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PAFA Welcomes Susan Kline Klehr to Its Board of Trustees

PAFA is pleased to announce the election of Susan Kline Klehr to its Board of Trustees. A valued supporter of PAFA's community and initiatives, Klehr also serves on the Board of Trustees of Franklin & Marshall College and the Einstein Healthcare Network, among others.
Press Release
Daddy Likee?, Kukuli Velarde, 2018

Contemporary exhibition challenges the concept of the male gaze

Eye Contact, on view through September 15th in the Salon Gallery, is an exportation of contemporary figure paintings and takes on the concept of the gaze.
Perspectives
Claudia Valenti (MFA '20) in her studio

MFA Coordinators Bringing Diverse Conversations through Visiting Artists Program

For the two years Claudia Valenti (MFA ’20) is studying at PAFA for her MFA, she is making the most of her time. As a VAP coordinator, Valenti meets with all of the Visiting Artists, and goes out of her way to make sure her fellow students are taking advantage of the program. “Visiting artists like…
Perspectives
Conservation Lecture with Mary McGinn

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.
Low-Res MFA student Christine Belton painting

Christine Belton '21: Learning for Herself and Her Students

Usually Christine Belton (MFA ’21) is leading a class but this past summer she traded her regular role of teacher for a seat as a student. “I love to teach. For me, my personal practice supports my teaching and my teaching supports my personal practice and it makes this fantastic circle,” she…
Perspectives
MFA Sara Havekotte in her studio

Sara Havekotte (MFA '20): An Artist Weaves a New Path

Sara Havekotte initially came to Philadelphia in 2018 to study painting and making paintings for collage. But as Havekotte took classes, her work stayed in a material and textile base. She now weaves and sculpts with found objects. “Things began to sort of compact in a singularity of home and…
Perspectives
Adrián Villar Rojas, A study from the series “Two Suns,” 2015. Ceramic sculpture, 7 x 11 x 32 inches. KADIST Collection. Image: KADIST

"Ancient History of the Distant Future" Opens at PAFA September 26th

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is pleased to announce the opening of Ancient History of the Distant Future, a major exhibition featuring work by contemporary artists installed in spaces throughout PAFA's 19th century Historic Landmark Building and in conversation with selections…
Press Release
Alumni Erin Addie '18 and Gary Pergolini '18 move the replica Justice Bell into the Rotunda of the Historic Landmark Building.

Silent No More: Replicating the Justice Bell

Alumni Erin Addie '18 and Gary Pergolini '18 are back at PAFA. The pair recently installed their replica of the Justice Bell in the Rotunda of the Hamilton Building for a temporary exhibition.
Alumni News
Lyn Townes (MFA '19) installs work in the School of Fine Arts gallery.

Lyn Townes '19: Saying It All With Silence

For the past three summers, Lyn Townes '19 been coming to PAFA for the Low-Res MFA program from her Baltimore home to work in silence and explore it. The program is ideal for students who desire the community, support, and rigor of a traditional MFA, but with a flexible structure to fit their lives…
Perspectives
Pax Formicella (BFA '21).

Pax Formichella '21: Exploring PAFA’s Drawing Legacy

Pax Formichella '21 is co-curating a drawing exhibition in the Anne Bryan Gallery. "A Good Habit Formed" focuses on the history of drawing at PAFA from the school’s founding to the present, and features old textbooks, sketchbooks from PAFA’s archives, as well as current student work.
Perspectives
thomas birch, fairmount water works

Washington Post | PAFA Makes the Case for a Schuylkill River School

From the Schuylkill to the Hudson: Landscapes of the Early American Republic comes with a provocative and fascinating thesis: that there was indeed a Schuylkill River School, centered in Philadelphia, exploring themes and ideas that would be taken up by far more famous figures, including Thomas Cole…

In the News
Summer Academy student Max Brenneman works on a sculpture during class.

A Family Connection Draws High School Student to PAFA

16-year-old Max Brenneman is following in his older sister’s footsteps. In 2017 after his sister Sophie graduated from the MFA program, Brenneman began taking art classes at PAFA. This summer, Max dives further into his artistic practice by taking classes through the high school Summer Academy…
Perspectives

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, Thomas Eakins, William Glackens, Barkley L. Hendricks, Violet Oakley, Louis Kahn, David Lynch, and Henry Ossawa Tanner.