PAFA President and Chief Executive Officer David R. Brigham, Ph.D has been named a senior advisor to the executive director of the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora. Established in 2001, the Center is committed to…
PAFA's After-School Studio Arts Program for High School Students educates 200-300 Philadelphia students each year. The program, which has been running for more than 20 years, is completely free to students. Every week, classes in drawing, oil painting, illustration, comics, life drawing, and anatomy…
In 2018, PAFA took over responsibility for more than 275 works by the late African American sculptor John Rhoden. As the curator of the John Rhoden collection, Brittany Webb is being tasked with stewarding Rhoden’s legacy through a major exhibition at PAFA and distributing the artist’s work among…
PAFA president and Chief Executive Officer David R. Brigham, Ph.D. was awarded an honorary Doctorate degree from Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania at the College's 149th Commencement on May 12, 2018. Brigham was one of four national and international leaders to be recognized during the ceremony…
Kathy Putnam’s art was always on the backburner as she focused on raising her family and a career in finance, but she kept returning to PAFA. An interest in painting led her to take PAFA's Continuing Education classes 25 years ago, which lead to participating in the school's Post-Baccalaureate…
The Brodsky Center, a collaborative paper and printmaking center devoted to the creation of new work, is coming to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). The Brodsky Center will become part of the School at PAFA, expanding its printmaking curriculum and providing internship and…
Blinded in a car accident at the age of 21, sculptor Kathy Faul hasn’t let the disability slow her down. Faul built up her art skills alongside sighted students through Community Education classes. Her sculptural work focuses on carving animals out of stone.
As he graduates from PAFA, Aubrey Brown (Cert. '18) receives the Anne Bryan Memorial Award, named for the first friend he made at the Academy. Bryan’s young life was tragically cut short when she was killed in the Salvation Army Thrift Store building fire and collapse on June 5, 2013, at 22nd and…
Sculpture professor Jody Pinto has taught at PAFA since 1978 and for 40 years she has pushed her students to seek out new experiences. The chance to explore is what drew Pinto to PAFA as an art student during the early 1960s. Pinto is now stepping away from teaching to focus on her work.
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) announced today that it purchased American artist Frederic Edwin Church's masterful oil painting, "Valley of Santa Isabel, New Granada" (1875). Church is arguably an integral part of American art history and this will be the first work by the artist…
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) invites you to explore the idea of space and unique spaces in "Infinite Spaces: Rediscovering PAFA's Permanent Collection," opening June 30th. "Infinite Spaces" brings together more than 100 new acquisitions and rarely seen gems from PAFA's historic…
For PAFA, the summer exhibition "Infinite Spaces: Rediscovering PAFA's Permanent Collection" is the next step in the museum's commitment to highlighting the work of women artists. "Infinite Spaces" showcases objects from PAFA’s historic collection that have rarely been exhibited, as well as newly…
About PAFA
Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is the United States’ first school and museum of fine arts. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, PAFA offers a world-class collection of American art, innovative exhibitions of historic and contemporary American art, and educational opportunities in the fine arts. The PAFA Museum aims to tell America's diverse story through art, expanding who has been included in the canon of art history through its collections, exhibitions, and public programs, while classes educate artists and appreciators with a deep understanding of traditions and the ability to challenge conventions. PAFA’s esteemed alumni include Mary Cassatt, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, William Glackens, Barkley L. Hendricks, Violet Oakley, Louis Kahn, David Lynch, and Henry Ossawa Tanner.
