The Philadelphia on Stone project continues to expand on its collaborations through unexpected and new partnerships. Project director Erika Piola has started to form exciting new relationships with other institutions, organizations, and professions through the planning of the exhibition and public programming.

 

Organization of the exhibition to open in March 2010 has begun in earnest. Intentionally scheduled to coincide with Philagrafika 2010 “The Graphic Unconscious,” the exhibition seeks not only to promote the history of Philadelphia lithography, but to assess its impact on contemporary visual culture. To meet these ends, both historic and modern lithographs will be displayed. By way of a serendipitous meeting and professional networking, we were introduced to Roberta Delaney, a Massachusetts artist, and Kip Deeds, a local artist, who will fill four vertical cases with their prints inspired by historical themes as well as traditional practices in lithography. Their work, to be accompanied by artist’s statements, not only will represent the present state of lithography, but will provide a window into what inspired them to pursue this print medium.

Ms. Piola is also planning an open studio demonstration of lithography. The demonstration will provide step by step instructions of this revolutionary printing process based on the premise that grease and water do not mix. We have also had meetings about collaborative programming and publicity. The Print Center, a core Philagrafika exhibition site, and the Rosenbach Museum and Library, the host of the Philagrafika artist-in-residence, lithographer Enrique Chagoya, have been approached about programs that will increase and diversify the audiences of each of our institutions.

However, the most unforeseen new collaboration has to be our work with the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. Following Ms. Piola’s discovery of the capabilities of the ESRI mapping software used by the Alliance to provide members with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) models, she provided Research Analyst Nicholas Crosson with his first historic mapping project. The resulting maps, which will show the residential and business addresses of Philadelphia lithographers from the 1830s to 1870s, will be essential to the exhibition as visuals to understand the demographics of the trade. Mr. Crosson has even graciously contacted the Philadelphia Geo-History Network for the use of historic maps as the backdrop to the data, thereby creating not one, but two new partners in Philadelphia on Stone.

Beginning with a survey of seven special collections repositories, Philadelphia on Stone has grown to involve contemporary lithographers, non-profit art organizations, and Philadelphia history networks. The success of this project relies on the generosity, creativeness, and support of these original and new partners. These recent collaborations will certainly help to guarantee this outcome.