock!
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On Friday, October 5th, a new set of sculptures were installed at the Little Berlin Fairgrounds. This sculpture series entitled “Ancient Structures for a New World” was created by the Cultural Arts Center at the Philadelphia Developmental Disabilities Corporation. The Cultural Arts Center at the PDDC strives to foster creativity, self-confidence, and community connections for adults with developmental disabilities through classes in visual arts, music, dance and theater, outings to cultural venues, and opportunities to work with other artists and arts-based organizations. This particular project was spearheaded by PDDC employees and Philadelphia based artists Emily Royer and Emilia Brintnall, and involved over 80 artists and participants.
The installation is made up of three sculptures, two that were constructed on the PDDC campus and transported to the Little Berlin Fairgrounds, and one that was built on site. The two cone-shaped sculptures that were built at the PDDC are a mosaic of colorful painted rocks, hand-made ceramics, glass and other objects created by the PDDC Cultural Arts Center artists over a period of a few months and bound together in cement. The third sculpture is a pyramid composed of bricks that were gathered by the PDDC artists during a few field trips to the Little Berlin Fairgrounds and the surrounding Kensington neighborhood. The artists decorated the gathered bricks with painted designs, and a colorful pyramid was erected! Before sealing up the pyramid, PDDC staff member and artist Michael Gerkovich included certain items of cultural significance such as books, CDs and video tapes, inside to be sealed like a time capsule and preserved for future discovery.
The creation of this sculpture series was an amazing effort by many people to create a collaborative, community-based public art piece. These structures are built as monuments to human creativity and community, and a way to give new life to the old and ruined structures in the neighborhood.
constructing the pyramid, photo: Matthew Reed
The finished installation! photo: Laurence Kelley
A huge amount of physical effort was involved in the creation, installation and transportation of these sculptures, so Little Berlin would like to thank PDDC staff Emily Royer, Emilia Brintnall, Michael Gerkovich,Siobhan Koslap, Sarah Smothers, Matt Reed, Madeline Reyes, Cody Lutz, Sharay Ragsdale, Valerie Watson, Caleb Dunn, Chanel Green, Darcel Jamesfor all their creativity and hard work to make this happen.
Little Berlin would also like to thank PDDC participants for their amazing art work:
These sculptures are the most colorful installation at the Little Berlin Fairgrounds and we hope they will serve as a way to brighten the space and offer some artistic inspiration to the surrounding neighborhood.