Upcoming exhibition

Dear Friends, Please join me:

Eli J. VandenBerg: Prints and Drawings

Opening Reception: January 9, 2009, 6-8pm

The William Way GLBT Community Center

1315 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA

Work will be on view January 5 – February 27, 2009

On view will be prints and drawings from the last five years including work from the Passing Series, Body in Progress and brand new images of Philadelphia from the Place and Home series. Please email me for more information or send me your address if you'd like to receive a postcard for the show.

A building in drawing form

This is some corner in South Philly

New Drawing

A few months ago, on one of the first nice days of the spring, i took a nice long walk from south philly up to work. I'm finally getting a chance to do some drawings from all the pictures i took that day. this first one is walking north on 17th street. when i lived on south Chadwick street and worked at Kitchen Kapers i would walk this way every day and even got a day by day check of the progress on this mural that's on the side of the building in the foreground. thus, this drawing has a special place of familiarity in my heart.

On a Friday Night...

Went to the Jamaican Jerk Hut last night to hear our lovely friend Tedford play some Reggae (mon...). The music was lovely, the night was lovely, the garden was lovely and all in all I would suggest it as a wonderful way to spend a Friday night. However, I offer you this one caveat. Don't Order Dinner. Eating was the biggest cluster fuck I've experienced in a very long time. Nothing came out at the same time. I got different parts of my meal at varying times. They ran out of what Anna ordered, but didn't bother to tell her until they brought out nothing more than a side dish for her and asked if that was really all she wanted. In fact, from what I hear, they ran out of everything. Oh, and pitchers of juice (without any booze) are $25 each. Infact, everything other than a patty (kind of like a hand held pot pie) is really expensive. Dinner will invariably be about $30-$40 dollars a person after tip, tax and corking fee (don't even get Laura started).



So, my suggestion to you, should you choose to accept it: Go to the Jerk Hut, sit on the lawn, bring your own booze, get a patty or bowl of rice and enjoy the music. Anything else will make you insane.



Finally, here's a little drawing for you--a view I see as I walk to the Jerk Hut from work.

Philadelph-eli on Vacation!

Saddly, I didn't actually get to go anywhere, but my drawings did. I'm not sure how many of you have ever heard of the lovely town of Saugatuck. It sits on the western coast of Lake Michigan on Kalamazoo Lake. During the winter it's a sleepy little art town. Everyone knows everyone else and they eat at places like the Calico Kitchen where there really are frilly waitress uniforms and checked tableclothes and it's not meant to be ironic. During the summer, however, it blows up. People come up from Chicago and park their boats in the harbor. It also hosts a "Family Week for queer folks and their family making it sort of the Provincetown of the Mid-West.

My parents belong to an art collective their where they sell their jewelry and woodturned bowls. In an effort to maybe make a little money off this art degree I turned my sights to some Saugatuck landmarks and sent the drawings to the collective. If you're in the area check them out!

where it all began

here's the first of the city drawings...

drawing

another drawing...

Locust and 20th.

Rittenhouse Square