The Binder Project makes its curatorial debut at the Painted Bride Art Center with a collective exhibition of 20 artists from a variety of disciplines. This latest project, Transform, will be on view for one-week beginning with their reception Friday, April 12th, 5-9 pm.

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Transform features work that explores the effects of growth and change and how everyday experiences, places, beliefs, and stories can be transformative. The Binder Project is in itself a transformative endeavor tackling the discourse of physical vs. virtual exhibition spaces. The team has worked to mirror the concept of the exhibition, enlisting technology that transforms the conventional gallery space into a widely-accessible digital reality.

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The Binder Project is part of an ongoing experiment in the possibilities of the online curatorial enterprise. Created by Grace Harmer, a senior Art History student at Tyler School of Art, The Binder Project aims to build relationships between underrepresented and emerging artists while generating an accessible digital space for their works to flourish and be seen around the globe.

Artists

Aquilla Abdulqhani

Nathanael Assega

Kristian Burks

Louise Diamond

Jessica Dueck

Jeff Gordon

Ali Graulty

James Haitchwai

Luke Hall

Peach Model - Kaity Heger

Corey L. Cooper

Carter Horton

Ben Kraemer

Chelsey Luster

Grace Maas

BRiiiMM - Briana Maldonado

Nicole Noel

David Pratt

Marta Sanchez

Emma Stevens

Rachel Wright

Click on the image and it will lead you to the virtual gallery. 

INSTRUCTIONS

“These pieces came at a particularly hard point in my life, I had just gotten out of a physically and verbally abusive relationship. I'm a native Philadelphian artist utilizing oil and acrylic on canvas and have been doing art my whole life. But during this period in my life I found myself at a point of creative desperation. I couldn't make a thing. I became separated from my first loves, myself and my art.

These were the first things I started and completed, and they represent a transformative period in my life, when I got away from all that plagued me and was able to create again after so long. The piece Lost One actually started as an album cover for my ex, we broke up before I completed it and I manipulated it and turned it into something of my own, Insides was finished a short time after that and both were presented at my first self curated art show. Going from this creative slump, to making something for him, to changing it, and presenting it in a show where people came to see me and the art I was separated from has been the most transformative pieces I have ever made.”

AQUILLA ABDULQHANI

Figure 1: INSIDES

Figure 2: LOST ONE

Oil paint on canvas

16x18”

*not for sale

@komerebii

“Each of these pieces focuses on transformation in both the concept and process of making. The portraits are meant to show how the act of change can allow for a new perspective, exalting the person in the process. The works begin as a digital painting which is then printed traditionally using a screen printing process. This also resembles the gradual nature of change.”

NATHANAEL ASSEGA

EXALTED

Screen Print

9x10"

*$100 each

@natezface

“My name is Kristian, I am a 21-year-old artist. I have pursued art ever since I was a child. Something that started as a pastime for me became a passion. My piece Breaking Free represents a  shedding of the old. In the piece, she is separating from the old her and becoming new. The piece fits with Transform because when I think of transforming I think of rebirth or metamorphosis like the butterfly, which was my inspiration behind my series showing every step towards her ultimately being free”

KRISTIAN 

BURKS

BREAKING FREE (5 piece series)

Digital Prints

8x10"

*$125 together/$30 each SOLD

@designsbykb_

designsbykb.onuniverse.com

“I began creating art as a model when I was 16 years old. I studied art & design at The Community College of Philadelphia, then photography, sculpture, and wheel throwing at The University of Pennsylvania for a short while. I recently graduated from massage therapy school and currently develop my craft as a photographer shooting mostly nude self-portraiture.

Before this piece was even an idea, an image of myself photographed by Ben London was particularly inspiring to me. The image, erotic in nature, I wanted to somehow recreate and eventually decided on experimenting with acrylics as it was recommended by my best friend to try at least once. This piece is symbolic of change within my art. It represents the merging of a new medium with my love for both posing and painting vibrant abstractions; a consolidation, a transformation.”

LOUISE

DIAMOND

SELF PORTRAIT

Acrylic Paint

24x36"

*$400

@tripsafely

“The pieces, The Call Box and Who Ya Gonna Call? represent the forgotten and worn aspects of cities that often get overlooked. The way that people interact and treat these surroundings shows a change or transformation that needs to happen with the way we interact and respect our environment.

Philadelphia based artist, Jessica Dueck, has been honing her skills as a painter for the past several years.  Art has always been an important aspect to Jessica which has inspired her to study painting at Tyler School of Art. Primarily an oil painter, Jessica is currently exploring the often overlooked and used parts of the city surrounding her and how these parts interact with the people living within the city.”

JESSICA

DUECK

Figure 1: WHO YA GONNA CALL?

