“Colonial Revival Meets Dumpster Diver” House Tour: Ann Keech

First, take famed architect R. Brognard Okie,  who designed a Colonial Revival masterpiece for a young married couple in 1902.   (Paid for by the groom’s father, of course….)

15_12_01 1 Okie Inglenook_9287(This wonderfully inviting inglenook shows Okie’s love of woodwork and clever design.  With those big windows on the landing,  how did he hide the fireplace chimney?)

Next,  take Ann and Ev Keech,  who stumbled on the fixer-upper home just outside Philadelphia in 1977,  and began administering tender loving care while raising three children there.

15_12_01 2 Okie Dining Room_9305(Did we mention the elaborate woodwork?  And,  yes,  Okie carefully designed the fireplace columns to match those seen outside on the porch.)
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Secret Gardens of the Dumpster Divers: Randy Dalton & Michael Martin Mills

If you follow Unexpected Philadelphia,  our four-month-old website,  you’ve toured six fabulous,  art-filled homes belonging to our fellow Philadelphia Dumpster Divers  –  that eclectic band of found-object artists and collectors who exhibit,  socialize and produce up-cycled art together.

Starting today,  we invite you on a new tour,  showcasing the inspiring home and garden of Michael Martin Mills and Randy Dalton.

INTRODUCING  RANDY  AND  MICHAEL

Randy joined the Dumpster Divers at their second meeting in 1992.  A found-object artist,  gardener,  and initiator of the “Do Blue” campaign to support arts funding,  he has volunteered at Powelton Village’s Community Education Center since 1977,  doing everything from serving on the board,  to organizing exhibits,  to stripping paint from yards and yards – and yards – of paneling.

15_10_27 1 Randy Dalton 8460(Randy makes lighted art installations that even passing airplanes can see.)

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A Match Made in Heaven

It’s not often that an artist and a composer meet at a Bar Mitzvah,  and the result is a song destined to greet thousands of cathedral visitors during a papal visit.

But when artist Meg Saligman described her vision for a collaborative art installation at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia,  Betsy Alexander could almost hear the musical accompaniment playing in her head.

The result was “Help Us Mary”,  her hauntingly beautiful complement to Saligman’s  Knotted Grotto.

MEETING  BETSY

We first introduced you to Betsy Alexander this summer, when we toured the fabulous home she shares with her artist husband Burnell Yow! and a phalanx of cats, including internationally celebrated Nora the Piano Cat.

15_09_29 0 DC_5299(Betsy at the keyboard with Nora, left, and Max) Continue reading

TAKE OUR NEW DUMPSTER DIVER HOUSE TOUR…& MEET GEORGE FELICE

When we launched our Unexpected Philadelphia website this summer, we included behind-the-scenes tours of 5 wildly imaginative homes belonging to our fellow Dumpster Divers – that merry band of found-object artists and collectors who have exhibited, socialized and produced up-cycled art together since 1992.

Today, we’re adding a photo tour of the fun and fabulous home of George Felice, who joined the Divers in their very first year.

15_08_26 1 Divers_Bilyk(The  Divers’ 2014 annual awards banquet at Philly’s Famous 4th Street Deli – and, yes, that’s us at the far left and George at the top center.  Photo by I. George Bilyk)

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Don’t Miss the Neil Benson Photo Exhibit: Phila. Movers+ Shakers

Richard Nixon and the MOVE conflagration.  Miss America and Mick Jagger.  Pope John II and Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt.  Mayor Rizzo with Queen Elizabeth. (Huh?)

Before Philadelphia Dumpster Divers co-founder Neil Benson embarked on his full-time, found-object art career, he was a staff photographer for Philadelphia Magazine (1975-90), and his Philly-centric images appeared in Time, Life, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.

15_08_03 1 Neil Agnew NixonEarly Benson:  Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon strike a pose at Independence Hall for the signing of the Manpower Revenue Sharing Act on October 20, 1972 Continue reading

Hot Dogs with a Side of Dumpster Divers

What do you do if you’re browsing the Internet and read that July is National Hot Dog Month?

If you’re Philadelphia Dumpster Diver Joel Spivak, and you have a big heart and unlimited imagination (check out these photos of his home and handiwork), you stage pop-up exhibits and hand out free hot dogs – lots of them – everywhere from North Philly to South Street.

15_6_27 3 Joel_CM1978(Joel Spivak in his 2013 Philly Hot Dog Month t-shirt)

This year’s improbable celebration kicked-off Friday on Philadelphia’s Fabric Row, in front of Maxie’s Daughter Fabrics, where Joel and friends handed out 200 free hot dogs to confused-but-happy pedestrians….

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