STORIES FROM PAFA

Free Events at PAFA this September

From free museum days to lectures with artists and family art-making classes, PAFA has a full calendar of free events for everyone this month.

  • CollegeFest 2019
    • Saturday, September 7th, 11:00am-5:00pm
    • CollegeFest is Campus Philly’s all-day, totally-free festival in Dilworth Park (right next to City Hall!) featuring outdoor games, prizes, giveaways, pop-up performances, and FREE admission and transportation to Philly’s top museums. 
    • Students must first check-in at the Campus Philly tent at CollegeFest with their student ID to take advantage of the free PHLASH rides and museum admission
  • Art at Noon: Paul Weber
    • Wednesday, September 11th, 12:00-1:00pm
    • Come enjoy discussions and lectures with scholars and artists covering a variety of topics related to PAFA’s exhibitions, collections, and areas of interest.
    • University of Delaware Phd student Thomas Busciglio will explore the career of German-born artist Paul Weber. After immigrating to Philadelphia 1848, Weber became of the leading Hudson River School painters of his time.
  • Point of View Speaker Series: Rebbecca Rutstein
    • Tuesday, September 17th, 6:00-7:00pm 
    • The Points of View Speaker Series brings experts from all over together for engaging and thought-provoking discussions that cross disciplines, provoke curiosity, and explore the transformative power of art and art-making.
    • Artist  Rebecca Rutstein’s new mural Convergence is a 60x100-foot mural on the Schuylkill River trail, created with Mural Arts Philadelphia. Rutstein will discuss how her art engages with her interests in geology, microbiology, and marine science, and her passion for forging a dialogue about environmental stewardship in the face of climate change
  • Visiting Artist Program: Kay Healy
    • Wednesday, September 18th, 11:45am-1:00pm
    • The student-run Visiting Artist Program brings an outstanding roster of local, national and international artists to PAFA each semester. Through a series of public lectures, critiques, and workshops, the program exposes students and the public to a range of artistic approaches, as well as fostering discussion of contemporary art and ideas.
    • Artist Kay Healy investigates themes of home, loss, displacement, and resilience with interview-based projects through her life-sized drawn, painted, and screen-printed fabric installations.
  • Smithsonian Museum Day 2019
    • Saturday, September 21st, 11:00am-5:00pm
    • Museum Day is an annual celebration of boundless curiosity hosted by Smithsonian magazine. Smithsonian Museum Day provides free admission for two people at participating museums on Saturday, September 21, 2019. 
    • Register for your free tickets to visit PAFA, and explore our current exhibitions.
  • Family Arts Academy: Plant Prints
    • Sunday, September 22nd, 2:0-4:00pm
    • PAFA's Family Arts Academy workshops are FREE monthly programs that aim to strengthen initiatives in family development and art education. Bring the whole family to PAFA on Sunday afternoons from 2 - 4 p.m. to meet local artists, learn new skills, and make a different project every week.
    • Kick off the fall by creating prints inspired by the natural world – if you bring in a t-shirt or piece of clothing to decorate, you can even take home something wearable!
  • Art at Noon: The Fluid Line
    • Wednesday, September 25th, 12:00-10:00pm 
    • Come enjoy discussions and lectures with scholars and artists covering a variety of topics related to PAFA’s exhibitions, collections, and areas of interest.
    • Americans first devoted etching to the reproduction of paintings, but in the mid-nineteenth century, artists began to recognize the medium’s potential for original expression, and they would come to be called “painter-etchers” for their practice of more expressive draftsmanship. Landscapes, especially water views, supplied a primary source of inspiration for American painter-etchers and the rich selection of prints in Etch and Flow help to tell this story. Dive into this exhibition with curator, Ramey Mize who will demonstrate the range and fluid spontaneity of the etched line.
  • Family Arts Academy: Piecing it together
    • Sunday, September 28th, 2:00-4:00pm
    • PAFA's Family Arts Academy workshops are FREE monthly programs that aim to strengthen initiatives in family development and art education. Bring the whole family to PAFA on Sunday afternoons from 2 - 4 p.m. to meet local artists, learn new skills, and make a different project every week.
    • Use the patterns and details of PAFA’s historic building – flowers, leaves, and even machine parts – to practice the ancient art techniques of mosaic making.

About PAFA

Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is America's first school and museum of fine arts. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, PAFA offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the fine arts, innovative exhibitions of historic and contemporary American art, and a world-class collection of American art. 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.