Figure 2: THE CALL BOX

Oil paint on pane

42x60”

20x36"

*not for sale

@jessica.s.art

JEFF

GORDON

NEW CREATION MYTH

Acrylic, crayon stick, graphite on found object and paper

24x23.5" x1" / double sided

*$200

@jeffxgordon95

“Jeff Gordon is a self-taught painter and community advocate who works to empower minoritized groups through social impact art programs and street art. Historical and mythological western symbolism are recurrent throughout Jeff’s work. These cross temporal imagery are the building blocks of a new narrative of history that twists the lens of white supremacy that lays rooted in euro-western culture.

New Creation Myth is a visual reconstruction of the Judeo-Christian creation myth. This work consolidates the seven day creation story into an abstract configuration that narrates the creation of the universe, the Earth, humankind and subsequent culture.”

ALI

GRAULTY

@allgraultydesigns

TINY DANCER

Digital Print

15x15"

*not for sale

“My digital piece, Tiny Dancer, I wanted to take the idea of transformation and show it through dance. The ability of the human body to transform and contort itself in different ways is beautiful, and dance is the best example of this. I displayed transformation in a physical sense rather than emotional growth in this drawing. I am also amazed with dance because personally… I can’t dance to save my life. I enjoy creating digital art in hard edge style with bold color pallets. I tend to create art revolving around the human body both physically and emotionally. I wanted to be a surgeon before I realized that I could study art. I took my interest in the human body and translated that into my art. The inspiration of this drawing was my friend and roommate Gabby. She has photographs of herself dancing and I wanted to show one of those in my artistic style.”

JAMES

H-Y

@james_is_dead_

jamesisdead.com

EUREKA!

Photography

11x17"

*not for sale

“I am a mixed-media artist and photographer based in Philly, always looking for new boundaries and buttons to push. I am driven by the belief that art is meant to be felt, not understood.

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This piece is a meditation on how fleeting inspiration can be. Anyone can have a bright idea, but then comes the hard part: following through. Sometimes an idea drifts away on its own, sometimes it's ignored or neglected, sometimes it's purposely smashed to bits. I took these photos during my brief stint in art school, where the pressure to live up to someone else's ideas instead of your own crushes many an artist's will to thrive. How do you keep the light on and shining bright? I've been working on figuring that out ever since.”

PEACH

MODEL

@peachmodel

PEACH ON BEACH

Acrylic on Board

36x48"

*$300

“The shape-shifting science of image-making has no limits. I hold this creative freedom to me closely. In my work, honing a concept is imperative; however, the way in which I put that idea to canvas with color and shape, is of the essence. I am a planner, so I typically have a blueprint for each work before even beginning the final piece. And still, I never truly know what the end result will be.

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I attempt to capture reality in an uplifting way. That is not to say my paintings are naive, just a dose of the perspective I believe the world’s soul may need to see.”

COREY L.

COOPER

@thecooperproject73

HEALING

Acrylic

24x24"

*$800

“My art speaks to how the spirit is incorporated into the physical world.. Each painting starts off in an organic way in which I spray random colors of MTN 94 spray paint across the canvas. Then a series of taping & spraying until the blank canvas transforms into fertile ground for detailed brush strokes.. Now this particular painting started the same images and symbols seem to highlight themselves for Me.. Healing Me as I painted my past demons being defeated by my higher self through the accusation of knowledge. A colorful display of Time & Space being dissected to calculate the precise moment the healing occurred..”

CARTER

HORTON

@carterthebull

COLLAGED SELF-PORTRAIT

Photoprint

12x12"

*$50

“The piece at hand is a layered self portrait of color-aid that when observed from a distance gives the suggestion of the likeness of the artist. The piece in its original state is constructed of small individual pieces of paper which congregate into a form. A cliche applicable to the piece is "out of many, one," a phrase found on federal currency.

The artist is currently a freshman at Drexel University studying Fashion Design. His preferred mediums include collage, charcoal drawings and acrylic and oil paintings.”

BEN

KRAEMER

@benjaminkraemer

benjaminkraemer.com

THE LIGHT THAT GOT LOST -- ALTAR & MEMORIAL

4 Color Risograph on Rives Lightweight

11x15"

*not for sale

“Over the last year, I have been questioning my place as a mixed-race person of color, and the space that I create and occupy. I've been investigating how my identity has been constructed through images, icons, memory, and sentimentality. Through the appropriation of images found on the internet, movies, TV shows, and my own archive of photography and drawings I have been creating an index which I draw upon in my work. This piece is the result of an edited Gerhard Richter painting, a notification from CoStar, a quote from The Office, a text from my partner, and a photo of my grandfather.”

CHELSEY

LUSTER

@chelseylusterart

chelseyluster.weebly.com

ANGEL

Oil and Gold Leaf on Panel

20x24"

*not for sale

“This piece is about the transformation that happens after someone has passed. It highlights the beauty in preserving someone’s memories.”

GRACE
MAAS

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Video

@grasmas

“I am a multimedia artist studying Community Development at the Tyler School of Art. My art is grounded in sculpture. I am mostly making video art at the moment, but I also utilize painting, drawing, collage, spoken word, and glass. Through my art, I hope to create community, with the incorporation of public engagement and storytelling used to bridge gaps in our intertwining realities.

