< < arts & new media

Mark My Words: Visual/Verbal Translations of Power

by Dawn Kramlich

“There are few, if any, things more powerful and political than language,” says local artist Dawn Kramlich. We are pleased to announce the Barbara Crawford Gallery spring Art Show: Mark My Words, which features Kramlich’s work using various 2-D and 3-D media, including encaustic paintings (a technique in which pigments are mixed with hot liquid wax), and laser-cut matboard installations.

What happens when artwork is both a painting and a poem? Or, when a poem is also an occupant of three-dimensional space? Kramlich, fascinated with the text+image relationship, centers her work on these questions due to “our existence in a society that barrages individuals with memes, ads, and digital conversations.” As a member of the millennial generation, she is keenly aware of—and influenced by—societal interpersonal shifts due to computer-mediated communication, and through her lens as a LGBTQ+ American woman, she often uses common phrases in her work to challenge or analyze power dynamics in society.

On View at SCH: February 9 - March 24, 2023

Dawn Kramlich: Mark My Words, Minds' Forge

Questions?

The exhibition will run through March 24, 2023. To schedule a visit to the gallery, please reach out to director of Arts Megan Monaghan or Barbara Crawford liaison Heidi Painter. Artwork inquiries can be directed to Dawn Kramlich at dawnkramlich@gmail.com.

PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS AND HAPPENINGS

at SCH's Barbara Crawford Gallery

Chronic Creativity: Jessie Jane Lewis (2022-2023)

ART + ACTIVISM BY JESSIE JANE LEWIS

Jessie Jane Lewis (1947 - 2011) was an artist and disability rights activist who graduated from Springside School in 1965. Growing up she loved surfing, skateboarding, and adventure. After receiving degrees from the former Philadelphia College of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts she worked in painting, printmaking, and performance art. She created profound video work focusing on artists with disabilities, the challenges they live with, and how they persevere to maintain their practice. She was a member of the board of trustees at the Woodmere Art Museum and worked as an art therapist for more than 20 years. She’s most well known for her work as an activist for people with disabilities. In the late 1990s, Ms. Lewis created the Voter Accessibility Reform Initiative. After many years of work, she convinced the city to honor the rights of disabled Philadelphians to vote at accessible polling places on machines that can accommodate those in wheelchairs, people who are blind or with low vision, and people who are deaf or hearing impaired.

On View at SCH: October 13, 2022 - January 26, 2023

Exhibition Summary

Jessie Jane Lewis protesting in wheelchair in Philadelphia

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Jessie Jane Lewis was an Artist and Disability Rights Activist. Her artistic practice was grand, encompassing painting, printmaking, illustration, and video performance. Her work was widely shown in Philadelphia and beyond including being accepted to the Whitney Biennial in 1994. In addition to her practice, she was a Recreational Therapist at Montgomery Hospital specializing in the elderly population. One of her goals as a counselor was to teach those who become disabled to live a productive lifestyle. She died from the effects of Multiple Sclerosis after living with, working with, and challenging it for more than half of her life.

Ms. Lewis is best known for her Art and Activism, fighting for the rights of Disabled Americans to vote at accessible polling places on accessible voting machines. She is the reason that every polling location in the City of Philadelphia is accessible to all people with disabilities and every voting machine can accommodate those in wheelchairs, people who are blind or with low vision and people who are deaf or hearing impaired.

All of the work in this exhibition documents her journey, and the journey of her body after MS began to claim her sight, her legs, her muscles, but never her spirit. In her own words Lewis stated that she became a part of a minority that any of us can join in an instant. She examined this vulnerability and created work that was self-referential focusing on limitations and barriers.

Programming and workshops will include a student art making project that will take place in the gallery based on a body of work by Ms. Lewis, special guests will be invited to speak to students about Voters Rights and Accessibility, video screenings for the school community and special alumni events.

Any questions can be directed to curator Melissa Haims at inquiry@mmhaims.com.

Plate Project

Sam Feinstein (2020-2021)

Sam Feinstein: The Early Years

Run Dates: 2020-2021

Sam Feinstein: The Early Years was an exhibition at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy that was on display from September 26, 2020 to Spring 2021 in conjunction with Group ’55, Midcentury Abstraction in Philadelphia, and Sam Feinstein: Immersive Abstraction at the Woodmere Art Museum.

