Critical Consumption:
Community Partnerships in the Arts Artists and Communities Residency Program

JANUARY 27 — MARCH 3, 2007
Suzanne Fleisher & Ralph Joel Roberts Gallery, 705 Christian Street
Opening reception: Saturday, January 27, 1:30–3:30 PM

How do the products we buy shape the way we think about ourselves and the world we live in? How do they influence what we eat, wear, do, and even think? This special workshop, led by guest artist Miguel Luciano, encouraged teen participants to work together to observe and question the influences of publicly displayed pictures and text on their lives as consumers.

“I have learned to think before I buy…” – participant Kateri Cimoch

“I've learned to look at daily products not through the eyes of the consumer, but the eyes of the laborer.” – participant Gabriela Loredo

An opening reception for the artists will be held Saturday, January 27th, from 1:30 to 3:30 PM. Admission to the exhibition and reception is free and open to the public. Gallery hours at Fleisher are: 1:00 to 5:00 PM (Tuesday and Thursday), and — after February 6th — 6:30 to 9:30 PM (Monday through Thursday) and 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM (Saturday). The exhibition is located in the Suzanne Fleisher & Ralph Joel Roberts Gallery of Fleisher's Center for Work on Paper at 705 Catharine Street, South Philadelphia.

Artists & Communities, a program of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, is made possible by major funding from the J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, the Howard Heinz Endowment, the William Penn Foundation and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

Image: artwork by Rachele Tran, airbrush and stencil, 2006

Fleisher's exhibition programs are supported in part by Dina and Jerry Wind, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Independence Foundation, the Philadelphia Cultural Leadership Program of The Pew Charitable Trusts, and donations from more than 2,000 student members and friends.