My piece, enough is enough is enough, draws inspiration from Persona, directed by Swedish filmmaker, Ingmar Bergman. I interspersed clips from the film with my footage, building a densely textured, fast-paced combination of audio, video, and experimental editing. The piece follows an emotional journey between two parallel sets of femme lovers who search for roles they deem to be "enough," individually and interpersonally. After coping with mania, warps in time and space, human desire and indulgences, tired but true transformation occurs.”

BRIIIMM

@BRiiiMM

LONG NECK SOCIETY

Acrylic/Indian Ink on canvas

16x36"

*$500

“Long Neck Society is about an emotionally/spiritually wounded healer in the process of healing herself. An alienated/empathetic/Indigo/Virgo transforming amidst in the stages of grief, physical pain, loss, love, clarity, change + fear.  The transformation is one destined by the stars...a journey awaited + in a sense, continuously being conquered in this life.”

NICOLE

NOEL

@nicolenoelart

THE DEMAND

Collagraph on paper

5x8.5"

*not for sale

“The desire to seek, express or explore spirituality is uniquely human and not limited by race, ethnicity or walk of life.  Ancestors in ancient African tribes were expressing spirituality through use of masks in the same way those who attend religious ceremonies do today and have throughout history.  I’m intrigued by the contradictory nature of religion and how this has affected people throughout time. The sometimes mysterious, scary and violent nature of religion can also be completely full of love, selflessness, joy and color.

I grew up seeing African masks at my grandmother’s house. They are a symbol of my culture; one that I am far removed from. Their often simplified features and symmetrical geometry has inspired me to develop my own style of masks. These new masks have been a recurring motif in my work.”

DAVID D.

PRATT

@pratt_artist.jpeg

BIG DECISIONS

Digital Print

26x14"

*$40

“Big Decisions focuses on a integral part of change. The work is a play on the euphemism, "Stuck Between A Rock and A Hard Place." The protagonist is stuck between a place they know with an impending obstacle and the unknown. This moment for most induces a paralyzing fear, that prevent us from taking the next step.”

MARTA

SANCHEZ-DALLAM

artedemarta.com

Print: KOBO LIGHT

Paper

25x37"

Sculpture: SPIRIT TRAIN 1

Powder coated steel

33x23”

*not for sale

“Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Chicana painter Marta Sanchez has been inspired by traditional Mexican folkloric art expressions and contemporary issues. Her works on paper are mostly linocuts and monotypes, which follow the social and cultural traditions of Mexican and Chicano/a Art. Her paintings are mainly on tin or industrial corrugated metal. The materials, scale, and issues connect to present day concerns. The HACE Conrail Train Sculptures Project seeks to center the Conrail Train tracks as part of the neighborhood memories that the current residents have of their neighborhood. The project combines the image of trains and other allegorical elements so as to honor the memories of the neighborhood’s residents who have been a part of this urban landscape of trains, tracks and big sky. The project also seeks to honor the memory of those who have passed away from the opioid epidemic while honoring those who continue to live there.Using the suggestion of trains as a linear sculpture which integrates the current fence surrounding the site will allow the project to show and highlight the visual transformation of the urban area.  To achieve this, I have flattened the sculptures and reduced the image to its simplest forms. In creating this series of sculptures I was influenced by Rafael Ferrer, and Alexander Calder, and the many Philadelphia public art sculptures that are so important to the history of our renowned city.My history with train yard imagery and text is long and extensive. I am very excited in my collaboration with Philadelphia poet, David Acosta in this project.”

EMMA

STEVENS

TRANSPARENCY

Acrylic Paint

26x14"

*not for sale

@estevens_design

“For this piece, I originally came up with the design and composition on Adobe Illustrator. I first randomly came up with the idea while sketching, then I finished the design in Illustrator. This shows a transformation of medium while sticking with the same idea. Additionally, the design gives a sense of transformation because of the transparency effect. It kind of makes the squares look like they’re moving in a way. Also this piece really challenged me as an artist with how precise I had to be. Paint is not my favorite medium so I feel like this piece transformed me into a better painter!

I’m from a small town called Jersey Shore, PA and I’m 19 years old. I am currently studying graphic design at Temple University and I’m planning on taking a minor in advertising. I’ve always imagined myself going to art school and I love it so far. I was always interested in graphic design and grew to love it during high school.”

RACHEL

WRIGHT

@right.heres.fine

Figure 1: SUBROGATION

Oil on canvas

16x20"

*$250

“My first exploration of intuitive color relationships, built up by reacting to my syn-aesthetic relationship with sound, film, and the world around me.”

Figure 2: LANDSCAPE 1

Acrylic on canvas

9x12"

*$75

“The tension and overwhelming change of moving, building a home for myself and establishing community”.