Lectures and Events
Gain new insight into the art and culture of Philadelphia with Woodmere’s engaging lectures and gallery talks. Hear from artists, art historians, professors, curators, and writers who offer new perspectives on the Museum’s collection, exhibitions, and related topics.
On Edith Neff
Saturday, October 5, 3:00 p.m.
Lecturer: Bill Scott, artist
$15 ($10 members)
Bill Scott will share his insight and perspective on the life and work of Edith Neff. A close friend of the artist, Scott has compiled a comprehensive catalogue of her professional career.
Rago Auctions Appraisal Events
Wednesdays, October 16, November 13, December 11, 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
FREE
Woodmere will host free jewelry valuations with Katherine Van Dell, director of the Jewelry Department at Rago Auctions and a guest appraiser on the PBS series Antiques Roadshow. She will be joined by fellow Roadshow regular Sebastian Clarke and Mick Byers, who will offer valuations of decorative arts. Should you choose to sell, Rago will donate a percentage of that sale to Woodmere. For more information, or to schedule your appointment, contact Robin Daum at 609-397-9374, ext. 119.
Community Night: Our Town: A Retrospective of Edith Neff
Thursday, October 17, 6:30 p.m.
Lecturer: William Valerio, The Patricia Van Burgh Allison Director and CEO, Woodmere Art Museum
$15 ($10 members)
Woodmere Director William Valerio will discuss Edith Neff’s portrayal of family and community in Philadelphia from the 1960s to 1995. Co-presented by Woodmere and Mount Airy Learning Tree, a community education nonprofit founded to enrich the diverse neighborhoods of Northwest Philadelphia. A facilitated community conversation will follow with Ebony DeBrest, a long term MALT instructor.
Edith Neff: Myths of Modern Life
Saturday, October 26, 3:00 p.m.
Lecturer: Patricia Likos Ricci, professor of history of art and director of the Fine Arts Department, Elizabethtown College
$15 ($10 members)
During the second wave of the women’s movement in the 1970s, Edith Neff emerged from the Philadelphia realist school with a distinctly feminist point of view. Patricia Likos Ricci will discuss how Neff addressed the new consciousness of women’s marginal status in the art world by probing the psychological depths of female experience through mythological themes set in contemporary life, and how the artist’s mythos of realism was emblematic of the feminist belief that “the personal is the political.”
“The Echo of My Gaze”: Edith Neff, James Elkins, and How We Connect with Art
Monday, November 4, 1:30 p.m.
Lecturer: Susan Shifrin, Philadelphia-based art historian, curator, and executive director of ARTZ Philadelphia
$15 ($10 members)
In the context of Our Town: A Retrospective of Edith Neff, Susan Shifrin will explore art historian James Elkins’s thought-provoking work The Object Stares Back: On the Nature of Seeing, which asks us to consider how we encounter works of art and how they encounter us. Many people in Neff’s paintings stare forward, creating a psychological space that includes the viewer. This lecture will delve into the intersecting encounters between the viewer and the people and places that Neff commits to canvas.
Teacher Workshop: Teaching the Elements of Story and Social Engagement through the Narrative Art of Edith Neff
Saturday, November 9, 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
3 Act 48 hours
$20 per teacher
Visual art provides students with immediate access to the characteristics of good storytelling, while allowing critical observers to “enter the frame” and experience situations from alternative points of view. Understanding alternative viewpoints is key to healthy social engagement as well as to the appreciation of literature. This workshop will focus on selected works by Edith Neff, with the goal of fostering empathetic skills and an understanding of the interplay of setting, character, and conflict. Teacher materials will be provided for classroom use. The workshop is aligned with Common Core Academic Standards.