Painter, illustrator, filmmaker, and writer, Sam Feinstein was the Director of the Arts and taught at Chestnut Hill Academy from 1938-1942. The exhibition will feature his watercolors, oil paintings, and illustrations from the 1930s until the mid-1950s, showing his journey towards abstract expressionism—including the movie, Hans Hofmann, where Sam clearly explains Hofmann's artistic philosophy by capturing the artist immersed in the act of painting The Window, 1950. Weekend art classes and opportunities to view both exhibits will be available.

This exhibition was made possible through the Samuel L. Feinstein Trust.

our sincerest gratitude

This exhibition could not be made possible without the generous support, mentorship and generosity of Patricia Stark Feinstein and the Samuel L. Feinstein Trust. She shared stories, a wealth of information, archival photos, films, research, and guided us in choosing materials and canvases for the exhibit.

Thank you to the Chestnut Hill Academy and Springside School alumni who passionately shared their stories of Barbara Crawford and Sam Feinstein with us: John Wenzel ‘41, Theodore Clattenberg ‘59, Thorpe Feidt ‘59, Bonnie Warwick ‘61, Binney Meigs ‘72, and Lewis Tanner Moore '71.

We extend our thanks to Sascha Feinstein who generously contributed an essay on his father for our catalogue. Thank you also to Ellen Fishman (P ‘11, ‘15), current Director of the Arts and New Media at SCH, for spearheading this venture; Melissa Maddonni Haims (P ‘21), parent volunteer and curator of the arts at SCH; Pia Druggan (P ‘17), art historian and assistant curator for this show.

View the Feinstein catalogue

The Legacy of Feinstein at SCH

The journey that led to this exhibition began in the Fall of 2018, when Patricia Stark Feinstein approached the school and generously offered to loan SCH a canvas by her late husband Sam Feinstein. Tasked with selecting an original Sam Feinstein piece, Ellen Fishman, Melissa Maddonni Haims and Pia Druggan set off to meet Pat at an arts storing facility in New York City. Surrounded by a vast collection of spectacular art from this first-generation abstract expressionist artist in America, Pat shared stories of Sam, his life, his years at Chestnut Hill Academy (CHA), the boys school at the time, and his marriage to Barbara Anne Crawford, who took over Sam’s role at CHA in 1942 and taught there for almost 50 years. On that fortuitous day, the Woodmere Art Museum team led by William Valerio was also present, and the idea of collaborating in a joint exhibition was discussed.

The Sam L. Feinstein Trust generously loaned us three beautiful and breathtaking abstract canvases, along with some of Sam's early figurative works, that currently adorn the walls of the McCausland Lower School at SCH. When one walks into the main entrance of the building, both Starry Night and Opposing Elements capture the eye of the observer with their bright colors of swirling blue, red and yellow hues. Upstairs in the Doran Hall, you cannot help but be mesmerized and immersed into the explosion of colors and light coming from the canvas Untitled, 1990-2002.

Patricia Stark Feinstein Comes to SCH

in the sch ARTS curriculum

In the Fall of 2019, Pat Feinstein spent the day with students of all ages and introduced them to Sam Feinstein's work. The students were energized by her stories about Sam and her insight into ways to “see” these abstract works of art. Students were also introduced to Sam’s earlier figurative work and they lined up for questions at the end of each session.

ARTS & NEW MEDIA ProgramS

Music, performing arts, visual arts, and new media—SCH provides an extensive and ever-growing list of creative opportunities throughout all divisions. Beginning with Pre-K, students are taught skills woven around artistic principles, concepts, and habits that grow in complexity from year to year.

Learn more about
OUR Arts & New Media OFFERINGS.

Dawn Kramlich

Interested
iN A PERSONAL TOUR?

Visit SCH's Barbara Crawford Gallery with a member of the SCH Arts Department.

The gallery is open to the public by appointment only. Note: tours will take place when school is not in session.

Questions? Email our Director of Arts, Megan Monaghan, at mmonaghan@sch.org