Exhibitions

OPEN HOURS

The admission to the Schuylkill Center's art gallery at the Visitor Center and our trails is free and open to the public.

The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education
8480 Hagy's Mill Road, Philadelphia, PA 19128

Gallery hours are Monday - Saturday, 9 am - 5 pm
Trails and Outdoor Exhibitions are open daily from dawn to dusk. The front gate closes at 5 pm.

Our trails are in part wheelchair accessible. Please consult the Schuylkill Center's trail map for more information. The main Parking lot is open Monday - Saturday, 9 am - 5 pm.

ART ON VIEW

Visit our Environmental Art Website for more information about our current exhibitions and event programs. www.schuylkillcenter.org/art/

CURRENT PROJECTS

The Bird Ethic
LandLabArtist-in-Residence Susan Hagen

October 7 - December 16, 2023

LandLab artist-in-residence Susan Hagen offers a series of diorama-inspired outdoor sculptures capturing historical moments in bird conservation, bird science, and humankind's impact on bird populations. Constructed from mixed media including reclaimed timber from the Schuylkill grounds, these small-scale sculptures allow visitors to intimately experience Hagen's visual storytelling. Each of the eight sculptures explores the ethical challenges and opportunities facing humans and birds. Some focus on the heroic efforts of individuals to build a "Bird Ethic," others show the absence of virtue, asking visitors to ponder the resulting effects.

Hagen's sculptures are installed outdoors along the Center's Widener Trail, accompanied by an exhibition in the Center's indoor gallery.

The Bird Ethic

PAST PROJECTS

Nature's Alchemy
July 15 - September 16, 2023

Nature's Alchemy features sculptures, paintings, textiles and videos in which nature itself serves as artistic material. Through creative, chemical metamorphosis, six artists transform natural materials into something new, experimental and exciting. The displayed artwork transforms sunlight into a map to paint somatically (Katie Westmoreland); collects materials discarded by humans, revealing the interrelationship between natural landscapes and industrial scars (Jennifer Manzella and Lisa Imperiale); crafts pigments from rocks and ecological elements to create a topographical map of the Schuylkill River (Lauren Rosenthal McManus); recreates and animates riverbank specimens (Cindy Stockton Moore); and mobilizes rain and historical processes to print with cyanotypes (Alexandra Orgera).

The artists featured in this exhibition were included in 2022's Art in the Open, Philadelphia's biennial outdoor arts event organized by The Center for Emerging Visual Artists in partnership with Fairmount Water Works. More information about the exhibition and related programming, including the free, family-friendly Nature's Alchemy Festival on August 26th, HERE

Nature's Alchemy

a river is...
April 20 - June 24, 2023

2022-2023 LandLab artist-in-residence Bitter Kalli embarks on a textual and textural exploration of the Schuylkill River watershed. Using natural dyes and organic materials gathered from riverbank plants, as well as locally-sourced upcycled fabric, the artist creates textile pieces that consider the overlapping human and plant geographies of the Schuylkill; the legacies of neighborhood change and displacement along this river; and the increasing precarity of riverine life during a time of environmental crisis. Weaving together memoir, research, and relational practice, the artist engages with lineages of feminized craft and the space of the riverbank as a site for ritual and gathering.

More information about the exhibition and related event programming HERE

a river is...

Walking the Edge: Art from our borders and boundaries
January 26 - April 1, 2023

Walking the Edge is a communal display on the experience of walking in nature. We invited the public to share their creative impressions, reflections and encounters on walking borders, limits and perimeters in nature as they are expressed in creative artworks. Curated by and in collaboration with Jacques-Jean Tiziou of "Walk Around Philadelphia", our fourth bi-annual community exhibition embraces walking as a practice in contemporary art production that reflects on our interconnectedness with nature.

More Information about the exhibition and related event programming HERE

Forest Makings
Varvara Fern, "Step Into the Unknown"

Forest Makings
September 24 - – December 30, 2022

The group exhibition Forest Makings features artwork by Jean Shin, Ana Vizcarra Rankin, Aaron Terry, Amir Campbell, Tali Weinberg, Vivien Wise, and instrument makers Gladys Harlow, Richard Robinson, and Don Miller (as part of the art project S(tree)twork by Futurefarmers). While shedding light on the environmental benefits of forests and the threats posed by changing climates, Forest Makings explores how humans influence forests and manage their survival through practices of conservation.

More Information about the exhibition and related event programming HERE

Forest Makings

Companions - mas masarap magkasama
April 16 – August 13, 2022

The multimedia exhibition "Companions" by Filipino-American visual artist Maria Dumlao in collaboration with Filipinx group Bahay215, Nicky Uy and Omar Buenaventura, explores food culture as a vehicle for the human desire for belonging and rooting into a new environment. The exhibition features a series of interactive prints and site-specific installations that open a dialogue about ecology, authorship, and cultural authenticity in today's intertwined environments.

More Information about the exhibition and related event programming HERE

A beautiful impressionistic landscape

Aqua Marooned! (an interactive card game)
November, 2021 – Summer, 2022

We have launched a unique and delightful card game the whole family can play on site. Stroll along our trails while quizzing each other on local plants and animals, composing poems about spaces you encounter, honoring the Lenape peoples who have traditionally stewarded the land—all the while deepening your connection to the natural world around you. Pick up a free deck of cards at our Visitor Center.

This is a collaboration with the performing arts collective Swim Pony.

More Information HERE

Two hands exchanging Aqua Marooned cards

Al-Mudhif – A Confluence
June 25 – Summer 2022

Al Mudhif – A Confluence was an outdoor art installation by Sarah Kavage and Yaroub Al-Obaidi and an accompanying exhibition that explored notions of belonging and healing amidst the current moment of careful reconnection. Entirely built out of the invasive wetland grass phragmites, the installation and gallery display provided a welcoming space for intercultural encounters here while offering a critical perspective on global migration of plants and people.

More Information about the exhibition HERE  

A view of Al Mudhif

 

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