If the loop playing of Wham’s “Last Christmas” at CVS hasn’t given it away already, the holiday season is here, with Thanksgiving just around the corner.

For many locals, the holidays mean planning a vacation or taking a trip back home for family quality time. But for others, the season means staying put in West Philly, be it because of circumstance or because loved ones are coming to you.

Your holiday staycation doesn’t have to turn out boring, though. After all, with all the great restaurants in the area you can embark in a week-long foodie tour that will satisfy your hunger and help you taste new flavors. But our little notch of Philadelphia proper has many other great gems to keep you and/or your family entertained during the season—some popular and historic, others hidden and in need of discovery.

In order to help your staycation take flight, West Philly Local put together a short list of places to play and sleep to help you plan your local itinerary—and discover the unique personality of our neighborhood.

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Seeds Gallery Grand Opening on August 11, 2012. (Photo by Jaap Veneman)

Tucked away near the corner of 50th and Baltimore is the new Seeds Gallery, which promotes artists from right here in West Philly. The gallery is small but spirited, containing work at last Saturday’s grand opening from artists and photographers including Charles Barbin, Bob Bruhin, Russell Brodie, and Jeremy Fahringer.

The gallery provides an atmosphere like your friend’s living room. It’s casual, the artists are friendly and are willing to discuss their work. The gallery is small, but intimate, allowing for you to appreciate all of the work without being overwhelmed by too much of it. All in all it’s a charming place to support local artists.

There will be a public open house on August 25 from 6-9 p.m. and another on September 16 from 4-8 p.m. The closing exhibit will be on September 29, 6-9 p.m. Don’t miss your chance to see these wonderful artists before they’re gone.

– Kelly Lawler

Seeds Gallery is coming to Baltimore Avenue soon and is seeking artists who would like to display their work for the opening event at the end of July. Seeds Gallery is a modern art studio with a focus on local artists and represents emerging and established career artists in all media and styles. Currently, the gallery is showcasing artwork collections throughout the city – in local restaurants, coffee shops, yoga studios, libraries and bookstores.

The gallery’s mission is to create a networking forum for local artists and to help seed them in the community. Also, they are trying to go beyond presenting artist’s work to help educate them in business practices such as risk and liabilities, contract management, financial management, product pricing, and marketing.

If you are a local artist and are looking to get your work out there, drop an email to artists@seedsgallery.com. For more information, visit www.seedsgallery.com.
 

Here’s a couple of interesting art openings for your gallery crawl this Friday.

disTURBIA @ Art on the Avenue Gallery

If you haven’t noticed, Lancaster Avenue between 38th and 40th streets has become Philly’s newest gallery row.  Opening Friday May 11, Art on the Avenue Gallery at 3808 Lancaster Ave brings us disTURBIA, a show of mixed media sculpture installation and drawings by Romanian artist Raluca Ungureanu. Ungureanu defines “disTURBIA” as, “a term derived from the words  ‘suburbia’ and ‘disturb’ meant to describe the dark side of urban living.” Her work aims to engage the viewer in a dialogue about rootlessness and alienation in the big cities of today’s rapidly changing world. Born and raised in the mythic land of Bucovina, surrounded by a deep ancestral forest at the foot of the divine monastery of Voronet, one of the oldest in Europe, Raluca has carried the imprint of her origins, and has brought them to bear on renditions of New York and Philadelphia.

Free admission.  Through June 2.  Art on the Avenue Gallery.  3808 Lancaster Avenue.  artonave.org.  215-662-1074.
Opening: Friday, May 11, from 6 – 9 pm.
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 12 to 5 pm or by appointment.

Monsters Under the Bed @ 40th St Artist-in-Residence Program Gallery

The exhibition features a selection of puppets from Martina Plag’s puppetry atelier, “studium-praxis.” This installation specifically focuses on designs built at Martina’s 40th AIR Space studio over the past nine months. Each puppet or set displayed in the exhibition has been designed for a specific performance and to serve a very specific function.  The objects in Monsters Under the Bed are designed by Martina Plag, but most of them were made with the help of talented artists, each bringing their own unique approach to puppet making. Supporting artists include: Pam Raines, Stephen C. Layne. Bill Hanson, Deborah Glassberg, Laureen Griffin, Leah Walton, Lorna Howley, Leila Ghaznavi, and Cory Palmer.

Free admission. 40th St Artist-in-Residence Gallery, 4007 Chestnut Street.  40streetair.blogspot.com.
Opening: Friday, May 11, from 7-10 p.m.
Gallery Hours: May 18th & 25th, 3-7 p.m., or by appointment.

– Emma Eisenberg